Making your text look like ads

[Joel Comm]

Here's a great trick that I use on www.wordsearchfun.com

Blend your AdSense ads by making your text the same font size and style and the ads. To do this, here is some simple html you can use.

<div style="font: 8pt Arial; padding-bottom:8px;">
<div style="color:#0000ff;font-weight: bold"><u>[[TITLE]]</u></div>
<div style="color: black">[[DESCRIPTION]]</div>
<div style="font-size: 7pt; color:#999999; text-decoration: none">[[URL]]</div>
</div>

You can see how this looks on this page...

http://www.wordsearchfun.com/sys/viewcat/Books_and_Literature.html

Cool, huh?

Joel

[Keo]

Joel, Thanks for sharing this idea. I will be revising some of my sites to incorporate this. I counted two adsense blocks on the page but if I'm not mistaken you could have up to four. Did you keep it to two to keep the ads showing the higher paying ads?

[AlanSaltz]

Isn't it 3 ad units?

Was this increased to four, or is it 3 units and then a search box or related keyword listing?

[edakini]

It looks great! You can't tell the difference.

Thanks for sharing the tip.

Lily

[wendy]

Ahhhh, such trickery. Blends nicely.

[Blaugrana]

Nice, but ain't that forbidden by the adsense policies?

[Flashni]

Joel

That's nicely done. Thanks for sharing it.

On the home page, can't you squeeze a large AdLinks block into your category listing and make the category titles look like the AdLink text?

[newlifestyle]

I'm going to do that too.

They say when the ad looks like part of the text that clicks are higher.

Has anyone tested that?

[Bobette Kyle]

They say when the ad looks like part of the text that clicks are higher. Has anyone tested that?Yes. I changed the font on my site as a result.

[Joel Comm]

Nice, but ain't that forbidden by the adsense policies?

No, I do not believe so. If you can point to a paragraph in Google's TOS, I would want to see that.

Joel

[mgrcentral]

This may be relevant:

"We do not permit Google ads or search boxes accessing Google search services to be published on web pages that also contain what could be considered competing ads or services. This would include ads that mimic Google ads or otherwise appear to be associated with Google on your site...."

Although I have been doing the same for months without a problem.

[dragonsage]

I took a little different approach with this section-heading page (http://www.terrystockdale.com/coffee).

I'm using the 336x280 text ads on most site pages. My coffee section's heading page has obvious Google ads in 160x600 and 234x60. The real navigation links for the section are in the 336x280 format.

I'm trying trigger the readers to get used to actually reading the 336x280 ad format so they pay attention to the ads when I use them.

I tried the "embedded" layout that Joel mentioned in the wordsearchfun example, but my eyes tended to glaze over on his example. They also glazed over when I tried to embed these links in a line of 336x280 blocks. The real thing was that I wanted the visitor to actually find these links, which would take them to the higher-value ads.

[ebizindia]

Ha-ha

This is :cool: Where are the ads? Where is the body text?

What a blending! Which blender do you use, Joel ;)

Arun

[nordhaus]

Hi,

Typically, wouldn't Google at least provide a warning if your adsense ads are in a "grey area"?

N~

[Agatha]

Google does indeed send warnings if we're in violation of their TOS. One 'explorer' that I know had his AdSense checks cut off until he removed something that Big G objected to. However, that is extreme and most of the time they just ask you to remove something. Personally, I operate on the philosophy that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Two great examples here of doing just that. Thanks for sharing!

[Ken Reno]

Hey gang,

Looks like this place is off to a roaring start, thanks to everyone's
input!

I can already see that this is going to be huge, it's pure gold.

Looking forward to higher Adsense paychecks!

[gamiziuk]

Isn't it 3 ad units?

Was this increased to four, or is it 3 units and then a search box or related keyword listing?

You can have 3 Ad units, 1 Ad Links unit, and 1 Search Box.

