As above.I see many people said its frown upon by G, yet i see many sites doing this. Whats the general consensus?

There really shouldn't be a problem with it, and that's one of the most converting ad locations. Most of MNS are using it.

Should be OK.

I have been using this on all my sites for the past 2years with no trouble[yet]

I think Google talking about placing ads on header because below title is most used and most converting location.

Umm... It's againts the TOS to have them directly under the title, or at least they mentioned it in the official adsense blog some time ago. People do get away with it for a while... then they get banned and make stupid threads on BHW...

Originally Posted by Lalalaenhund

Umm... It's againts the TOS to have them directly under the title, or at least they mentioned it in the official adsense blog some time ago. People do get away with it for a while... then they get banned and make stupid threads on BHW...

Exactly. The risk you run by placing them under the title, is that it tends to be misleading.

Example.

If your title reads "Pillow Top Mattresses", and underneath it are a bunch of adsense text links, it leads the visitor to believe that these links are part of your site, and they are inclined to click on the ad not realizing they are ads.

Actually, ads below the title are ok, it's ads above the fold which Google is antsy about. IF someone goes to your site and all the see is the Title and then the ad block and have to scroll down to see the content, then you run the risk of being Google punched in the nut sack.

Hmm didn't know that was against tos! I have the spot on a few of my sites and it converts really well!

Also directly below navigation works really well for me

I had them below the title for over a year now, with no problem. My site was even manually reviewed once....

After seeing this post, I moved them below the title... I will make less money, but atleast sleep well now

It's against the TOS. So place them there at your own risk.

You shouldn't place it where the title will mislead the visitor.
So it can be against the ToS in a way, but as for as Mr.G's enforcement....
...We don't know...

That's smart idea, but it's better to put it on the middle of your article.

i used to have them below the title until i got slapped by matt c*nts new above the fold bs..

a 728x90 ad under the title has the biggest CTR for me...

Edit: But the content is visible with the ad there...

Ads below the title is acceptable and it works. Just don't stack 3 of them there so the content is hidden on the page load.

I have them near my navigation menu, since that's where people are looking.

i have them below title it should be ok

I think to help everyone out there should be a few pics to give examples. I sadly couldnt find jack.

Originally Posted by THECEO

I think to help everyone out there should be a few pics to give examples. I sadly couldnt find jack.

Here's an example of what I mean by misleading the user. The title is extremely general, and may mislead the user to think that the links below the title are links to other parts of the site, and not ads. Yeah, the CTR is crazy high, but under a manual review, I don't think it would look good.

*Note. This is not the layout of this website. I edited it to show the example.

I've had several consultations with Google reps, and the first one actually told me to put the 728x90 banner under the title as long as there was separation (i.e., like a line, although I added a thicker bar). His reasoning was that the ad is clearly labeled as an ad. The ad is one of our best performing.

It is against the new TOS, there should be content above the fold and no the ads
so the better and safe format is
Title
Some content (about a paragraph )
then Ads
then content

you could read more about here in the official tread

Code:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.html

I've been using the same layout for more that 10 sites for over an year.
And I haven't had any problems. Is it againts the new TOS ? I've seen a lot of people using it, most of the MNS.

Originally Posted by themidiman

Here's an example of what I mean by misleading the user. The title is extremely general, and may mislead the user to think that the links below the title are links to other parts of the site, and not ads. Yeah, the CTR is crazy high, but under a manual review, I don't think it would look good.

*Note. This is not the layout of this website. I edited it to show the example.

pretty much explaining

Originally Posted by ivanpenev

I've been using the same layout for more that 10 sites for over an year.
And I haven't had any problems. Is it againts the new TOS ? I've seen a lot of people using it, most of the MNS.

yes you have to have at-least a paragraph after the title to be on the safer side.

Thanks for the response, maybe I will put one paragraph with 5-6 lines above the ads, I don't think it will affect the ctr critically.

I put an ad block right after the title, and I've never had any problems.

It mostly depends on the actual title of each post: read this page http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archi...ow-post-title/ for more information.

The links mentioned above from the post by Matt Cuts.
Isn't this for the search ranking, I think this have nothing to do for adsense, yes more aggressive layout can lower your rankings, but you can't get banned from adsense. I think we are talking for two different things. Google Adsense Team, and the team which is responsible from the search algorithm are different I think.

It is ok if you dont use words that seems to ask the visitor to click on the ads