Ad and image placement: a policy clarification

We've recently received a number of emails from publishers asking how we feel about the placement of images near Google ad units. There's been some confusion on this issue, and so we turned to our policy team to set the record straight.

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.

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Referral policies - clarified

We've noticed some confusion over the program policies associated with referrals. Specifically, some publishers tell us they don't understand why we allow "explicit endorsement" for referral ads, but do not allow the same type of "unnatural attention" for our AdSense for content and AdSense for search ads. We thought we'd clarify our referrals program's policies and explain why we do not allow the same treatment for other Google ads.

First, referral ads are credited on a cost per action (CPA) basis. This means that there is a specific action such as an install for Google Pack that your visitors must complete before you generate earnings. The advertiser places a certain value on that action being completed, and is willing to pay you a percentage of that value. If you highlight the referral ad and encourage more people to complete the action, the value that the advertiser places on that action does not diminish.

For example, Google is willing to pay up to $2 for each new user who downloads and installs Google Pack. If you encourage people to download and install Pack on your site and the conversion rate goes up, we're happy to pay the additional cost, because it directly translates to more Pack users for us.

However, this isn't the case for most AdSense for content and AdSense for search ads, which are served on a cost per click (CPC) or cost per thousand impression (CPM) basis. It's generally harder for an advertiser to decide on a CPC/CPM value than it is to decide on a CPA value because multiple factors go into deciding the value of a click or impression. Encouraging clicks on these ads not only drives lower quality traffic to an advertiser’s site but provides poor data for an advertiser to make an appropriate bid on the click. This results in a poor experience for visitors and advertisers, which isn’t good for you as a publisher.

Additionally, you can endorse referral ads because you know the exact ad you are displaying on your site. You are offering your visitors genuine advice based on the products and services you think they'll like. However, with CPC ads you don't know which ads will show up -- it would be disingenuous for you to recommend the products or services in your ads in this case, which could result in visitors being misled.

Of course, publishers may never encourage people to click on any ad, including referrals, for deceptive purposes. For example, you can't ask visitors to click on a referral ad to make you money. Any endorsement or attention drawn to a referral ad must be done in a way that supports the intended use of the product or service associated with it.

In short, our policies on endorsing ads are based on our concern for the visitor, the advertiser, and the publisher. We strive to make AdSense work best for all our partners.

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A note on traffic exchange programs

We understand that our publishers are always looking for ways to attract interested users to their sites. But using third-party tools or services to increase your site traffic may lead to invalid clicks or impressions and result in your account being disabled. For this reason, we'd like to provide you with some guidance about this.

As many of you already know, our program policies strictly prohibit any means of artificially generating ad impressions or clicks, including third-party services such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, auto-surf, and click-exchange programs. These programs offer incentives for users to view web pages or click on ads, resulting in activity that is harmful to our advertisers.

We occasionally receive questions from publishers interested in using traffic exchanges to bring traffic to their site. While these services may help advertise your site, we don't recommend using them, as they may also result in similar invalid activity. We realize that you may have questions about a specific traffic service and whether it could potentially create invalid impressions or clicks. However, please understand that we're unable to comment on any particular third-party service.

As a parting note, we encourage you to read through our tips and guidelines and Webmaster Guidelines to help keep your account in good standing. These guidelines advise publishers to "Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first," and we feel this is ultimately the best way to attract more visitors to your site and build a truly loyal audience.

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If it ain't broke...

We know how important it is to maintain the quality of your site and the experience your users have there, and we often receive email from publishers asking about specific ad implementations. While we encourage you to tailor your ads to fit the look and feel of your sites, we'd like to remind you to only use the options provided within the AdSense Setup tab of your account. As you may know, our program policies strictly prohibit altering the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of Google ads or AdSense for search boxes for any reason. Some examples of these modifications include:

- Implementing the AdSense ad code in a "floating box script"
- Manipulating the ad targeting using hidden keywords or IFRAMEs
- Altering the height or width of an ad unit
- Pre-populating the AdSense for search box with specific queries
- Creating direct links to AdSense for search results

Once you've generated the ad code in your account's AdSense Setup tab, we ask that you incorporate it into your pages exactly as it was generated, without altering any portion of the code. Doing so will also help ensure that you're properly credited for valid clicks and impressions.

For more information on working with your ads and improving their performance, feel free to visit our Help Center.

Discuss this post

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Encouraging clicks

Many of you may remember our December post on the placement of images near ads. In that spirit, we'd like to remind you of a general policy issue: encouraging clicks.

