Question

Hello,

I have a link unit on top of the page, does it make the ads below it less 'valuable'.

 

aaaa say wht

any screen shots or urls?

 

NO
place the link units and ad units where they are most efficient
and use for ad units all popular/successful formats

 

I think the ads displayed by the link units are "seperate" from your content ads, so it shouldn't affect the CPC on the ads below

 

If you have enough good contents, good ads would be served.

 

I believe RuDeDoGg is correct, that the ads in a link unit will not affect the price /value of the ads below, since they would not be part of the 'show most valuable ads first' formula.

In any case it is still worth experimenting - it is sometimes suggested here that sites do better with just one ad block per page and nothing else, because these will be the highest priced ads for your site/page and there is a higher chance they are clicked on if there are no other ads to click on instead. That is to say, if the ads in the link unit are lower priced than the ads in the adblock, a click on one of them might 'cost you' a click on the expensive ads in the adblock.

This is what I now do, after testing each ad type with channels, and finding that the cleverly placed and integrated link unit at the top was actually poorly performing.

Other advantage - your site looks less like an 'AdSense site' and people perhaps return more often.