I think the change in TOS is total bull on Google's part. I have some pritty nice sites, that need a more dress up than just boring text. People won't check out the links unless something interesting like a picture that relates to it. I have a Mustang site and was using Mustang pictures next to the links. You can see it here http://www.cobramustang.net I don't make much money off of it, but the images game me a little boost. Now it's like bearly any clicks. Maybe Google should think about adding pictures to their text. I think its a good idea and would help boost ads. I took the images off imediately after I read the new rules.... I heard you can't even put a line divider between them. I can understand Google's side of things, because I've seen crappy websites that just do this with no info and content at all. At least my site has pictures and good content. This is a total bummer
Yes, most of the publishers gets frustration on this issue, lets wait and see, meanwhile your site looks pretty good..
Thanks, yeah I made it about 2 weeks ago, traffic is pretty good. I have other sites that have decent flow of traffic and just don't get any clicks. Kind of ticks me off. It's like the ads are up there for free. I have them in the right place and all. Still only like 1 or 2 clicks a day.
I totally feel you. It's truly a battle between how to get the most revenue and designing a beautiful and practical website. I fell into the first one unfortunately.
Sometimes I feel like I'm investing to much time into this. I work out a lot and play sports, so it's not like I don't have anything else to do with my life. I hear people say just keep working at it, don't give up. But man, I guess I just suck as a webmaster
Took me about 3 months just to hit $100 mark! I guess I'll just have to drink more beer and watch TV a lot more when I work on the web, try not to think about as much. Maybe one day I can reach some good figures. There's always the porno business right...
Of course its possible to have the best of both worlds. High CTR and a good looking site. I don't think you need images to draw attention to the ads.
Another change? Does Google believe that we have enough time to read TOS changes 7 days a week, all year round? Looks like :0
Well that's one way to look at it. Another way is that, guys like me never used the image next to ads technique to begin with, so this change doesn't affect us at all. The less control you give Adsense of your Internet income, the better. They are simply too unpredictable and volatile.
If you look closely google does state that it realizes some sites with alot of images will have images next to the ads. Google just does not want the little icons next to the ads and all perfectly lined up. Google states that if you have images next to your ads you may not use a dividing line but you may add a full border to your ads and make sure the images are not perfectly inline with the ads.
Thanks for the input, really helps me talking to other people about this. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting no where. I guess I'll just keep hacking at the bit.
i think you'll get higher clicks if you change the title colors to a brighter red and also the text color to a brighter white too.
i dnot know if its just me but i open ur site with Opera and wheni i hover the adsense link they dissappear
I never put images next to ads so this does not really affect me. You can achieve similar results by paying around with your blending and placement, but traffic is the key to winning at adsense. You have to have a decent amount of it along with the correct topic to make good money. So many people only look at one thing with adsense, but its a combination of traffic, placment, and topic. You need all three to make it work out for you.
You can put images next to ads, but don't line them with individual ads. Just put one large image or something like that. btw. nice tires burning out there