I just thought I'd give everyone a little heads up on the results I have seen from this technique implementation. Thus far, by placing a private advertisers image next to the Google ads I have actually seen about a 29% increase in the earnings from the Google ad unit in addition to the increased earnings from the additional ad being placed next to the Google ad, which result in a 41% increase in relevant earnings. So all in all the experiment has been a raging success in my case. Also I'd just like to point out that this test has been based over about 50,000 impressions so I'd like to think the trial was on a big enough scale to verify that the increase wasn't a result of other un-factored reasons or coincidence. I'd also like to point out that at this stage I haven't verified with Google to see if my implementation is legal (I'm going to email them now) though I'm semi-confident I won't have any issues. I'll keep you updated on their response.
maybe i should try it. i used to show image ads and got bad revenue but it might be different story if put it next to text link. thanks for the tip.
how could an image ad created by a "private advertiser" be any different than an image that you created yourself?
i just thought about this one some time ago but didn't bother to try it, i'll try now and see what happens! cheers
well, my experience was about putting Adsense image ads beside adsense text ads not sure how it does with non-adsense image ads but logic makes it prohibited as it's the same as putting any image beside adsense ads
Joel Comm does it on his website - www.joelcomm.com - look at a few pages there and you'll see it there
Great idea! I can see where if you have your site/blog laid out for it, it would work amazingly. Going to try it on my site for sure!
The thing to be careful about is that it is against AdSense's TOS/Policies to place images next to ads that are designed to draw attention to the ads or encourage clicks, but for all intensive purposes a private banner ad is no different to a Google banner ad. I'm sure they both have a positive effect. I also thought I'd just confirm to say that AdSense have said that my setup in its current state is within their TOS & Policies.
you didn't answer the question... "intensive purposes" is meaningless, perhaps you meant "intents and purposes"? which isn't an answer for anything either. we are specifically asking you how image ads are different than images, when it comes to attracting undue attention to adsense ad blocks. where is your url with the google-approved private image ads next to adsense ads?
LOL believe it or not I actually had a debate with someone right before posting that post about whether "intensive purposes" was even a phrases or if my Australian slang had managed to once again combine words to shorten and simplify pronunciation. Anyway... I'm not the once to answer this for you the Google AdSense team is, but I imagine for the most part it is done on a case by case basis and is largely dependent on the "banner" used. I think when it comes to placing images next to ads, Google would consider those images not only attention seeking, but with prominent links next to the image/s believe the people would directly associate the links in the Ad unit with the image causing a higher CTR. Now if you have a banner next to a set of Google ads that is clickable then I think the case of people mistaking the Google Ad Unit links next to the banner as being directly associated with the image is greatly reduced, or at least the number of clicks on the Google ads associated with an expectation of being directed to a page associated to the image next to the ads is reduced. That's the way I'm assuming Google interpret the difference. And for all intents and purposes a Google Image ad is no different than a private banner advertisement. If anything the private ad is much more likely to be less related to the ads because the ad is created by and advertisers irrespective of the Google Ads rather than being influenced by the content of the page, which the both Google Image and Link Ads are based on therefore increasing the chance of being related.
I think I know a site that uses this technique: carbodydesign (dot) com. I can't confirm if it works for them or not, but I think it does. One time I almost clicked the ad, as it is really very well blended with the news posts.