[Joel Comm]

And I know for a fact that they are testing some very cool things that will make us all a lot more money. I should be able to write about some of it next week :-)

Joel

[Blaugrana]

dragonsage, you should drop the borders of the 2 ads under the pictures!

[infoTim]

Nice site, Terry! I thought G really frowned on photos that might be misconstrued as actual product-type illustrations above the ad blocks. They were also telling people that they needed to have a border around the ad block if it was mated with images. I adjusted things to comply & it didn't hurt my CTR any.

[imbrod]

No, I do not believe so. If you can point to a paragraph in Google's TOS, I would want to see that.

Joel

Hi, Joel, this is my 1st post on adsensechat.

I also believe that this could be forbidden by google, because of my case.
I bought your book few months ago, and made the entire site following your rules. But! My site was declined by adsense! They gave me no explanations, but I suspect that is because of my links look like their ads.
I would like to send you a link on PM if you are interested to look up the site and tell me (based on your experience) why my site was banned.
By the way, it doesn't have anything to do with sex, gambling, racism etc.

So please tell me if you want to look it up

[dragonsage]

I switched them (http://www.terrystockdale.com/coffee/coffee_espresso_machines.shtml) back to "bordered" again, and I'm experimenting with some different colors.

The click-thru is better with words underneath the picture, but the ads are sometimes way off compared to the image content. At least if I put borders around the Google ads, _I_ don't look crazy.

[seahorse]

In your 2 ad blocks on the right side, for me, the top one showed 3 text ads, and the bottom 4. However the font size was bigger for the one with 3 ads, so didn't quite match your other text. Close though...

[nguyen]

Wow! Had to look twice to see that it's "aaaaads by Google"....really cool. Thanks for the tip!

[cheekyspider]

Hi from Ireland

Excuse my ignorance as I am new at this.
7 weeks and $1700 later, and I dont know how to use or where to put the
code? Its perfect for a site I have but alas I cannot seem to get it right.

Stephen

[kthaman]

I have been able to get good results from using the adsense list ads. I use the 120 x 60 with 5 ads. I put it above my main navigation links and it gets a really good click through rate. You can see my example here custom wristbands (http://custom-rubber-wrist-band.com). Anyone else have good results with these.

[Quade]

Very sneaky:)

Nice work Joel.

-Quade

[jeffdedrick]

Joel,

Cool idea.

Real world examples of websites like this and the little tricks
that can be used will be the true value of this forum.

I would love everyone who spots a good idea to post the URL here.

Thanks again,

Jeff

[heinc]

I'm going to do that too.

They say when the ad looks like part of the text that clicks are higher.

Has anyone tested that?



Well... I think Joel had tested this pretty thoroughly before he published his ebook. :) However, I have too have used this philosophy on my Adsense ads, and until this month, revenues had been climbing like the space shuttle leaving the launch pad. This month, tanking like a rock. Partly (I suspect) due to Google changing the way ads can look on my pages without me having any say so... meaning, all the work I did (following Joel's advice) to make my ads look like the text on the site... are out the window in many cases where one or two ads show up in the large rectangle ad box!

What will Google do to us next to cut our revenue?

Anyone know when YahooSense will be out of Beta and ready for Prime Time?

[Mary Dee]

Hello,

What a great thread and forum!

I hope it is not true your ads cannot look like text anymore, because I am having my first content site built and that's the instructions I'm giving the programmer.

I need to re-read the terms again as I wasn't aware of this change. My bad :(

I have always thought the sites that had their ads looking more like their text and placed between paragraphs and/or articles - looked better than the long listings on the side. It would also seem to be (logically thinking) :) the clicks would be higher as it wouldn't stand out as an ad but instead an an integral part of the content on the site.

Mary Dee

[Sav]

I'm new here, and I can't believe the new ideas I'm seeing and reading about.

I had heard about the pictures with ads but never followed up on it before.

I will implement this on all my sites now.

I already get an average of 9% over all mjy sites, with one particular site (3 months old) having 18% in July, 22% in August, 32% last 7 days!

