Ads above the fold and SEO effects

Some time ago Google stated that sites with too many Ads above the fold could lead to penalization of websites. Has anyone seen evidence or had experience with this?

How can Google define what the fold is, given we are all on different browsers, screen resolutions and operating systems?

I would like to hear your thoughts on this..

 

Ads above the fold will get your site smacked in the face, unless you know what you're doing and "cloak" it (not literal cloak, google will hate you if you screw up).

Above the fold has to do with above the content area, not the size of the browser. If you have ads next to, or in your banner, google will not be happy.

 

Interesting.. I have site that generates about 1.2k in adsense a month. I have 3 ads at the top of the page.. I have always wondered whether it was worth trying to move my content to the top to improve search results.

 

Nooooo, Good God no, leave your content where it is

Maybe spruce up the design and add some social network buttons, but make sure if your site is a blog to make it resemble a newspaper or magazine.

Are your adsense ads at the very top of the site? That's brave

 

haha it is quite brave but it works

Also i've been told its a big No No to launch a site with a lot of pages at once. I did this about 5 months ago before I got up to speed on the latest update of Google. I now have about 1 million pages or so indexed. Is there anyway back from here or am I just going to have to be very very patient with Google.

I guess there is no point hiding pages on my site if Google has already found some of them.. I may only create further problems.

 

Depending on how old your site is, you can pretty much do just about whatever you want in regards to post frequency and linking.

Dealing with new sites is all about handling a natural frequency. On new sites I'll write 14 articles and post them 1 a day for 2 weeks or 2 a day for a week and I've never had a problem.

Is one of your sites in trouble with Google because it's relatively new, or did I read your fifth sentence incorrectly?

With so many indexed pages, please make sure you monitor your traffic and CTR so G doesn't think you're playing their ad system.

Google doesn't think you're sneaky if you "hide" anything. I've removed pages from index before and I've even changed entire site designs/removed ads/removed posts, and reposted articles with higher word count, put ads in more natural places, and used a more trendy design for the site and I was brought back from sandbox after the Penguin update. My site was almost brand new and I was being impatient, but like I said, if your site is aged somewhat and has a PR2+, G likes you and won't monitor you too heavily until you start making a LOT of money through adsense all of a sudden and reach the top 2 spots on the first page for your keyword.

 

Sorry i should have clarified, It's a PR3 web directory not a blog.

Google hasn't mentioned any problems as such, but there's been times when my traffic has been almost double at times. Then dropped off again. The first one is my analytics graph since i launched the website. The other is impressions clicks via webmaster tools.

The big dip is when my hosting went down and then I moved the website to a dedicated server on its own.. Site has not really been the same since, could it be possible Google is putting me through some sort or reconsideration process all over again?

 

From my knowledge, you will not be penalized for having ads above the fold. If anything, it is the ideal placement as it increases visibility and CTR.

 

Thanks for you input, I've found the same thing. My site has a mix content and ads so I think its ok.

How about launching too many pages at once? Do i start again and slowly release pages more naturally, or should i just link build like hell?