Forum Moderators: martinibuster
How do I report someone who is abusing Adsense? I have reported a few of this spammer's domains already, but is there any way to specifically report adsense abusers?
Why?
Can AdSense be abused?
- to help point G to the problem
- to help improve overall image of Adsense to advertisers by helping remove undesirable publishers
- to make oneself feel good that they have contributed to the betterment of the Adsense program and the Internet world
- to do something "productive" to pass the time
Whether G agrees or not to the complaint lies with G. eBay has done very well with allowing fellow eBay users to report violations because they do not have the manpower to check each and every single auction listing - but it is always up to ebay to decide whether the listing is really a violation or not. Same principle with Adsense.
Click on the Ads by Goooooogle on the "violating" site and explain in the feedback form why you think the site is in violation.
I love adsense (and so does my wallet) and I feel I should contribute to the quality of the program. Whether G agrees with me is another story, but at least I want to give it a try. And no, it aint no competitor of mine :)
1. to cause grief for your competitors.
2. to be a busybody.
3. to inflict your perceptions of improper adsense
etiquette on others.
4. to kill time gleefully while you sit at home in your
underwear overoptimizing pages.
I have no problem with a conscientious webmaster reporting scrapers, content thieves, or those who simply repeat a single keyword hundreds of times with absolutely no useful content on the page, but I'd never encourage people to start ratting each other out.
One person's opinion as to what is good and proper may not be another's. Anyone recall Joe McCarthy?
Amazing how people love to snitch out others.
I love "snitching" on others. I do it whenever I encounter such sites. It makes me feel better.
The moral of the story is that there are good reasons to report Adsense abuse.
Other times if the publisher is costing my money (I'm an advertiser, not a publisher) I log into my AdWords account and complain there. (Actually my clients' AdWords accounts.) My biggest client spends close to $1 million/year, so they do respond, and several sites I've complained about are no longer running AdSense.
It warms my heart to think of the e-mail the publisher must have received telling him that he was out.
Another thing I do is anonymously e-mail AdSense advertisers and point them to the sites their ads are appearing on. Or else send them links to threads at webmasterworld.com and elsewhere where publishers talk about things they. Who knows if anonymous e-mails get any attention? I can't use my real name because they would identify me as a competitor.
I try to devote about 2 hours/week to bringing down AdSense. (I know it's an impossible task, but in my fantasy world, there is no AdSense.) It's sort of my civic duty as a citizen of the Internet.
I have contacted people who were shocked to find out that they were breaking the tos by incentivizing clicks etc. They swiftly corrected the problems, and expressed gratitude for my being kind enough to alert them.
It is an act of cruelty (and in some cases stupidity) to mindlessly cut the legs off an internet newbie instead of being kind and trying to help someone who needs help.
No offense intended, but to be frank, in my personal opinion and to my mind, people who are reporting them instead of helping them, are no different from those who laugh when senior citizens trip on the sidewalk, i.e. they are behaving like a creep.
But the sad thing is that Google doesn't care. They respond to the email, but the crap sites that are using the scraped content remain in the program.
Do you truely believe the 'content' checkers over at Google are really incompetent?
I agree with a LOT that has been stated in this thread. Yes it's better to contact the webmaster first, etc.
But in all seriously, I strongly believe that Google allows sites that break the TOS (but make them lots of money) to stick around. They probabaly just drop their commission (so they get more of the profit), and wait for someone to complain. If anyone says "hey this is a spam site" they go "oh we didn't see" and remove it. It's perfect business sense.
Why waste your time?
I only do it if I encounter one while browsing around. I simply click Ads by Google and report it. Now if I were to contact the webmaster directly that would be wasting my time.
4. to kill time gleefully while you sit at home in your underwear overoptimizing pages.
LOL nice one...
IMO, if you spend more time working your own sites rather than the competition you won't be so surprised when they quickly send another site to the top of the SERP's.
Oh, well. We live in the age of the common man. Duffers can rarely see it any other way.
Some of the so-called abusers are internet newbies who have no clue that what they're doing breaks any rules. You are being cruel or thoughtless if you don't contact the owner and let them correct the issue themselves. I have contacted people who were shocked to find out that they were breaking the tos by incentivizing clicks etc. They swiftly corrected the problems, and expressed gratitude for my being kind enough to alert them. It is an act of cruelty (and in some cases stupidity) to mindlessly cut the legs off an internet newbie instead of being kind and trying to help someone who needs help. No offense intended, but to be frank, in my personal opinion and to my mind, people who are reporting them instead of helping them, are no different from those who laugh when senior citizens trip on the sidewalk, i.e. they are behaving like a creep.
@martinibuster: This is a well known spammer, so I aint wasting my time contacting him.
The only AdSense abuse I report is the thousands of sites that use scraped content in order to profit from AdSense. If I find my copy on your site and you are running AdSense, I'm definitely going to click the link and report it. But the sad thing is that Google doesn't care. They respond to the email, but the crap sites that are using the scraped content remain in the program.
@WebGuerrilla: That's exactly what this site is all about - scraped content (infact, google's own SERPS)
I thinks it's silly how often, people who bring up spam reports are quick to point out that they are not targeting a competitor. They just 'happened' upon a site that is breaking the rules and gee whiz, they feel honor bound to inform Google about the infraction. Right. I am sure most of them are hunched over their monitor with blood-shot eyes, sweaty palms and twitchy feet - hunting for that one slip-up by the more skilled competitor so they can gleefully click their bookmarks and pull down the spam report link. Gotchya!... you can almost hear them squeal. IMO, if you spend more time working your own sites rather than the competition you won't be so surprised when they quickly send another site to the top of the SERP's. Oh, well. We live in the age of the common man. Duffers can rarely see it any other way.
@chicagohh: Besides being a webmaster, I am still an internet user as well. And yes I DID stumble upon this spammer when I was looking for something. Who do you think you are to judge me?
Besides being a webmaster, I am still an internet user as well.
Me, too. And I'm always amazed by the fact that so many Webmaster World members are unbothered when they have to dig through spam on SERPs to find relevant pages. :-)
If you are the one setting the policies and rules, own them, fine. If G asks you to help, fine. As long as G owns their rules and does not ask for help, I don't really see the point of spending your time with it.
You might cause a lot of counter reaction from folks who (sometimes) do not take this stuff so easy, this would cause you to suffer as well.
G makes (almost) all the money, they set up the rules, let them inforce the rules too. Who are we to do so? Do you re-program traffic lights because someone ran on red?
Amazing how people love to snitch out others.
Yeah, it's great when advertisers drop out of the program or content/publisher ads because people break the rules.
Besides, reporting people is just another tool in the toolbox.
Many people here makes money from Adsense (some makes a lot of money). They will do what they can to protect that well from drying up -- even if it means reporting to G violations they see. For them, they view it as their share to improve the program. Besides, it is called "feedback"
i hate rats even more.
So you think that if you're part of something that could be potentially ruined or comprimised by others, you shouldn't say anything because you're afraid of becoming a "rat"? Who, exactly, in your life is going to know or care that you reported someone?
I guess that makes me a rat.
