New Adsense unit changes being tested

I’ve seen a couple of new features on Google Adsense units today, and am surprised that I’ve not seen any chatter elsewhere, so I’ll detail them here:

1. Change of link format

A subtle but significant change in the 300×250 ad units is that instead of all ads running down like a shopping list, sometimes these are now displaying as if 4 separate 75×50 ad units.

ie, Here’s the normal display:

Here’s the change:

See how the ad unit is now treated as containing individual blocks as opposed to a shopping list format?

2. Scrollable links

Here’s another feature I just saw that I hadn’t see previously - scrollable links.

check the image below:

Those up/down arrows are exactly what they suggest - click on those and an Ajax fade sees a new set of Adsense ads reloaded.

It’s interesting that Google would apply the changes now - and possibly not a good idea. Publishers are already probably seeing a drop in earnings as the Christmas advertising budgets get wound down, so I can certainly see a few people jumping for another excuse as to why they may be losing revenue just before Christmas.

While I can’t say I see many visitors opting for the up/down scroll, the change in 300×250 ad could be controversial - on the one hand, I like the look, but it can only be damaging to the general integration of Adsense into a site.

Tip to Google Adsense - try not to encourage publishers to integrate your ads, then change the format of the ads without giving notice. :)