IMPORTANT!! did adsense changed their TOS

hello guys ..i just received this message from adsense :

Hello,

While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as (url)

Publishers may not implement Google ads in a manner that disguises the ads in any way, for instance, by formatting neighboring content to look similar to the ads, or by making ads look like games or forum threads. Additionally, publishers may not attempt to associate specific images with the individual ads appearing on their sites. Such an implementation may confuse users who assume that the image is directly related to the advertiser's offerings.

Please make any necessary changes to your web pages in the next 3 business days. We also suggest that you take the time to review our program policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies) to ensure that all of your other pages are in compliance.

Once you update your site, we will automatically detect the changes and ad serving will not be affected. If you choose not to make the changes to your account within the next three days, your account will remain active but you will no longer be able to display ads on the site. Please note, however, that we may disable your account if further violations are found in the future.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team


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so here s the deal :

1) Publishers may not implement Google ads in a manner that disguises the ads in any way : ok everyone knows this .

2)formatting neighboring content to look similar to the ads, or by making ads look like games or forum threads : isnt that what we call BLENDING ?? is this means no more blending is allowed.. dowe have to used a different color for the ads than the colors we use for content ???

3) Additionally, publishers may not attempt to associate specific images with the individual ads appearing on their sites : is thsi mean we can no more use the pictures with the seperating line next to the ads ???


well what do you guys think

 

I think you should get rid of google ads and get Yahoo they pay more.

 

Just change the layout, make sure you don't Violate any more.
If you could give me the link I can specially tell you what exactly needs to be fixed.

 

I also got that email today. heheh. Others must be getting it as well. If your blending is too perfect, you gotta change it, I guess.

 

I think there is some serious difference of view when it comes to the definition of blending.

Some people, like you, thinks that blending is disguising the ads as games or forum threads, disquising them into something so that people don't know that they are ads.

IMO, for Google, blending means that the ads SUIT the website. If your site is green, make the ads green too and not orange.


http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=179849

 

You are lucky because you receive an email before ban. Just go and make changes!

 

i can assure you that the blending i have on my website is not misleading in anyway , normal color blending using the same color as content text and even the ad is clear a far from content ..my website is not a forum or a game website (makes me wonder why google is sending me a message about forums and ga,e sites ) ...


I think that maybe google is changing its strategy concerning the images next to the ads ,that s the only explanation for this email ..

 

Images next to the ads are clearly against their TOS. I don't know why they didn't warn publishers before.

We all know that's the whole point of this "trick".

 

this rules always was in adsense tos, if you find on different websites or forums "adsense tricks" you must avoid them, google know those tricks too, and they don't like them.

 

I'm just happy to see that you got the warning letter, instead of the "you are banned for life" letter.

I live in fear of the random Google-Ban-Bot !

 

Umm this is somewhat alarming to me. I thought everyone into adsense plces images next to the ads...so does this mean a lot of people will be getting banned??

 

I was told by google today the following way of putting images next to ads is ok:


Thats from the home page of one of my sites. Notice I have borders around the ads, and have put the pics right outside the borders. This seems to be ok if you seperate the images and ads in this way, instead of having the images just seperated by a line from the ads, or having the ads and images together with nothing seperating them at all. Btw this spesific ad gives me a 5-7% CTR daily as long its placed above the fold.

I always send a message to google and ask them to review my site and see if everything looks ok when I make any changes related to the ads. Its the best way to know if what you have done is allright or not

 

thanks for that darkbread

 

thanks Darkbread
but that s strange , mine are just like yours , but the images are randomly generated in my case ... here is how it looks ..

anyway i just send them a message asking them to clarify me more of what changes they are waiting from me and i ll be updating you guys ...

 

this is one of my adsense ad which gave me no problem for more than a year.

maybe becos I have a border and I only use one big image.

 

hmmm, I thought their policies has been like that for at least ever since I was seriously using them earlier this year. That's why I was uncomfortable when someone tries to blend in too well that the visitors cannot tell ads from contents. I hate having to click on something and getting something else instead.

 

tokyowalker: well as I said , it seems to be ok with google as long there is borders around the ad. Your ad have no borders, only a line between it and the pics.

 

Make a few changes and then check it out

 

I made the changes i think were the cause of the message from adsense .. i changed the border between the images and ads (a thik blue image border now ) and i added rss feeds to give the website more content ... i sent like 4 or 5 messages to google asking them to review the changes but no answer yet , and i still have just one day before they disable my account if changes are not made ... i dont have much time and they re not explaining exactly what changes they re expecting me to do . so i am worried i missed something here ..

so i want to post my website url here for experiienced adsense webmasters to review it for me too .. the more reviews the better outcome ... but i don t know if this is agaisnt digital point policies .. if it s ok i will post it after i receive a green light from you guys ...

thanks

 

Could not agree more.