It would be nice to increase that by 700% as suggested by someone earlier in this thread ... :rolleyes:

[jruiseco]

That is pretty cool. I thought I read something in the TOS stating that you cannot make your stuff look exactly like their stuff. I cannot find it now.

If someone knows about this, please point us to it.

Josen

[silver surfer]

Hi Joel,

I found your example very interesting and a technique I'd love to try.

Have you emailed Google about if this particular site was acceptable or not?

It would be very helpful to learn what they said.

Thanks,

Randall

[DarkWolf]

I switched them (http://www.terrystockdale.com/coffee/coffee_espresso_machines.shtml) back to "bordered" again, and I'm experimenting with some different colors.


Yay, I own the dream toy of the month! :)

But besides that, wow, that's alot of ads stuffed on that page, and it blends really well... Love what you did with the two images in the center too.. Really makes it look as if they're product links.

[byh]

No, I do not believe so. If you can point to a paragraph in Google's TOS, I would want to see that.

Joel

This is something that comes close:

Competitive Ads and Services
We do not permit Google ads or search boxes accessing Google search services to be published on web pages that also contain what could be considered competing ads or services. This would include ads that mimic Google ads or otherwise appear to be associated with Google on your site. If you have elected to receive content-based Google ads, this would also include all other content-targeted ads. If you have elected to receive Google search services, this would include other search services on the same site and non-Google query-targeted ads. We do allow affiliate or limited-text links.

[dyhtomit]

This is something that comes close:

Competitive Ads and Services
We do not permit Google ads or search boxes accessing Google search services to be published on web pages that also contain what could be considered competing ads or services. This would include ads that mimic Google ads or otherwise appear to be associated with Google on your site. If you have elected to receive content-based Google ads, this would also include all other content-targeted ads. If you have elected to receive Google search services, this would include other search services on the same site and non-Google query-targeted ads. We do allow affiliate or limited-text links.

If you make your own "content/articles" look like the google ads. Wouldn't that be different from "ads that mimic Google ads or otherwise appear to be associated with Google" :confused:

[byh]

Of course, that's why I say it comes close and not "you can read here literally that it is not allowed"

[dyhtomit]

I'm new here, and I can't believe the new ideas I'm seeing and reading about.

I had heard about the pictures with ads but never followed up on it before.

I will implement this on all my sites now.

I already get an average of 9% over all mjy sites, with one particular site (3 months old) having 18% in July, 22% in August, 32% last 7 days!

It would be nice to increase that by 700% as suggested by someone earlier in this thread ... :rolleyes:

Could you post a few links to some of your sites so we can see what you're doing? :D

[flyer]

> Of course, that's why I say it comes close and not "you can read here literally that it is not allowed"

Close doesn't count- this isn't horseshoes.

It's amazing how many things people think are in the TOS that really aren't.

[James_B]

I played with that format after purchasing Joel's book (which is awesome btw)
I was concerned about it, so I emailed them right after I made the changes.
Below is my email and their reply.
My advice.....email them. They'll either tell you if its ok or not. Why chance it?

James

--------------------------------

Hello James,

Thanks for your email.

I've reviewed the pages you sent to us and they currently appear to
comply with our policies.

Sincerely,

****
The Google AdSense Team

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: James
Subject: adsense guidelines
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 01:54:27 -0500

Hi,

I made some changes to my webpages as far as placement of adsense ads
Example...
http://www.justfreestuff.com/teacher.html

I was just wondering if keeping the ads where they are is ok. I read the
TOS & didnt see anything prohibiting it & I just wanted to double check
& make sure everything is ok.

Thank you,

James
http://www.justfreestuff.com

[111hot]

In fact it's even a recommendation of theirs.

[crafty1]

Hello All,

I just ran across the following site web page which uses an Adsense layout I have never seen. Go to http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1384. I would have to assume they are a premium publisher which gets to play by a different set of rules than us mere mortals. Maybe Joel could commment?

