2 Common Web Design Mistakes That Violates Google Adsense Rules
Written by Gagan in Design - Print This Post
Guest Post By Gaganpreet Singh
Today I was randomly visiting other blogs and saw that most of bloggers made the same two design mistakes that violates Adsense rules. Majority of the bloggers making the same mistake forced me to write this article.
So, if you Adsense user, you must read this article. Lets start:
First mistake
According to Google policy, we cannot place Google Ads under drop down menus. These drop down menus are generally in navigation menu bar. This generates the risk of accidental clicks. I’ll explain this with the help of a screenshot:
When drop down menu overlaps Google Ads, it may generate the risk of accidental clicks thus taking user to a new site that he/she does not want to visit. You can read more about it on official Adsense Blog. This is the first mistake that most of the bloggers make. Lets move to the other one.
Second Mistake
According to Google, all webmasters must write “ADVERTISEMENT” text below post title. Below is what Google Adsense official blog says:
Ads shouldn’t be placed under a title or section heading in a way that implies that the ads are not ads.
Most of bloggers has ignored this rule also and does not follow this instruction. According to me, you must play safe with Adsense. Good luck!
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I think Im following both the rules. Thnx for awareness and gesture article
.-= sidduz’s last blog…Sony Ericsson Secret Code Tips and Tricks =-.
I did one of this mistakes in the beginning , and then i corrected it
.-= Tech Sputter's last blog…Samsung Champ… =-.
Gagan!! Another guest post for HBB, I was unaware of this, Now not gonna step into these two mistakes. Thanks for the info & creating an awareness between the fellow mates.
Gagan Thanks for notifying me last time when I was also doing the same mistakes. I had changed but yesterday again I saw that the dropdown navigation menu was again overlapping since my categories had increased so I deleted the categories. Duh
.-= Shiva | Web Magazine’s last blog…25 Best Books for WordPress Bloggers =-.
Hey you have better fixed the CSS of the nav bar.. instead of deleting the categories !
p.s. thanks Gagan for writing on this well known mistakes, yet I am aware of it but forgot about the second tip while last theme change on my blog.
.-= Hami's last blog…<a href="http://www.activr.com/2010/06/04/how-to-get-invitation-for-google-adsense-new-interface/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+activr+%28ACTIVR%29">Get Invitation for Google Adsense New Interface</a> =-.
thanks for the tip bro
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I am doing both of this mistake. I will solve it quickly. Thanks for sharing.
.-= Hack Tutors’s last blog…Guess and Vote for FIFA world cup 2010 winner, What do you expect? =-.
What is wrong if I place drop down menu? Can you tell me?
.-= Hack Tutors’s last blog…Guess and Vote for FIFA world cup 2010 winner, What do you expect? =-.
@ Hack Tutor
Nothing wrong in placing a drop down menu, the problem is when you place some ads below your drop down menu, it may generate some accidental clicks, as a result when others surfing your blog due to some accidental clicks, it may direct them to some other site/page, so that we are annoying our visitors. The next thing is, one should not click ones own adsense ads, by placing the ads below the drop down menu, there is a chance for you to click it accidentally, so the risk is higher
I think this is what GAGAN figured out in this article..
I just noticed, even Mashable violates Adsense rules. Check their topmost navigation bar at the header, you will see that the drop downs menu overlaps the Adsense Ads
.-= Shiva | Web Magazine’s last blog…Choosing A Perfect Affiliate Marketing Software =-.
Hi Shiva,
Mashable is a premium user of Adsense, so this rule is wont for them
Many webmaster dont follow the second one.
Even I feel it is not a must to do that.
Already good ads is mentioned in bottom corner dude.
Really if your adsense account is banned than, you can’t enable it.
thanks for the tip
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Hey Gagan, Can you please tell me where is it mentioned in Google Policy that ads can’t be placed under drop down menus.
I checked this page https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&hl=en&sourceid=aso&subid=ww-en-et-storefrontEN_v2_ProgramPoliciesLink&medium=link
Have a look here:
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/03/another-look-at-optimizations.html
Its on their official Adsense blog !!
