Seasons Greeting With Themed Units

There is one more type of ad unit that you can use on your site.
You just can’t use it all the time. Every time a holiday rolls around, Google brings out new ad units with seasonal themes.

The designs themselves vary according to season and location (users in Europe, for example, won’t see Thanksgiving ads).

In general, I always say that your ads should be unobtrusive but I like these themed ads. They’re eye-catching without looking like banners. When it’s holiday-time, it’s always worth checking out the format page again and seeing what’s available.

To sum up the different types of ad format then...
 Leaderboards are best at the top of the page;
 Squares and rectangles can be embedded into text itself;
 Vertical ads and buttons should slip down the side of the page;
 Vertical link units should be placed next to link lists;
 Horizontal link units can go at the top of the page, between blog entries or above and below directories;
 Image ads should rarely be used at all;
 Themed ads can be slotted in at holiday time;
 And Video ads should be used whenever possible.

Those are the general rules governing ad formats. They’re worth knowing because they’re a good place to start. They’re also worth knowing because you can’t break the rules until you know what they are... and that’s when the fun really begins!