I found a site that promotes pet products and uses this clever way to blend in adsense. But is it a violation? Screenshot:
Graphics in general are not a violation, UNLESS the graphic used could confuse/mislead the person clicking that ad. So a better graphic (as an example) would be pics of dogs and cats, not those product specific pictures. So because of the pictures chosen, I'd say this was in violation. Here's some info regarding graphics next to ads http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=52546
Ok. Here's the other thread I was looking for on jensense.com which started a thread from me which shall remain nameless. Hope you like it, there's great info here. Just about straight from the horses eh, googles mouth! http://www.jensense.com/archives/2005/08/images_above_ad.html
I think people are using the technique way too much. The reason why putting pictures next to ads worked so well for critters was because he used the technique on a picture gallery style webpage. It doesn't work as well when you don't have entertaining pictures that people want to see. I do agree that it's against TOS because it doesn't have an outline around the pictures but not because of the picture itself. I just don't think that pictures are a priority when there are google adsense sites out there raking in 1000's of dollars a day with keyworded junk (Rss Content etc.).
like all good techniques, using images will not work ON ITS OWN. you need to have a great site, and unique content and traffic. then using images will complement those.
I can post an email from a member of the adsense team that i recently got about my arcade... It might help clear matters up..and it directly relates to this thread, but im not sure if I can post it according to there TOS...If i can ill be posting it here...Can somebody in the know confirm its ok or not? http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=689661#post689661
It does work and you only need distinguish the ads from the images with a border around or next to images so that visitors do not think images are coming from google. Even with the border there you will still do better on your ads as it draws more attention to them, but the ads are only as good as the content on the site.
here's the post from critters speaking to the need for the graphics to be "generic" so as not to mislead people. This info came straight from google, according to critters. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=17104&page=45&pp=10 "MAJOR UPDATE PLS READ Google are now advising publishers to be very careful not to place images that could deceive users directly above the ads. It is still OK to do, but do not use images that could be deceptive to the visitor. Let me explain with some examples. Bob has a site about iPods, he has ads for iPod related sites. After reading this thread he puts some generic iPod images above his ads, the 4 images are: iPod photo, a case for the new iPod shuffle, an iPod mini, and a dock station for iPods Google will take issue with Bob because the images are suggesting a specific offering at the advertisers site. as the ads are random, a user clicking the ad under the iPod shuffle case could get a site that does not sell that iPod shuffle case. They have been mislead. highly general images are less likely to be deceptive than very specific images that suggest a specific offering at the advertiser's site Bob can do a few things to keep google and his users happy: 1) put a visible border around the ad units 2) move the images away from the ad units so there is a clear gap 3) pick very generic iPod images, to minimize the risk of people clicking looking for cases"