Marhgil sent me a link to one of his blogs pointing the possibility that the plugin Adsense Beautifier could violate Adsense Terms of Service (TOS).
Here’s a direct clarification about that issue as lifted from the Official Inside Adsense blog:
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.
Does this mean I can’t place ads on pages with images?
You can definitely place Google ads on pages containing images — just make sure that the ads and images are not arranged in a way that could easily mislead or confuse your visitors. For example, if you run a stock photography site with a catalog of thumbnail images, don’t line the ads up with the thumbnails in a way that could be misleading. Consider using a full border around your ads or changing your ad colors, for example.
What do unacceptable implementations look like?
Here are some examples that wouldn’t comply with our policies.
We’ve seen a lot of people changing the default image from the Adsense Beautifier plugin and using very related pictures or icons with their content.
The plugin itself IS NOT violative of the Adsense TOS. It’s the use of overoptimized images. See previous discussion on this topic.
Thanks to Marhgil for the tip. :)
I think the default images from Adsense Beautifier are ok.
What about Adbutler Beautifier? Are they as picky as Google? I never made much from them but maybe it’s worth another try.
@ Obet:
Now THAT’s gonna be kicked out of adsense sooner or later!
The Beautifier really increased my Adsense earnings (although I’m a long way from t=my first check), and I’d hate it if Google just bans them altogether.
Eric, I believe yours might be against the TOS. Try removing them for 24 hours to see if there’s a difference in CTR. If it’s not that bad, leave the images off. Too bad Google did not give us any examples of image usage that would be within the TOS. I wonder if this is cool with Google? http://asiansweetheart.net/thai_beauty.html
hala… Abe can you please check if the images in my Adsense beautifier violates the TOS?
pinalitan ko kasi ang deafult images nito eh.
Thanks
I think it’s fair enough both for publisher and advertiser.
It’s back to Photoshop again with those customized images for the Adsense beautifier plugin…
This should be a good discussion topic. Darren Rowse did a pretty through post on this last night and I thought of this blog right away, because it’s one of the only ones I read regularly that has the little images routinely next to the AdSense ads.
I believe Abe has mentioned that they did increase his click throughs in the past, for myself, I don’t think I would use them at all … but then I certainly am ultra-conservative (or is that “chicken”? *smile*
I’ll have to make time tomorrow to see what Shoemoney is doing, he even had a neat on-line picture selector for keywords which I believe Google asked him to take down.
How much improvement does AdSense beautifier really make?
so the stock images that come with adsense beautifier is ok?