Creative Use of AdSense or User Manipulation?

While I was checking my daily RSS feeds, I ran across an article on lifehack.org entitled “11 Causes of Procrastination and Their Cures”. As someone who falls into the procrastination trap every once in awhile I clicked on the link. The site isn’t actually the source of the article, but gives visitors a quick blurb about the post and then provides a link to the site where the article was written (johnsplaceonline.com). The article is worth your read, but the reason why I’m pointing it out to you doesn’t have anything to do with content of the article. Take a look at this screenshot from lifehack.org – the site that links to johnsplaceonline.com:

At a quick glance, do you see the link to the article or did you pause for a second, unsure which link will take you to the post? Even after all the articles I’ve read about AdSense ad placement and the time I’ve spent optimizing my own AdSense layout, I had to stop for a moment and make sure I was clicking on the right link. For lifehack.org, this is a standard post. Find an article with a hook, write a synopsis of the post and surround a similarly-formatted link with AdSense ads. Google has pretty strict guidelines about using AdSense code and in opinion lifehack.org is really pushing the boundaries of what’s allowed under Google’s TOS. I can’t help but feel just a little manipulated, but at the same time I admire the creativity lifehack.org employs here. I wonder how much money they’re making from webmasters who are paying for clicks from visitors who had no intention of clicking on the AdSense ad? By the way, I’m not knocking lifehack.org. I read they’re site daily and enjoy many of the articles they find about personal productivity that I wouldn’t have come across otherwise. But how do you feel about they’re use of AdSense code – brilliant marketing or an underhanded feint?

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