The article Another look at optimizations was published today at the Inside Adsense blog which is the official Google Adsense blog. It addresses two optimization issues and clarifies Google’s standpoint which basically states that the following two optimization techniques are not to be used at all. Failure to do so may lead to a ban of the website or even the account of the Adsense user.

1. Placing ads beneath titles that make the user believe they are not ads but site content

Google Adsense units are not to be placed directly beneath misleading titles that make users believe they are related to the content of the website. This is just a clarification of the rule that says that you may not use titles that say “Click Here”, “Help us by” and similar ones that ask the user to click on the links.

So “Hot Deals”, “Business Opportunities” and similar headings are forbidden as well.

2. Ads have to be distinguishable from surrounding content

I think that this is the interesting clarification. I know a lot of websites that are using link units in their navigation that appears to be part of the navigation. According to the blog post this is no longer allowed.

It is also not allowed to add an Adsense unit in a way that it could be considered content from that website. Take a look at the screenshot below to see how this could look like.

The Adsense team recommends to change the color of the Ad units in such a case so that they are clearly distinguishable.