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!
Hello,
Well, Google Adsense is a big big source of income for us, but with lack of knowledge, it is just a waste of time. As, in my past I lost my first account due to invalid activity and that was my biggest mistake.
But after that mistake, I learn a lot reading number of tips online and now, I got my new adsense account and I am making some money with it and I hope it will increase with time.
Btw, Great Post! Will help many.
Cheers.
what’s a visual example of #2?
great points…
i’m trying to find what other ads i can use as i have an adsense account – like chitika, adbrite, etc…
thnk u !
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 …
What about below static menu? Anyone knows?
It makes sense. Most of the bloggers do the second mistake.
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.
blog loading taking time . reduce some plugins
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 😉
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…
yup . this is the mistake most of them does
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.
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…
i used to follow Gagan’s blog beepthegeek , so i know this menu overlap thing . 😛
though it is a personal experience , cant say what experts have to say
yes , most bloggers dont follow the 2nd one , but i think if our click rate is below 3% , you need not worry
Cool tips to Follow. Thanks a lot
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.
Nice info about adsense rule. Many are ignorant of google policy.Its good to know even minute things.
I have seen many blogger making second mistake most.
I don’t care!!
I have a drop down!
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.. 🙂
Not 100%! 8)
Excellent tips Gagan, very common indeed!
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?
Really if your adsense account is banned than, you can’t enable it.
thanks for the tip
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.
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?
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.
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. 😉
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.
What is wrong if I place drop down menu? Can you tell me?
@ 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
Hi Shiva,
Mashable is a premium user of Adsense, so this rule is wont for them 😀
I am doing both of this mistake. I will solve it quickly. Thanks for sharing.
thanks for the tip bro
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
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.
I did one of this mistakes in the beginning , and then i corrected it 🙂 🙂
I think Im following both the rules. Thnx for awareness and gesture article 🙂