Where in this http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/03/another-look-at-optimizations.html it is mentioned that a publisher can’t place ads under drop down menus
Ya.. where?
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sorry, gave the wrong list, check this out:
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2007/05/clarification-on-accidental-clicks.html
Cool… I read this one also – http://adsense.blogspot.com/2007/05/clarification-on-accidental-clicks.html
But where in this is it mentioned that keeping the ads under drop down menu is a adsense policy violation.
Mike Deeringer, the guy who wrote the adsense post which you mentioned just mentions that it is a tip to avoid accidental clicks. He nowhere mentions it is a violation.
Let me know if I missed reading any line which mentions it is a violation
@Gagan, I am still waiting for your reply. As far as I know Adsense under Drop Down Menu is not a adsense policy violation.
[...] the visit, the blogs that I thought needs improvement in the design or violating Google Adsense rules, I dropped the webmaster an email and suggested few ways to improve his/her blog. In the email I [...]
Many Bloggers especially some popular Blogs ignore Adsense rules but Google do not take action on these popular blogs because they are the large source of their income.
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I agree! no wonder i’m still 4 years with adsense…
I would like to mention one more which is never give your blog/sites link out directly! do you know about this?
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Excellent tips Gagan, very common indeed!
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing's last blog…It’s His FIRST Comment Contest! =-.
and this website violated as well? i think I made the same mistakes from my other blogs and that’s the price of not reading AdSense TOS..
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Not 100%!
I don’t care!!
I have a drop down!
.-= Chethan’s last blog…4 Videos to Watch on World Environment Day =-.
I have seen many blogger making second mistake most.
.-= Arun’s last blog…The Ad that made me to click 79+ clicks!! =-.
Nice info about adsense rule. Many are ignorant of google policy.Its good to know even minute things.
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with adsense, its best to follow the rules very strictly, if you want to be with them for a long time. the point here is to avoid accidental clicks, so if any design mistake is causing that, one must look to correct it asap.
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Cool tips to Follow. Thanks a lot
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yes , most bloggers dont follow the 2nd one , but i think if our click rate is below 3% , you need not worry
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though it is a personal experience , cant say what experts have to say
.-= Xpress Music’s last blog…Nokia 5233 Xpress Music Phone Specifications =-.
i used to follow Gagan’s blog beepthegeek , so i know this menu overlap thing .
.-= Xpress Music’s last blog…Nokia 5233 Xpress Music Phone Specifications =-.
Lots of people who are using Google Adsense has been banned for violating this rules, I always advise anyone who want to apply for Google Adsense to read the TOS over and over again and make sure that he or her following the rules to the later…
Both the rules you mentioned make sense. Especially the second, not enticing the user with a header or title to trick the user into thinking the ads are something else. There is nothing worse than clicking a link thinking it will take you to an internal page then it goes and takes you to a totally different site…. not cool.
.-= Sydney Web Design’s last blog…Which CMS to Use – Content Management Systems Explained =-.
yup . this is the mistake most of them does
I can imagine people committing the above 2 mistakes, accidentally. But can you believe that there are bloggers who intentionally labels Adsense ads with something like – “More Info”, “Latest News”, “Free Gadgets”… Its suicide…
I still refuse to believe that there are a whole lot of guys online who don’t know what Google ads looks like.
I’ve never confused an adsense block for content even when I was still fresh on the internet.
P.S: Your blog’s new theme looks great though you’re missing the subscribe to comments plug-in
blog loading taking time . reduce some plugins
This is a great eye opener for all blogger. We need to study carefully the rules and regulation of putting ads to our pages because when Google caught you doing some violation this may give you some trouble. Thanks for that observation.
It makes sense. Most of the bloggers do the second mistake.
What about below static menu? Anyone knows?
oh i did the first mistake for 1 day
(got approved 2 days back only ). will i be forgiven 
now i have that rectangulat block above the category bar 
and also the ad under the title…literally everyone is using that …