As many of you know, our program policies prohibit any means of encouraging users to click on Google ads or bringing excessive attention to ad units. For example, sites may not contain phrases such as "click the ads," "support our sponsors," "visit these recommended links," or other similar language that could apply to the Google ads on your site. In addition, publishers are not permitted to label the Google ads with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements."

In light of this policy, you may be wondering if you're allowed to recommend your referral products to your users. As explained in Dan's post from February, unlike with AdSense for content ads, you can endorse your referral products by calling attention to the button or text link. If you believe in the quality of the product that you're referring, feel free to let your users know.

Generally, visitors should only click on Google ads if they're interested in the services being advertised. Encouraging them to click on your Google ads, either directly or indirectly, can lead to inflated advertiser costs -- and can cause an account to be disabled.

If you'd like to improve the performance of your ad units and attract more interested users, check out our Help Center's optimization tips to take full advantage of what AdSense has to offer.

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Don't run the risk of click and miss

As you may know, our tips and guidelines mention that "users should only click on Google ads if they're interested in the services being advertised". While there are many precautions a publisher can take to avoid encouraging clicks on their ads, we've found that some implementations of the ad code can lead to accidental clicks that the publisher may not have been able to predict. Some implementations that could lead to accidental clicks include placing your ads:

- In close proximity to Macromedia Flash games
- Under pop-ups or download prompts
- Near site navigation controls on your pages, such as drop-downs or menu links

Generally, we ask that you not place your ads near features of your site that your users may interact with by clicking. If your site contains elements that increase the number of ad clicks without increasing business results for the advertiser, we may consider these clicks to be invalid. "Business results" can range from an online sale to a page view. If we detect enough of these clicks and determine that the risk to our advertisers is too great, we may disable the account. To maintain compliance with our program policies and ensure that your users don't inadvertently click on the ads on your site, we strongly recommend that you move any ad units that are in close proximity to interactive site features.

As always, thanks in advance for your cooperation!

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Accidents happen

As most of you know, our program policies state that publishers are not permitted to click on their own ads for any reason. For this reason, we've received many emails from publishers letting us know that they've accidentally clicked on their own ads. If you're one of these publishers, we truly appreciate the efforts you've made to monitor your account and keep it in good standing. However, we do understand that an accidental click may occur from time to time, so there's no need to contact us each instance this occurs.

Because we closely monitor all account activity using engineering systems and thorough human analysis, chances are we've already detected your clicks on your ads and discounted them. While these clicks still show in your reports, we filter out their associated earnings so that advertisers aren't charged. However, please keep in mind that we don't ignore the clicks completely; if it appears to us that a publisher has been clicking on his own ads to inflate his earnings or an advertiser's costs, we may disable the account to protect our advertisers' interests.

If you've been clicking your ads out of interest or to see who was advertising on your site, we strongly recommend using the AdSense preview tool as an alternative. This tool will allow you to check the destination of ads on your page without the risk of generating invalid clicks. You can also find more ways to view the URLs of your Google ads by visiting our Help Center.

Discuss this post

This marks the last post of our ‘Policy Thursdays’ series – we hope you've found the information from the last few weeks useful. Thanks for following along and participating in the AdSense Help Forum discussions!

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Policy updates -- and it's not even Thursday!

After our many weeks of policy posts on Thursdays, you're probably intimately familiar with all of our program policies. So we can imagine your surprise when you woke up today, got your morning coffee, and settled in for your daily re-read of the policies -- only to find they were different! To help lessen the shock, we've highlighted the two notable changes below:

We're now requiring AdSense publishers to comply with the spirit of our Page Quality Guidelines. If you're an AdWords advertiser, you might already be familiar with these guidelines, which are intended to provide a better experience for users, advertisers, and publishers alike. If you use any kind of online advertising, know that these guidelines encourage publishers to, among other things, create sites with simple navigation and substantial, useful content.

This new policy requirement doesn't mean that you can't use online advertising; it simply means that if you do, you need to be sure that the way you advertise meets with the guidelines, whether it's through AdWords or through any other advertising program. However you advertise your site, it can always benefit from significant and relevant content, clear navigation, and the other points in our quality guidelines.

The other noteworthy update: now you can place up to three link units on a page. As we've noted in the past, link units are a great way to provide relevant, user-friendly ads in hard-to-fit locations on your site. With the new opportunity to place three link units -- and the plethora of link unit formats -- we hope you'll find great ways of incorporating this unique ad format on your site.

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