Increase AdSense CTR up to 400% Using Images

I was looking for some buzz in the Adsense world and while the latest topic seemed dry, I saw a post in one of the AdSense forums that really got my attention.

This webmaster took a small mention about including images above the leaderboard made by another member, took a look at an example,  and tried it.  The results he had of a 400% increase in click thru rate (CTR) are remarkable to say the least.

What's more, it wasn't a fluke. A long thread developed on this topic, and it seems every webmaster that used this technique enjoyed some increase as well. You don't have to copy these sites at all. I believe it can work for almost any topic as long as the images are related to the topic.

It's well known in the print world that images with captions get read.  On the forum member site examples I saw, the images catch your eye, you read the "caption" - aka the AdSense ad text  - and it becomes more compelling to click. For some reason, Google doesn't put the URL on the leaderboard format, so it just adds to the illusion of a captioned photo.  In  the thread, someone shares that they got the OK from Google to use this technique, but caveat emptor, and don't use it if you are concerned about breaking Google's AdSense TOS.