Is sxc.hu a working site? It doesn't show up for me?

Yeah it is working, just vBulletin messed up the link I posted since it was within (). I fixed the link in my post, and here it is in case:
http://www.sxc.hu

I know Google requires a definate, visible border, but I always thought it was against the TOS outright of YPN...goes to show how much I know

Can someone show me an example of a 'border'? Also, how many pixels does it have to be away from the ad? Mine is at least 15-20 pixels away.

Originally Posted by Hobbit

Can someone show me an example of a 'border'? Also, how many pixels does it have to be away from the ad? Mine is at least 15-20 pixels away.

Mustang Forums

Been running that border for months with no problem. Even had Google check out my forum for another reason so they had to see it.

So the thin gray line is the border? Or the actual black border around the pixel? Sorry for my noobness hah.

Just a suggestion, I think three images would improve your ctr, because there is three ads and four images.

Yes the grey border is it.

Sometimes there are three ads sometimes there are 4. It changes back and forth.

Nice, thanks. I'm going to try it (with the border). Hopefully people will click on them now on my non myspace site (which has high $ click ads).

Just a reminder to everyone.... please have Google check your implementation of this before making it live on your site (make a sample page and email it to them). It's a touchy issue and you want to have the evidence of "see you said it was ok" if they come to you later and say they want to disable your account (better safe than sorry, since second chances with Google are rare).

Hmm, mine's been running for a day or so now (probably too short of a test period!) and I don't see any difference. In fact, the CTR is actually lower than a plain ad before, which is pretty surprising. Maybe i'm getting the whole image idea wrong? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated -- you can see an example on any individual post on the link below (i can't post links yet).

I've got images next to the ads on my page too...see my sig. Unfortunately, the page hasn't been indexed anywhere yet, but thats OK cuz it's far from completed.

Originally Posted by Nick

Did they give a reason and were your thumbnails related? I asked them about my site a couple of months ago, which has thumbnails with a border seperating them from the ads. They said it was fine back then.

I didnt have borders that was problem because it 'obstructed' the ads.

I tried it yesterday and it definately helped a lot, and it's a new site. Can't wait till the traffic starts pouring in.

So far not much result on my site.

I just set this up on Okay Drink. I am yet to receive a click (no traffic, unless 5 hits a day count..).

I've got some myspace bulletins coming today so hopefully I'll get some decent clicks.

Here's the code I used

		  <div style="float: left; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 18px 0 0 15px;" id="adblock">
			<style>
				#adblock img {
				margin: 10px 0 0 0;
				width: 60px;
				height: 60px;
				border: 1px solid #000;
				padding: 1px;
				background: #0099ff;
				}
			</style>
			<img src="images/drink-image<?php echo rand(1, 15); ?>.jpg" />
			<img src="images/drink-image<?php echo rand(1, 15); ?>.jpg" />
			<img src="images/drink-image<?php echo rand(1, 15); ?>.jpg" />
		  </div>

		  <div style="float: left;">
			  <script type="text/javascript"><!--
				google_ad_client = "pub-8881673262883780";
				google_alternate_color = "ffffff";
				google_ad_width = 250;
				google_ad_height = 250;
				google_ad_format = "250x250_as";
				google_ad_type = "text_image";
				google_ad_channel ="3685662991";
				google_color_border = "ffffff";
				google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
				google_color_link = "0000ff";
				google_color_text = "000000";
				google_color_url = "FFFFFF";
				//--></script>
				<script type="text/javascript"
					  src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
				</script>
			</div>

15 images to choose from, sometimes 2 images are the same but over time I will increase the amount of images to choose (hopefully up to 30, currently 15) so there will be a tiny chance of that happening.