2 Common Web Design Mistakes That Violates Google Adsense Rules

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:

DropDown

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!

46 thoughts on “2 Common Web Design Mistakes That Violates Google Adsense Rules”

  1. 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.

    Reply
  2. 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 !

    Reply
  3. oh i did the first mistake for 1 day πŸ™ (got approved 2 days back only ). will i be forgiven πŸ˜• now i have that rectangulat block above the category bar πŸ™‚ and also the ad under the title…literally everyone is using that …

    Reply
  4. 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.

    Reply
  5. 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 πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  6. 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…

    Reply
  7. 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.

    Reply
  8. 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…

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  9. 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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  10. 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.

    Reply
  11. 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.. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  12. I agree! no wonder i’m still 4 years with adsense… πŸ™‚

    I would like to mention one more which is never give your blog/sites link out directly! do you know about this?

    Reply
  13. 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.

    Reply
  14. Pingback: Two Hours Of Work And I Got 20+ Loyal Readers To My Blog : Blog Traffic Series Part 20 | Creative Blogging Ideas
  15. 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. πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  16. 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.

    Reply
    • @ 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 πŸ˜‰

      I think this is what GAGAN figured out in this article.. πŸ˜‰

      Reply
  17. 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

    Reply
    • 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.

      Reply

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