Add text above advertisement but hide it when adblock blocks the ad

Question

I would like to add a small message above adsense advertisements to signify that it is an advertisement and thank the user for not using adblock. Obviously I would like this to be hidden if the user does use adblock.

I remember doing this a few years ago by simply wrapping the advert using <div class="advert"> and putting the text inside that. It seems that adblock no longer blocks elements in this way as the ad is blocked yet the text remains.

<div class="advert">
    Thank you for not using adblock!
    <script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
    <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"></ins>
    <script>
    (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
    </script>
    Advertisements directly support the hosting of this site
</div>

I could create a script to detect adblock and hide the text with that but I would rather let the adblock script do the hiding if possible. I am mainly wondering if that is at all possible. Is there somewhere I can include the text so it will be seen as part of the advert and thus be blocked with it?

Answer 1

For horizontal ads, wrap your ad with a div

<div class="adHorizontal">

This CSS works for me:

div.adHorizontal ins.adsbygoogle:before {
content: 'Advertisement';
position: relative;
top: 15px;
color: #888;
font-size: .75rem;
-webkit-transform: rotate(270deg);
transform: rotate(270deg);
transform-origin: right top 0;
float:right;}

Answer 2

I'm sorry, but the correct answer to your question is non-technical and negative: you are not allowed to "add a small message above adsense advertisements to signify that it is an advertisement and thank the user for not using adblock".

• "Thank you for not using adblock!" anywhere on your site or page:
  very big risk, and I think it is a violation of AdSense policies.

• "Thank you for not using adblock!" above AdSense unit:
  "Unnatural attention" and "Misleading label" in AdSense.

• "Advertisements directly support the hosting of this site":
  obvious violation - "Encouraging users to click Google ads".

In order to ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, publishers participating in the AdSense program may not:

• Compensate users for viewing ads or performing searches, or promise compensation to a third party for such behavior.
• Encourage users to click the Google ads using phrases such as "click the ads", "support us", "visit these links" or other similar language.
• Direct user attention to the ads using arrows or other graphical gimmicks.
• Place misleading images alongside individual ads.
• Place ads in a floating box script.
• Format ads so that they become indistinguishable from other content on that page.
• Format site content so that it is difficult to distinguish it from ads.
• Place misleading labels above Google ad units. For instance, ads may be labelled "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements", but not "Favourite Sites" or "Today's Top Offers".

Source: AdSense program policies

Publishers are not allowed to use language to lead users to click Google ads, such as:

• "Feel free to click an ad"
• "Contribute to the cause, visit an ad"
• "Help keep this site running, check out our sponsors"
• "We need a new server. Support us!"

Source: Ad placement policies

Answer 3

Well the solution is actually really simple. You just need to apply styles for the text to .adsbygoogle and then use the ::before and ::after pseudo elements to display the text. When the advertisement is blocked the .adsbygoogle element is not present so the pseudo elements aren't created.

.adsbygoogle {
    font-size: 12px;
    text-align: center;
}
.adsbygoogle:before {
    content: 'Text above';
}
.adsbygoogle:after {
    content: 'Text below';
}

It is simple, clean and semantic too which is always a plus. No need for extra markup or any javascript.