I am so surprised how people immediately removed the images next to ads in like 1 day! Wtf guys? Google's message is quite clear. You cannot have any intent to deceive people as if the image is related to the ad. Unless you do this, it is OK to capture your visitors' attention to the ads by way of pictures next to them!!! Look at G's two examples. Both are "obviously" to deceive people. But instead of those images, let's say, if there were cute cartoons, then it would NOT be to deceive people, but just to lure them, which is OK.
Huh? I don't see how having "cute cartoons" next to the picture changes anything. They said: That seems pretty clear to me. It doesn't matter if the picture is of a fluffy dog, a spaceship or a cloud. If they are line up with the ads, it is a policy violation.
Did google remove your images or did they ask you to remove them? I didnt think that google had the power to change your page themselfs.
so if your images are not lined up OR if you use 5 (talking about the 4 image example) then it would be okay?
Well, of course if you did it in a way similar to G's examples, meaning that you "had" some purpose to deceive and that it is clear, then, it is better to remove them of course! But my point is that it is not like a black and white thing. It is interesting that everyone immediately took action right now. That policy already existed though it was not that clear. The thing is, though, that there are some borders. Anyone who does not cross those borders is fine with no risk involved.
I think it's pretty black and white to be honest. For an image to have any significant effect on your CTR, it needs to be aligned with the ad unit in a way that draws attention to it. If it doesn't draw attention to the ad then surely the image serves no purpose? It may as well not be there. The only people who will suffer from this are people who are aligning images with their ads to help increase their CTR.
Whtever the images may be, cute cartoons or porno images they are not allowed. I think there is no such software yet to find whts there inside the image whether a cartoon or a celeb to make google to identify what type of image that is.
Remove them is better than losing your account, You are a risk taker but others are not because google is not suppose to be a human, they block people like they all are machines
I have two reindeer having a snowball fight on my website. It's above some Google ads and I fail to see how anyone could possibly think they are clicking through to an ad that promises to deliver either reindeer or snowballs. I have therefore decided to leave this animated gif in place. I did have some cartoons before that at the bottom of my home page and they were above the Google ads. I've never been asked to remove them but I probably won't bother to put them back when the reindeer have gone.
There is no point to risk your account just for a little higher CTR. I have removed images beside my ads long ago, and they are quite well now. Good luck, vex
Good luck, I've got one of my domains suspended due to the images, as I didn't got that it was about that what "G" was talking about when email me about "TOS violation"... It was a couple days before the images drama hit the fan.