Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Anyone else?
When an account generates only a token amount of revenue each month, Google may decide to close the account if any invalid clicks occur, simply because the account doesn't bring in enough profit to justify the cost of a more detailed review. Remember, Google isn't a court of law, so Google doesn't have to determine guilt or innocence--it can close an account for business reasons.
Remember, Google isn't a court of law, so Google doesn't have to determine guilt or innocence--it can close an account for business reasons.
The small timers aren't driving bottom line growth.
At least if you get a low CTR penality you will have an excuse to get in again telling that your traffic has increased X times .. but after they said you were just doing something ilegal they won't let you to come back.
CS.
If I get kicked off I'd like to know that the reason was because the (low CTR/high maintenance cost) and not because they claim that I'm a thief ...
I haven't heard of anyone being terminated because of low CTR or high maintenance costs, although I suppose it could happen. My point was simply that, if you have invalid clicks for any reason or from any source, Google may not feel that it's worth their while to investigate further unless your site generates a reasonable level of earnings.
Other factors may come into play, too. Some genres may cause above-average problems for Google, whether or not the publishers at fault. Let's say you've got a forum on kiddie widgets and the ads get a lot of clicks by curious 8-year-olds who don't have money to spend. Or maybe you've got a site on a controversial topic that attracts clickbot attacks because of its subject matter. In either case, Google may figure that your site is more trouble than it's worth because it's generating an unusual number of clicks that don't convert for advertisers. From Google's point of view, those clicks are wasted clicks (which may be "invalid clicks" according to Google's definition) whether or not they were made fraudulently.
Publishers might feel better if they were given the specific reasons for being terminated, but there are two good reasons why Google might prefer to use a generic dismissal notice:
1) To avoid getting into long, unproductive dialogues with publishers whose accounts Google has decided to close; and...
2) To avoid legal challenges (especially in cases where Google thinks clicks are probably fraudulent but doesn't have proof).
Google could avoid a lot of bad feelings if it explained that closing of an account for "invalid clicks" isn't equivalent to an accusation of fraud, and that it may choose to terminate its agreement with a publisher (just as a publisher can terminate its account with Google) if it overhead costs exceed profits. On the other hand, there may be some value to Google in making it clear to publishers and advertisers that the AdSense network is ruthless in dealing with anyone who's even suspected of click fraud.