Anyhow they use a single tower with 8 ads. The code shown below is definitely not what I am used to seeing. It blends very nicely though.

<script language="JavaScript">
google_ad_client = "pub-8430344808469242";
google_alternate_ad_url = "http://www.azom.com/images/spacer.gif";
google_ad_channel ="7994411107";
google_ad_output = "js";
google_max_num_ads = 8;
google_safe = "medium";
google_feedback = "off";
google_ad_type = "text_image";
google_color_line = "330000";
</script>
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>

Have a good weekend!

Barry

[Reprobate]

Cool, huh?
That it is.

Thanks for this most informative tip!

[Celicaphile]

They must be a premium publisher... the "Ads by Google" is an image too...
http://www.azom.com/images/googleads.gif

Hello All,

I just ran across the following site web page which uses an Adsense layout I have never seen. Go to http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1384. I would have to assume they are a premium publisher which gets to play by a different set of rules than us mere mortals. Maybe Joel could commment?

Anyhow they use a single tower with 8 ads. The code shown below is definitely not what I am used to seeing. It blends very nicely though.

<script language="JavaScript">
google_ad_client = "pub-8430344808469242";
google_alternate_ad_url = "http://www.azom.com/images/spacer.gif";
google_ad_channel ="7994411107";
google_ad_output = "js";
google_max_num_ads = 8;
google_safe = "medium";
google_feedback = "off";
google_ad_type = "text_image";
google_color_line = "330000";
</script>
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>

Have a good weekend!

Barry

[cheryl-wright]

I blended the google ads with my own text on one of the pages of my site last week, and to be honest I was worried I'd broken some by-law or wasn't complying with the TOS.

Here's the page where it appears: http://www.writer2writer.com/client.htm

I'm breathing a sigh of relief that I can actually do this without getting a slap over the wrist. I've only been here a few days and I've already learned heaps on this forum - thanks everyone.



Cheryl

[nukemdomis]

I took a little different approach with this section-heading page (http://www.terrystockdale.com/coffee).


Looks better than most. Nice.

[nukemdomis]

Here's a great trick that I use on www.wordsearchfun.com



Cool, huh?

Joel

Yes very awesome. Nice post here at adsensechat.

[wm8c]

I blended the google ads with my own text on one of the pages of my site last week, and to be honest I was worried I'd broken some by-law or wasn't complying with the TOS.

Here's the page where it appears: http://www.writer2writer.com/client.htm

I'm breathing a sigh of relief that I can actually do this without getting a slap over the wrist. I've only been here a few days and I've already learned heaps on this forum - thanks everyone.



Cheryl
I think it looks great Cheryl. I (we'd) all be curious as how it does on performace when you get some stats from the changes. I seemed to have flat lined on earnings for the moment and going back through my notes to see what I changed back in mid April to now. It appears I got the ole "smart pricing" hit in May which didn't help either :mad: but that's the game we are in and have to make the best of it!
Todd

[samurai]

Really, it is very nice integration. I love to hear also about the performance, how is the percentage of your CTR increased?

[carbonzee]

Joel,

You're using two contextual ads on the same page which is forbidden by Google TUS. I'd get rid of ContentLink ASAP.

[samurai]

I noticed the same thing. Joel, it would be great to hear your voices.

[manateemedia]

I implemented this technique on one of my sites and got a warning from Google to change my site...or else. I don't recommend using this technique - unless you want to get canned by Google. The technique I'm talking about is the one Joel used on his puzzle site...the one at the start of this thread.

[cheryl-wright]

It's been quite awhile since I posted here (spent just over two weeks in hospital with pneumonia, been recovering, and now back working on my book), but I wanted to let you know that since implementing just a few of the suggestions in Joel's book, my adsense income has increased dramatically.

I'm now pulling pretty much per month, what I was getting per quarter before. (And sometimes the 'per day' total exceeds what I used to get for a week!)

