Yesterday I blogged about the new AdSense terms of service. To further add on, there’s a new guideline on placing your AdSense ads on your blog. This keeps getting better and better right

Well for starters …

Google Says: Ads shouldn’t be placed under a title or section heading in a way that implies that the ads are not ads

For example, ads shouldn’t be placed under titles such as “Dallas Business Opportunities” or “Today’s Hot Deals”. Placing ads directly below titles such as these implies to your users that the links in the ads are publisher-created content. The example below shows a placement that does not follow this guideline

Every optimization guide will tell you to blend Google Ads into your content. But it seems Google ain’t liking it as it is being seen as ‘deceptive’, where readers unknowingly click the ad, under the assumption the ads served by AdSense is related to the header title in display

Well looks like webmasters are in for some ’spring cleaning’ on their blog, as anyone and everyone I knows are doing the above blending. If AdSense have issues on the ad presence being mistaken for content, well they should really take away the “AdSense Setup” page to change the ad colors. Give us no option to blend the ad … simple solution right

Also isn’t the “Ads by Google” link in the ads serving its very own purpose. A recognizable marker to indicate that an ad is being served and it is not part of the blog content. But I understand where Google is coming from with this new guideline. They’re trying to get rid of MFA (Made for Adsense) sites that uses such ‘deceptive’ tactics widely

I believe if you’ve justifiable content, you should not worry about the new guideline. Just make the slight necessary changes via your AdSense setup page. Ensure that you add borders and different link colors. What AdSense wants is having their ads being aesthetically separated from the blog content

Google Says:Ads should be easily distinguishable from surrounding content

Similarly, you should not place an ad unit by a group of links that has identical colors and line spacing. Doing so may cause users to think the ad unit is content created by you. In this situation, we recommend using a different color for the ad titles or indenting the ad unit to help distinguish the ads from your own content. This screenshot shows an implementation that does not follow this guideline

Of course, like me, if you have thousands of entries on multiple blogs, to update every single post with AdSense is crazy. It would be too time consuming. If you’re not using AdSense Management tool like AdSense Deluxe plugin or the “AdSense dashboard ad setup and channel”, you’re in for a tough and confusing time updating your blog buddy

So with the new guideline, I’ve added borders & different url color to the ad. It doesn’t look blended now and slightly fugly indeed. It’s like sticking out like a sore thumb, and being a designer first by nature, such irritating sight is getting on my nerves, but then again we’re all relying on passive income from AdSense. It’s either get with the program or get flagged for non-compliant

This new guideline is targeting MFA sites and bloggers with no content, who just sticks AdSense ads on their blog. Such SOB bloggers should be shot. I recalled I featured a couple blogger who does MFA and questions their mode of operation. They deny its MFA and defended that their sites have ‘quality’ content and even threatened me on a personal level … I had no choice but to take down the entry that I did on them. What does my private life got to do with the niche of field I’m blogging about. Like I said, such people practicing MFA should be shot

Does my AdSense ads looks like ads now people. Can you tell the difference?