Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Do Messrs Larry Page and Sergey Brin read this forum? If they do I would like to thank them for giving us an opportunity to make money online through Adsense program.
I like their company's motto very much - DON'T BE EVIL!
After being accepted into Adsense program and quitting my job to concentrate on developing my web sites so that I could put Adsense later, I cannot sleep well. Everyday I am worried of getting banned by Google. I will never click on the ads at my sites and I even restrict access to Googlesyndication's site in my IE browser in order to prevent an accidental click to the ads.
I think those who are trying to cheat Google by generating false clicks are being foolish and impatient. They deserve to be banned, because they are evil. However, I think there are still honest publishers out there who are getting banned for invalid clicks. Judging by the stories they posted in this forum and other forums, I believe in their stories. Since Google's motto is "Don't be evil", I am sure they are fully aware of evil peoples out there who are doing evil to others (i.e honest publishers).
If there are Google's representatives here, could you tell us what Google has been doing to protect honest publishers from being victimized by false clicks? I understand that you need to protect your advertisers, but don't you think that the interest of honest publishers also need to be protected?
Some of us (like me) quit our job to concentrate on developing our sites full time in hoping of earning some decent income from Adsense program. Don't you think it is evil to deprive honest publishers of their rightful income?
Since Google has the ability to detect false clicks, can't Google just refund the income from the false clicks to advertisers instead of banning the publishers?
Now, I really regret of telling my friends and relatives and little nieces about my web sites. I am afraid that they will click on the ads at my sites. But that was before I joined Adsense. Now, I will never tell others about my sites. I even worried when I am earning more than my average.
Can't sleep well since joining Adsense .... :(
[edited by: mack at 6:34 am (utc) on Jan. 2, 2006]
[edit reason] See sticky. [/edit]
Since Google has the ability to detect false clicks, can't Google just refund the income from the false clicks to advertisers instead of banning the publishers?
Sure, and since department stores have detectives to catch shoplifters, why not just stop the shoplifters at the door, take away their stolen goods, and send them on their way?
Google has to ban publishers who steal from advertisers, for two reasons:
1) To send a warning message to crooked publishers.
2) To reassure advertisers that Google doesn't tolerate click fraud.
As for your fears of being banned, you shouldn't have anything to worry about if you're honest and if your site would pass the "sniff test." (I suspect that many, if not most, banned publishers had their accounts shut down not merely because of invalid clicks, but also because their sites didn't inspire confidence when invalid clicks triggered a manual review.)
Maybe it was, maybe it was for another reason that they're unaware of, and maybe they know full why they got kicked out and are just blowing smoke.
Judging by the stories they posted in this forum and other forums, I believe in their stories.
Many of those posting their stories were publicly discovered as having been cheaters. Are you saying you believe they were innocent anyway?
If so many of these people were quickly found to be dishonest, why do choose to believe them?
Sorry, but something doesn't add up.
Some of us (like me) quit our job to concentrate on developing our sites full time in hoping of earning some decent income from Adsense program.
Sounds like you need to diversify. I wouldn’t bet everything on AdSense. There are other revenue streams out there like affiliates and direct advertisers. I’d also give them a try.
I sometimes see clicks in my stats with zero earnings. They in fact make me sleep well. It seems that in those cases Google has a system in place to detect invalid clicks and discounts for them.
But I rationalised that anyone above the level of an idiot would see that given the genuine revenue potential of my sites, only a total moron would try to gain a few dollars more via click fraud.
Google have nothing to gain by kicking people out of the system unless they are fraudulent, in breach of the T&C or are too much trouble than they are worth in revenue terms.
Reading these forums has been slowly calming my nerves, stories of people being unfairly banned from adsense never seem to hold up well after a few pages of people asking questions. At the very least the sites are if not outright MFA sites, they are close to the edge, and not the sort of publishers that google has any incentive to want to keep in the programme.
I sincerely think that if you run a genuine clean site, you have very little to worry about. But let's face it, if you are relying on adsense you are still going to worry at least a bit.
I have "staked the farm" on adsense
I do well with AdSense, and I'm not worried about being dumped capriciously by Google, but I still think that relying completely on AdSense (or any one source of revenue) is risky.
So it came down to go with google or don't go! The living I am so far not quite making with google is pathetic compared to what I could earn in a "cubicle" but it is at least "my living" and something that should grow and do well.
I've written Google right away telling them and they wrote back saying they have an automatic way to take care of them. After about the third email I sent like this they also assured me my site was in good standing. I took that to mean I don't need to write them every time this happens.
I've noticed I don't get paid for these kind of clicks so they have an automatic system so the advertiser won't be charged. So I think minor incidents of excessive clicks is no problem for the publisher.
Ocxasionally someone does lose their account through no fault of their own. Usually this can be worked out with Google.
I think google should have better ideas than puting a ban on the publisher as in my case some SOB clicked excessively on my ads and google banned me along with my all time earnings of 1500$. What do u think, is it fair?
Google has the right to terminate the relationship with you for any reason, just as you have the right to terminate the relationship with Google for any reason. So "fair" really doesn't enter into it.
In your case, any number of things could have influenced their decision. For example: Maybe they reviewed your site and found it questionable for some reason besides the invalid clicks. Or maybe Google has reason to believe that your topic or your audience is likely to generate repeated problems with invalid clicks (e.g., a topic that's controversial or click-happy kids whose traffic doesn't convert for advertisers). Whatever the reason, they probably used "invalid clicks" as the justification for closing your account. That's their catch-all phrase, as I understand it, because clicks can be "invalid" for a lot of reasons (not just click fraud).