It will be interesting to see how it all goes over the next few months, because this month has almost reached last month's total, and we still have a way to go yet.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not making massive amounts - far from it - but there is definitely a huge increase.

My website has been redesigned as well, (with Adsense in mind) so that could also be helping.

[wm8c]

I implemented this technique on one of my sites and got a warning from Google to change my site...or else. I don't recommend using this technique - unless you want to get canned by Google. The technique I'm talking about is the one Joel used on his puzzle site...the one at the start of this thread.

You must have been doing something else in addition to that to get a warning, or it was before the rules changed in the TOS (which is regularly) allow 3 boxes. You are allowed three content boxes (which he has on that site) per page so there's nothing in violation at all. Or were you referring to something else maybe?
Todd

[daveb]

I wanted to show my test adsense integration page (http://www.tradingassistants.biz/linkstestpage.html) and get some opinions. I want to make sure it is not in any violation. Thanks.

[angellica2017]

hmmmmmmmmmmm...... likely

[manateemedia]

I wanted to show my test adsense integration page (http://www.tradingassistants.biz/linkstestpage.html) and get some opinions. I want to make sure it is not in any violation. Thanks.

lol very good way to get your account terminated. First, there's no content...second you have ebay ads with adsense. You can't have both. It's against google's tos to have contextual ads from a competing company

[daveb]

lol very good way to get your account terminated. First, there's no content...second you have ebay ads with adsense. You can't have both. It's against google's tos to have contextual ads from a competing company

Actually, there are no other ads on this page other than Googles. The two columns to the right are simply links to various pages on eBay that just look like ads. This was the recommendation of the original post.

[manateemedia]

Actually, there are no other ads on this page other than Googles. The two columns to the right are simply links to various pages on eBay that just look like ads. This was the recommendation of the original post.

Well, I wouldn't recommend you keep it up. I got a warning from Google on Friday for using this technique. From what I hear, once you get banned from Google, you're out. But, usually they will give you a warning first... but is it worth the risk?

The links on the right mimic Google ads, so they will probably send you a warning or just ban you eventually.

I really think all of these silly adsense ebooks are a pile of junk. I'm amazed Google puts up with them. There is no easy way out - you have to work and create a ton of content... or create a site where others create content.

There are too many people creating garbage sites that in the end will only hurt Google, and in turn hurt everyone using adsense.

Ask yourself this question - would you BUY ads on Google? If so, how would you want them to be presented?

[daveb]

manateemedia - I understand what you are saying and I agree that there is a lot of useless websites out there. Still, a little creativity in the way content is displayed and ad layouts will generate more clicks then a site that has easy to notice text ads.

While I do want to maximize my adsense revenue, I surley do not want to get banned. What did your page look like which you received a warning from Google? If you have a screen shot that would be even better. Thanks for your input. Dave

[wm8c]

manateemedia - I understand what you are saying and I agree that there is a lot of useless websites out there. Still, a little creativity in the way content is displayed and ad layouts will generate more clicks then a site that has easy to notice text ads.

While I do want to maximize my adsense revenue, I surley do not want to get banned. What did your page look like which you received a warning from Google? If you have a screen shot that would be even better. Thanks for your input. Dave
Dave, I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish with that page but if I got there through a search, I would be mad and clicking away somewhere else very quickly because there is nothing of value on the page with regard to content. I can't answer your question about the Ebay "look-alike" contextual ads you are using as links and what might happen, but I would say it's risky at best although some what creative I must admit.

You stated that you want to maximize your revenue, then I would start with some good old fashioned "original" content. The page is SPAM at it's best and nothing more. I don't mean to be harsh, but the internet is full of those kinds of junk SPAM pages with no content or value to the searcher and you will find that over time, Google will de-index all of them eventually.

I'm sure you have multitudes of talent, so why not put it to use creating a page on how you use Ebay, or sell on Ebay, whatever on Ebay, or something like that and then stick your adsense on it. At least then your vistors would find something of value they could use. I would say you heading towards being banned with a page like that, but just my opinion.

