Google Adsense Ad And Image Placement Policy Change

The practice of placing images above or next to adsense banners has been around for a while — the idea here is to trick visitors into thinking that the Google Ads are clickable image captions. Unsuspecting visitors click on the ads, and the webmasters make money. Now, Google has officially announced that the practice is no longer allowed.

From the site:"
Can I place small images next to my Google ads?

We ask that
publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship
between the images and the ads. If your visitors believe that the images and the
ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item
found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find
something that isn't actually being offered. That's not a good experience for
users or advertisers.

Publishers should also be careful to avoid similar
implementations that people could find misleading. For instance, if your site
contains a directory of Flash games, you should not format the ads to mimic the
game descriptions.

What if I place a space or a line between my images
and my ads? Would that work?

No. If the ads and the images appear to be
associated, inserting a small space or a line between the images and ads will
not make the implementation compliant”
Below are two images showing something that wouldn't comply with their new policies.