Images Alongside Google Adsense Legal Again?
Here is a comment by Bradfitz found in Darren Rowse post on Images Alongside Google Adsense. Read every word carefully.
Darren, thanks for the heads-up on this. I am very curious though, I noticed on your other sites (laptops, pda’s, cel phones, etc) You have not yet removed the images that line up with your leader-board Adsense ads.
I was always a bit surprised you used this tactic yourself, but even more so given the fact the there were no borders between your images and the ads, which the Adsense TOS required (suggested?) there to be before this new policy was released.So give us the skinny… are you boycotting this new rule? Waiting for them to give you a warning? Waiting for your graphic designer to get to it? Is the horizontal leader-board/image association a loophole to the rule and this only applies to vertical blocks? Or do you secretly own Google now? :)
Cheers and thanks again for posting this.
Below is a screenshot of Darren Rowse’s music phone blog. I thought placing images alongside Google Adsense is illegal, not to mention made worst with no border between the ads and the image. I wonder, How did Darren manage to insert 4 Ad unit when Google Adsense says only 3 Ad units are allowed. Don’t believe me? Visit his Livingroom blog and count the number of Ad Unit.
Against Policy To Place Images Alongside Google Adsense
About my previous post on placing images beside Google Adsense Ads, this is the latest update from the adsense publisher, found via the official adsense blog:
image source: Rojak
image source: Problogger
Can I place small images next to my Google ads?
We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads. If your visitors believe that the images and the ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find something that isn’t actually being offered. That’s not a good experience for users or advertisers.
Publishers should also be careful to avoid similar implementations that people could find misleading. For instance, if your site contains a directory of Flash games, you should not format the ads to mimic the game descriptions.
What if I place a space or a line between my images and my ads? Would that work?
No. If the ads and the images appear to be associated, inserting a small space or a line between the images and ads will not make the implementation compliant.
I guess plugins like Adsense beautifier is illegal now… technically. It is a grey area, my advise is to play safe by not placing images alongside Google Adsense.