[daveb]

Todd,

Thanks for your input. That links page was just a thought and now I know I will actually use this page (http://www.tradingassistants.biz/links.html) instead. The site is not complete or accessible to the general public yet. I hope to have it operational soon and I do plan on having a lot of free "quality" content in this site. :)

Regards,
Dave

[wm8c]

Todd,

Thanks for your input. That links page was just a thought and now I know I will actually use this page (http://www.tradingassistants.biz/links.html) instead. The site is not complete or accessible to the general public yet. I hope to have it operational soon and I do plan on having a lot of free "quality" content in this site. :)

Regards,
Dave

Hi Dave,

I'd say that you off in a much better and "safer" direction with that than where you were originally headed. :)

[carminejg3]

lol very good way to get your account terminated. First, there's no content...second you have ebay ads with adsense. You can't have both. It's against google's tos to have contextual ads from a competing company


I'm thinking that this user tried some other method other then making links look like google ads..... "ebay doesn't have a program" (that I know of) but if you mouse over the ebay tags nothing happens, so this user was tring to blend in the ads by google....

[wm8c]

I'm thinking that this user tried some other method other then making links look like google ads..... "ebay doesn't have a program" (that I know of) but if you mouse over the ebay tags nothing happens, so this user was tring to blend in the ads by google....
That is all he was doing, and they weren't text ads from "Ebay" but even though stealth is a great tool, you should always be careful and I say better safe than sorry. What he was doing may be perfectly ok (although there still wasn't any content on the page) and Dave can always contact Google and get their opinion on doing something like that right from them to answer the question. That would be great way to test the theory...

[daveb]

That is all he was doing, and they weren't text ads from "Ebay" but even though stealth is a great tool, you should always be careful and I say better safe than sorry. What he was doing may be perfectly ok (although there still wasn't any content on the page) and Dave can always contact Google and get their opinion on doing something like that right from them to answer the question. That would be great way to test the theory...

I think that is a good idea. I will get Google's opinion of this page and report back what they say. Even if it is okay, I still don't think I will use that method or page.

[wm8c]

I think that is a good idea. I will get Google's opinion of this page and report back what they say. Even if it is okay, I still don't think I will use that method or page.
I'd be real curious to what they have to say about the implementation, as I'm sure many that have been following this thread also would be.

I agree with you that your new approach is going to be much better with regard to CTR and getting some real visits but if Google approves of the implementation from that earlier page, you might be able to combine the tactics you were after on the original page with the new ideas from the current page, add some great content and have some killer pages. Let us know what you find out Dave :)

[daveb]

Well I did receive a reply from Google on my links page. This is what they said...

"According to our program policies, Google ads may not be displayed
anywhere on a site that also contains ads from a competitor that mimic
or
attempt to be associated with Google ads. We thank you for your
cooperation.

You can review this, and all Google AdSense program policies, at
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies "

So if I read this correctly...my page is in accordance to their policies since I and not using any other competitors ads. What do you think?

Dave
www.55plus-housing.com (http://www.55plus-housing.com)
www.tradingassistants.biz (http://tradingassistants.biz)

[wm8c]

Well I did receive a reply from Google on my links page. This is what they said...

"According to our program policies, Google ads may not be displayed
anywhere on a site that also contains ads from a competitor that mimic
or
attempt to be associated with Google ads. We thank you for your
cooperation.

You can review this, and all Google AdSense program policies, at
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies "

So if I read this correctly...my page is in accordance to their policies since I and not using any other competitors ads. What do you think?

Dave
www.55plus-housing.com (http://www.55plus-housing.com)
www.tradingassistants.biz (http://tradingassistants.biz)
Hi Dave,

Well that was not much of an answer. You could be correct in your interpretation and they may be fine. I actually keyed in on another part of your reply from them and it was the part of the wording that states "that mimic or attempt to be associated with Google ads." I would take that as nothing that "attempts to disguise itself as Google ads" even though as you stated they are not Google ads but links that "mimic" Google ads.

