Google Say.

Again, I read again the Critters posting in the DP forum..... and I still want to share with all of you. Maybe this "story" will give us a new refreshment about placing an image above adsense.

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Google are now advising publishers to be very careful not to place images that could deceive users directly above the ads. It is still OK to do, but do not use images that could be deceptive to the visitor. Let me explain with some examples.

Bob has a site about iPods, he has ads for iPod related sites. After reading this thread he puts some generic iPod images above his ads, the 4 images are:
iPod photo, a case for the new iPod shuffle, an iPod mini, and a dock station for iPods

Google will take issue with Bob because the images are suggesting a specific offering at the advertisers site. as the ads are random, a user clicking the ad under the iPod shuffle case could get a site that does not sell that iPod shuffle case. They have been mislead.

Highly general images are less likely to be deceptive than very specific images that suggest a specific offering at the advertiser's site.

Bob can do a few things to keep google and his users happy:
1) put a visible border around the ad units.
2) move the images away from the ad units so there is a clear gap.
3) pick very generic iPod images, to minimize the risk of people clicking looking for cases.

This will take your CTR down, but lets turn a frown upside down:

1) users are less likely to leave your site
2) users are not been mislead
3) advertisers are not having their costs driven up (they are people just like us)
4) your CPM should go up as the users are more likely to use/buy from the advertisers site if they are there and find what they expected.

To confirm, it is still OK to have images above ads. But be very careful not to place images that could deceive user.
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What a great content right? Thanks again to Critters. It's really good and very useful...!!

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