Google recently came out with some guidelines that pretty much go against much of what their entire user base has been doing since the inception of Adsense. Their post, titled Another look at optimizations includes some updated guidelines on how you should, and shouldn’t display your ads. What it boils down to is that whatever you’re doing currently, is probably outside the guidelines.

But Isn’t Blending Ads Good?

Yes! In my opinion blending is great. Choosing ad colors and formats that harmonize with the rest of your content is a good idea. The real fuss that’s been generated around the change isn’t really warranted in my opinion since it all goes back to how you define blend. The new guidelines are just rehashing the fact that you ultimately want people interested in the ad, to click the ad. Don’t stack your ads between a set of links, and don’t set them up in a way that they’d be confused for content.

What This Means for You

If you’re using Adsense on your site, make sure it’s legit. Nothing has really changed too dramatically with their guidelines, but it is more of a firm stand on the topic. I’d watch for more warnings and guidelines to come in the future around camouflaging (and not blending) ads. :)

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