I'm not sure Dave and I think I would see if you can get a better answer than the one you got like "yes this is ok", or "no it's not ok". I think they rolled around the real answer and left a lot up to interpretation.

Anyway, you might be right and you might be wrong but I would be careful I guess without a more definitive answer from them. I've had my site around for a few years and I'm not willing to risk losing it or adsense on "gray areas" but if your willing to risk it, it's ultimately up to you. Personally I'd make sure they understood that they are not ads but links and get a better answer than just a quote from the TOS. Remember, your talking about your potential income so it's important for you to know.

[carminejg3]

It seems to me that you had either yahoo ads or something else on that page that is contextual based and google contacted you because of it.

so you removed it and then posted the site, so we here really didn't see your "whole" picture.

[daveb]

It seems to me that you had either yahoo ads or something else on that page that is contextual based and google contacted you because of it.

so you removed it and then posted the site, so we here really didn't see your "whole" picture.

The only thing I removed was the Adsense Text Ad (I placed a note on that page where it was placed). There was no other advertising on this page. I just had standard links that looked like google adsense text ads. I contacted Google to see if they had an issue with my page which is what I posted up before.

Their explanation was vague and open to interpretation. But I really didn't expect them to come out and say it is perfectly okay to make pages like that. It was just an experiment. :D

[wm8c]

It seems to me that you had either yahoo ads or something else on that page that is contextual based and google contacted you because of it.

so you removed it and then posted the site, so we here really didn't see your "whole" picture.

Dave had contacted Google himself, not the other way around and it was becasue of the question about something he was doing on his site.

What he had, and it was somewhat clever lookiing actually although I don't know how effective it would be in his implementation, is that he re-created blocks that looked like adsense skyscraper ad blocks and placed them (2) next to one actual Google skyscraper block.

So what you saw was three skyscraper blocks on the page, but only the first one was actual Google ads, the other two blocks were actually links to other pages and just "looked like" the Google ads but weren't.

Now, due to lack of content on the page because this was all there were (the three skyscraper blocks) there could be an issue of having the Adsense on a page with zero content, but the question was, that if there were content on the page, would using these "look alike" blocks be within the TOS, since they weren't really ads but just "looked like them".

Interpreting the the TOS with the section they sent to Dave doesn't really fully address what he was doing, hence the reason I mentioned to Dave that he really needs them to qualify their response with a detailed answer for this particular case and not just the generic response he received.

It's more a question of curiosity at this point as to whether this reversed method would be allowable. You are not allowed to place adsense on pages with other "ads" that look like Google ads, but if they are "creative page links" and "not ads" the statement may not apply.

[carminejg3]

Sorry Dave I got confused with the different topics.

I thought google contacted you, and then you posted but it seems like it was the other way around.

I've noticed that google is very forgiving as long as you have a site that offers content first and ads second.

Stay away from fake looking links, and trying to trick people into clicking your links as with asking permission, I would only do it on really borderline ad placements, but for the most part their tos will tell you.


Again sorry.

[Loz]

Cool, but wouldn't it be best to blend the google colour urls (grey) with the others, or make the others grey?
ie, these type of sections.

"Viewed 8 times - Created by candyhe."

[cheryl-wright]

I've been to loads of sites with no content - just google ads. :mad:

So how are they getting away with it, and more to the point, how are the ads coming through with the correct data? :confused:



Cheryl

[angellica2017]

C'mon Dave...prove it to us! :p

[bowman]

Blending ads is absolutely the way to go.

Actually Google themselves recommend that you choose colors and ad type to blend with your page

For my blogs at Blogger I usually just make a simple adaptation of their most basic template

looks like this (same as sig): http://stock-photo.blogspot.com

The only changes are harmonizing the colors between the text headlines and the goo ads

Placement of course also plays in - depends on how far you want to go - go too far on a site where you deliver quality content and you might irritate real readers that you want to harvest for lists etc