Images next to ads
Filed under: Adsense by Sasha on December 20, 2006
Many webmasters and online marketing experts used to put small images next to Google Adsense ads. This little trick improved their click trough rate (CTR) because it misguided visitors who thought that images have to do something with links (ads) next to them and in most cases this is not true.
I have heard that people used to send emails to Google Adsense team regarding this issue and that the response was to put a border or in other way distinguish images from ads.
Well, the problem is now gone since Google announced at their official Adsense blog that they do not approve images next to ads in any form and again they said that you shouldn’t trick your visitors in clicking on ads. Looking at this situation from webmaster view you are probably not very happy but if you take a second to look from publisher’s point of view then you have to realize that they are happy since the worst thing that can happen to a publisher is a large number of clicks that do not convert into sales.
Webmasters who removed images the first day reported a 25% smaller CTR so I guess they need a new way to blend ads or maybe another trick that could boost their CTR back to what it used to be. One idea comes to mind, playing little flash movies above ads. I’m not sure if this is against terms of service and it should be checked with Google team.
If you are one of these webmasters who were using images next to ads I feel sorry for you but I ‘m sure you will come up with a new solution very fast and that your earnings won’t suffer that much, if they do then you are not doing you job very well 
All your questions regarding this topic are answered at:
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2006/12/…nt-policy.html
Thank you for your time.
December 26th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
[...] Just recently Google has announced on their officialAdsense blog that they do not approve images close to ads. You can read more about it in my Images next to ads article [...]
January 1st, 2007 at 9:46 am
it’s good to know that Google has done such but there is always a better way at getting clicks these days because most site visitors are now intelligent according to studies and that most of them do avoid these types of schemes
anyway, it’s still good and better this way. there are other ways to paly around with your AdSense Ads anyway. those of you out there, try changing the colors and themes instead of manipulating clicks maliciously by implementing beyond the lines tactics.
don;t forget that there is a law on AdSense that tells about the do’s and dont’s. Good luck!!!
January 11th, 2007 at 12:21 am
I saw a dramatic drop in ctr when I had to remove images, and i’m still working on other ways to get it back up