I decided to begin one of my new sites without ads on it until I build traffic and such. I just figured it would be easier to get links approved if it didn't look like I was just out for a quick buck. So far that strategy has worked but I have also noticed that my very new site is doing rather well in the SERPs (1st page for multiple targeted terms). Is this just coincidence or could there be a correlation?
I think there is a correlation. I would be interested to hear how your site is doing. I think a site loaded down with tons of ads is going to get knocked by Google. One possible solution for you to get some income in the intermediate would be to use a different ad network besides adsense and make sure the ads are deeply embedded in javascript. Cheers
i too have started all new sites without ads. i don't see the point of having ads if i'm not getting organic search results. anyhow, two of my sites i've started in the last 4-6 weeks have still been sandboxed. so my conclusion is that i don't believe ads make a difference.
I don't think there is relation in your ads and your serp ranking. Though it's not good to see a site with full of ads especially if it's new, but your ranking is totally different in your ads.
I would believe ads would not make any difference, I would be very hard unless you use adsense or similar for the search engines to decide what is and whati s not an ad, as you could use flash ads, or text and images which could also be seen as content. Also sites with adsense I doubt would be penalised as this would make no sense from a google.com point of view.