Dianomi is committed to providing a high-quality advertising experience for publishers, advertisers and users. All creatives submitted to the Dianomi platform must comply with the Dianomi Ad Standards, which can be viewed here.
An important part of these standards is ensuring that advertisements are accurate, professional and appropriate for the environments in which they appear. Ads must not use misleading, sensational or excessively attention-grabbing techniques commonly associated with clickbait.
Clickbait can take many forms and is not always defined by a single element of an advertisement. Dianomi therefore considers the overall impression created by the ad, including its image, headline and other ad text, as well as the content of the destination or landing page.
The guidance below outlines common characteristics that may result in an advertisement being considered clickbait or otherwise failing to meet Dianomi's Ad Quality Standards. This list is intended as guidance and is not exhaustive. An advertisement may still be rejected where it does not contain one of the specific characteristics listed below but is considered inconsistent with Dianomi's wider Ad Standards.
Images
Images should accurately and professionally represent the content being promoted.
| Trait | Explanation |
| Shocking/disturbing imagery | Uses graphic, alarming, grotesque, or emotionally intense visuals primarily to grab attention rather than accurately represent the content. |
| Misleading imagery | Shows a person, product, event, location, or outcome that isn't genuinely representative of what the user will find after clicking. |
| Unrelated celebrity images | Uses a recognisable public figure to attract attention despite that person having little or no genuine connection to the advertised content. |
| Implied celebrity endorsement | Positions a celebrity alongside a product, brand, or claim in a way that could make users incorrectly believe they endorse or use it. |
| Before/after imagery | Uses contrasting images to imply that a product or service caused a significant transformation, particularly where the result is exaggerated or unsubstantiated. |
| Extreme health transformation | Depicts unusually dramatic improvements in health, appearance, fitness, or medical conditions to imply exceptional results. |
| Extreme wealth imagery | Uses luxury cars, mansions, large amounts of cash, bank balances, or similar wealth signals to imply that clicking or using the advertised product could produce extraordinary financial success. |
| Fake UI elements | Places non-functional play buttons, notifications, download icons, alerts, or other interface elements within an image to encourage users to click by making them appear interactive. |
| Arrows/circles/highlighting | Uses arrows, circles, zoom-ins, or highlighting to manufacture curiosity around a visual detail, particularly when that detail has little relevance to the actual content. |
| Sexually suggestive imagery | Uses provocative or sexualised visuals primarily as an attention mechanism when they aren't genuinely relevant to the advertised content. |
| Graphic medical imagery | Uses close-ups of injuries, skin conditions, body parts, procedures, or other medical imagery for shock value rather than because that level of graphic detail is necessary. |
| Odd/cropped/obscured imagery | Intentionally hides, blurs, crops, or partially reveals the important part of an image so users have to click to understand what they're looking at. |
| AI/manipulated imagery | Uses generated or edited visuals that appear to document a real person, event, product, or outcome when the depicted situation didn't actually occur. |
| Image/landing-page mismatch | The image creates an expectation about the subject or content that isn't fulfilled by the destination page. |
| Imagery with text | Contains text that is difficult to read, likely to be cropped and negatively affects the quality and appearance of the creative. |
Text
Ad headlines and supporting text should give users a clear and accurate understanding of the content they are being invited to view.
| Trait | Explanation |
| Sensational language | Uses unnecessarily dramatic or emotionally charged wording to make ordinary information seem extraordinary. |
| Curiosity gap | Deliberately withholds the key piece of information so the reader has to click to understand the headline, rather than giving them a reasonable idea of what the content contains. |
| Overpromising | Suggests the article, product, or service will provide a much greater benefit, revelation, or result than the destination can reasonably deliver. |
| Misleading headline | Makes a claim or creates an impression that isn't accurately supported by the landing-page content. |
| Fake urgency | Creates an artificial deadline or suggests the opportunity/information will disappear when there is no genuine time-sensitive reason to act. |
| Excessive superlatives | Relies on terms such as “best,” “incredible,” “revolutionary,” or “life-changing” without sufficient justification, making the content appear more significant than it is. |
| Implausible outcomes | Promises or strongly implies unusually large, fast, easy, or guaranteed results, particularly around money, health, or personal improvement. |
| Fear/FOMO language | Encourages a click by making readers worry that they'll lose money, miss an opportunity, make a serious mistake, or suffer another negative consequence if they don't act. |
| Teaser questions | Poses a question primarily to create unresolved curiosity, particularly when the headline could easily provide the answer or meaningful context itself. |
| Reader-targeting hooks | Calls out a demographic or personal characteristic in a way designed to make readers feel the message specifically concerns them and therefore requires immediate attention. |
| “Secret” framing | Presents generally available information as hidden, suppressed, or deliberately kept from the public to make it seem exclusive or controversial. |
| Listicle bait | Uses numbered lists combined with exaggerated teasing of particular items to make the reader feel compelled to click through to discover them. |
| Unsupported authority claims | Invokes doctors, experts, celebrities, institutions, or other trusted authorities to increase credibility without adequate evidence that they support the claim. |
| Headline/landing-page mismatch | The headline promises a particular fact, story, person, offer, or revelation that the destination page doesn't meaningfully provide. |
Dianomi's Right to Reject Advertising
Determining whether an advertisement constitutes clickbait is not always an exact or objective process. There can be ambiguity between engaging advertising and advertising that is excessively sensational, misleading or designed primarily to generate a click.
For this reason, Dianomi reserves the right, at its discretion, to reject, pause, request changes to or decline to serve any advertisement that it considers does not meet the Dianomi Ad Standards or the level of ad quality expected across the Dianomi network.
An advertisement does not need to contain one of the specific traits listed in this guidance to be rejected. Similarly, the presence of one of these traits does not necessarily mean that an advertisement will automatically be rejected. Each creative may be assessed in context and on its overall presentation and likely impact on the user experience.