Shawn Collins, the famed affiliate-manager of Club Mom, writes about a new type of AdSense creative that blends together link units with content ads...

http://affiliatetip.com/news/article001408.php

He discovered this new type of creative after perusing the ads on his blog one day.

They're essentially Content Ads, but with Link Units appearing at the bottom.

Here's one of them...


Google doesn't provide these creatives as an option on its AdSense setup, they're probably just being tested for now.

I've never had much luck with using Link Units. I've tried them in various places on my sites and blogs, even redesigning my navigation links to look just like them.

But these new "blended ads" has me a bit worried. The more ads crammed into one creative, the more cluttered it becomes, and the more it competes against the highest bidding ads. That can have the effect of reducing our overall earnings.

Labels: Link Units, Strange AdSense