http://adsense.blogspot.com/2006/12/...nt-policy.html

Wasn't google the same ones who advised to put images next to ads?

*Sigh*

They will only enforce it on those whom they choose. If this has always been their policy then why do big earners with Google Adsense Reps get away with using images next to their ads? They obviously know that the big earners are using images next to them since they are advising them.

Figured this was coming (I was actually a bit annoyed with Google for being so mysterious and two-faced about it for so long). I've removed the images on my site (I had them with previously-google-approved images, a dark line and plenty of space separating... but I'm not going to risk leaving it)... will see over the next few days how things go. I was already hit hard with smartpricing though so it might even improve things! (haha well I can be optimistic can't I?!). For me it initially skyrocketed my CTR, but began to dwindle after several weeks at its peak, and has slowly gone down steadily ever since. I'm sure they won't be able to do anything besides issue warnings to get users to remove the images -- due to 1+ years of inaction/riding the fence on Google's part, the technique is so widespread at this point it would kill off most of their members if they banned people over it. They even encouraged people when they added their own image tests to certain publisher ad formats a while back. They also show their own border images sometimes on google.com for certain search terms.

wht exactly happens, when you get banned? do YOU as a person get banned based on name, address? does the ccard get banned? do the websites get banned? so, would it be helpful to open a second adsense with a different name, ccard, website as a safeharbour to be able to switch pub-id's once one gets banned? thanks from an adsense noob.

Originally Posted by Cyberworkspace

wht exactly happens, when you get banned? do YOU as a person get banned based on name, address? does the ccard get banned? do the websites get banned? so, would it be helpful to open a second adsense with a different name, ccard, website as a safeharbour to be able to switch pub-id's once one gets banned? thanks from an adsense noob.

You get banned as person. Your Addy and your bank account mainly.

thanks for the info. so, i turned the pictures off on all sites (thanks god for the my admin panel :devil: ).

however, what i really don't get is the contradiction. already today they show image ads, which serve only one purpose: that people click on them due to the ads being images. next thing they come up with are video advertisements. as people are so conditioned by youtube, they will click this almost by instinct.

so, if google's theory is true, that people get lured into clicking multimedia ads (images / videos) more often even if they are not interested in the sales proposition, then why does google propagate to use their multimedia-advertisements?

What I find really ironic is that Google is telling us (in that blog post), "you CAN have images next to the ads, but you'll have to UNBLEND your ads", despite preaching the power of blending your ads since forever.

Google Adsense has double standards. They make it so obvious too

Originally Posted by Cyberworkspace

thanks for the info. so, i turned the pictures off on all sites (thanks god for the my admin panel :devil: ).

however, what i really don't get is the contradiction. already today they show image ads, which serve only one purpose: that people click on them due to the ads being images. next thing they come up with are video advertisements. as people are so conditioned by youtube, they will click this almost by instinct.

so, if google's theory is true, that people get lured into clicking multimedia ads (images / videos) more often even if they are not interested in the sales proposition, then why does google propagate to use their multimedia-advertisements?

It's not the images/multimedia they are against - they are all for that when the images "are" the ads that they themselves serve... in this case they are against publisher-added images meant to grab attention which they say can cause confusion to the visitor who might believe the image is what the ad is about when in fact it isn't.

I can't say for "sure" (so contact Google yourself before trying it or do so at your own risk), but after giving it some thought, I think that Google would still be OK with an image to the side (or above, in the case of a Leaderboard) so long as it is a very specific type - either a row of very small and numerous generic icons (many more than the number of ads in the block) as Google themselves do right now on certain searches on google.com.... or a solid bar of colors (possibly as much as a single color highlighted next to or above each ad, or at least just a bar of random colors or patterns). To be clear, I'm saying the usual "individual" images lined up next to each ad are now against the TOS, but very specific other images might be OK - and again, check with Google first. Whether this would be effective even if allowed, I don't know.

Anyhow, my 2 cents

Oh by the way.... CTR/eCPM dropped like a rock so far today... I'm hopeful it will improve once my account's smart pricing is reassessed (which I believe I read only takes place once a week - or, hopefully not - a month).

Keyz, I was a part of the beginning Neverside community and back when it was the tutorial site. How is everything going over there?

Hi greenhams

Don't want to hijack the thread so I'll be brief haha... things are tough at the moment over at NS, though we're working on improving things. We're in the midst of building a new site to replace it which will be based on Drupal and vBulletin (with many more features than we currently have), and will adhere to a lot of the advice I've learned from Lee (and additionally many books I've now studied on usability, marketing, etc). Hopefully we'll be back in business within a few more months (the redevelopment has turned out to be a massive amount of planning and work).

Anyhow, feel free to stop by NS or catch me on AIM and chat sometime

Glad I avoided the hype a while back. Hopefully Google will come up with some clear rules that they stick by.

Michael

Originally Posted by beachbumis

Glad I avoided the hype a while back. Hopefully Google will come up with some clear rules that they stick by.

Michael

haha good luck with that wish

Originally Posted by Keyz

... I think that Google would still be OK with an image to the side (or above, in the case of a Leaderboard) ...

thanks a lot for your ideas. i will contact google and ask exactly those point you raised and maybe the solution is a colour-changing, hypnotizing .gif-bar

i am absolutely new to this kind of biz, and after reading and reading i started out now experimenting and decided to do so with adsense arbitrage first. i am going for very low figures per site but aim to make up for it by having literally hundreds of them. site number 100 to go live today

I wish I had of know about this before they officially made it a no-no. Could have cashed in on some extra clicks for sure.

Google really does need to outline their rules for AdSense better, and stick to them. I've noticed at lot of people talking about how they almost seem to make things up as they go along, not exactly comforting.

Soultrance

Originally Posted by Soultrance

I wish I had of know about this before they officially made it a no-no. Could have cashed in on some extra clicks for sure.

Google really does need to outline their rules for AdSense better, and stick to them. I've noticed at lot of people talking about how they almost seem to make things up as they go along, not exactly comforting.

Soultrance

It's all about traffic - that's the word of the day, traffic. If you've got it you're pretty much able to do what ever you want.

Originally Posted by Cyberworkspace

thanks a lot for your ideas. i will contact google and ask exactly those point you raised and maybe the solution is a colour-changing, hypnotizing .gif-bar

I recieved the ok on having colour blocks and a generic image next to the ads.

some action must be taken before they ban mine.

Originally Posted by Henry

http://adsense.blogspot.com/2006/12/...nt-policy.html

I guess we may work harder now :glare: