I rearranged the layout of my site to move my left side skyscraper up near the top, and put all the other menus into DHTML menus that pop down from a horizontal nav bar that goes across the top of the page. This has nearly doubled my CTR but I was wondering might the DHTML menu that pops up over the ads be a TOS violation? I noticed this part: Elements on a page must not obscure any portion of the ads, and the ad colors must be such that any ad elements, including text and URL, are visible. But does that apply only to elements that obscure the ad by default rather than in response to user interaction? One other question: The TOS prohibits ads in "popups" but does this include windows that pop up in response to the user clicking? I have an image gallery that pops up a window to view an image at full res, and have an ad on that page above the image.
First as the DHTML menu goes if it is a USER opened drop down menu and it drops down over the top of the add. It is not obscured in the original layout. It requires an action by the user to cover up the ad so it should be ok. (EDIT:My opinion Check with google if ever in doubt.) As far as popups--if it is extension of your site and has "CONTENT" should be ok. HERE IS THE BUT...Is an Image/picture content? I believe that for google to read what is on the page it needs TEXT. And In fact I think that is what GOOGLE thinks content is. I still think a picture is worth 1000 words and to ME personally could see this being legit content in MY eyes, but check with google I don't think they will think the same.