So what happened: Google mailed me the day before yesterday, that I should place 3 Ad block on my sites. (I was using just two on all the sites before). They wrote me that I miss the opportunity and should use 3 blocks.

So what I did, I put one extra horizontal ad box in the middle of the each post - but I did it on 1 site only.

Today when I woke up decided to check my rankings, you guess what - on this single site where I put the 3rd ad block, 90% of keywords in top 10 lost from 1 to 6 positions. (I am speaking about 150 keywords)

Is this a joke, or what? They write me, I follow the instructions and this is the result...

Just for the record: I let the other sites untouched, and the rankings did not change on these.

Did anyone of you guys experience anything similar???
Thanks for your answers.

yeah , they told me same shit for 1 of my sites and then banned me yesterday ...

I doubt that a single ad put in the middle of post/content will make a drop in SERP the next day....

Wow man, can anyone explain in detail why this could happen?

Psst.. Google hates you

I'm not saying it is the reason, but basically google robots are scanning ads density on a website. Adding a 3rd block changed it and might have been the cause of your drop

Dam.. but if Google knows that would happen why would they suggest it? It could be related to something else.

First of all try removing the 3rd ad from the middle of your page and wait a few day. See what happens. Then let us know!

Thanks guys, for the interesting opinions.
If they really can track ads density, it might be a reason.

However, now I have an idea that maybe simply Google recognizes that all the pages have changed, and because of that this is just a temporarily drop.

What do you think? Anyway, did anyone experienced something similar?

Google's bot (probably) has the ability to analyze a page and count the ad spots but I seriously doubt Google "punishes" its own publishers just because they've added one more ad unit.

On the other hand, Google can surely "punish" an internet site (whether an Adsense publisher or not) if it has low value to the visitors. That means if your latest ad placement made your site look "spammy" and "low quality" then your visitors will simply escape and that's one strong metric Google can easily measure.

Give us some details like your bounce rate, pages / visit, and average time on site before and after the addition of the latest spot. It's not wise to make assumptions without viewing those values.

You don't need to follow what they suggest you, do what is best for your site.
It's probably a bot suggestion anyway, and not a human employee.

i guess it's just a dance, i think your rankings will get back, i don't think they penalize sites that follow the instructions they get from g00gle workers

Thanks Guys for sending your feedback and opinions. Actually, 4 days after the fall, the situations looks like the following:

• Some keywords are back where there they originally were
• Some are climbing up, slowly, but I can see it
• Some are declining even further, but after small bits...

All in all, this added adblock increased both my CTR (from 1.2% to nearly 1.5%) and CPC (This new block have high CPC, 30% higher than other blocks, I have the feeling that it is because the fact it is "surrounded" by the content).

So in fact, my traffic has dropped about 20% becasue of this update, but my earnings are actually slightly better... In long term, traffic is the key for me, but because of the situation as it is, I am planning to give it at least 2 more weeks to see if the positions for at least 80% keywords come back. I keep you updated what happens, and will be glad to hear any comments .