I've noticed several niche websites that have one 300x250 or 336x280 ad below the article title but above all the content. I have my ads top left with some text to the right of the ad, as I think it looks better. I'm wondering what gives higher CTR however, has anyone tested this out?
The way you are doing it (from the description of the other method) is much less likely to get you banned for having an inappropriately labled ad. Plus, an ad by itself tends to not look as good (as you've observed) and in some cases give the visitor the sense that he's hit an MFA site (which is often the case)
Ads placement will also get banned us? I have seen many big websites who hides adsense ads in their content I mean both content and ads looks same but they are not banned!
Different ad sizes and positioning will get varying success depending on your visitor profiles. What works for one website might not work so well on another. You'll have to try one ad out for a week say, then see whether your CTR has improved or not.
Just because they haven't been banned doesn't mean they won't be. I can't say for certain from the OPs description but it sounds like he's referring to sites that have a title then the ad and then the text...that title could be perceived as mislabeling the ad.
That is correct, that is what I meant. I've looked more into this now and noticed that it is actually mentioned on the google blog: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/03/another-look-at-optimizations.html That is on the picture in title 1. Better keep my ads the way they are then. Surprises me how normal it is to place an adsense block just under the title like this example though, when adsense says clearly it is misleading and not allowed.
Ad labelling is an issue for sure. I agree. But I see that in most cases.... Most websites uses this trick to get more CTR.