Read this over on ProBlogger and thought I should help spread the word because it is a very important issue for many AdSense publishers.

As you probably know, one of the big ways people have been increasing their AdSense clickthru rates has been to strategically place images near their ads, drawing the eye to them. Google has changed their policy toward this somewhat. Fortunately, they also show some examples of unacceptable image placements, so you don’t have to guess quite so much.

Basically, if the placement of the image suggests a relationship to the ads, it’s against the rules. Putting a line between them is no longer sufficient.

There are going to be a lot of disappointed people changing their sites over this, as this has been a very common practice among AdSense advertisers. On the other hand Yahoo has never allowed such image placements.

Google also warns against making AdSense ads look exactly like the other links and descriptions on your site. I’ve seen a fair number of sites do exactly that; just using the same font, size and color, and keeping descriptive text of regular parts of the site to the dimensions of the AdSense ads. Don’t do that anymore if you’re planning on keeping within TOS.

Obviously, this is going to complicate the usual blending tactics people have been using. I think the gist of it, however, is that Google doesn’t want you to overdo it. People should still be able to tell your ads from your content.

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