Competitors Can Get You Baned from Adsense

The conditions for whose display ads

[thvi]

What is the cuurent state of affairs in terms of a competitor going to your site and just clicking away a million times to get you removed from adsense? It seems to be the absolute Achille's heel of the program. Has this happened to anyone recently?

thvi

[petra]

I think google can figure that out, especially if your competitor is also in the adsense program.

[arifagic]

^ Like he said if they are a member of adsense "Google Will Detact That Right Away"!

If not they are tracking ip`s (so can you) if you find out that a IP or a getaway are cliking your links un-normaly 10-15 (200 times) then take that IP report it to google adsense!

Or if they contact you first about that issue then just explain the situation, been there done that!

[thvi]

Thanks to your replies. Ari, so you have actually been there? Please can you describe the sequence of events: who notified who, what was said / written / required? Has it happened to you more than once? Do you think it WAS a competitor?

Thanks,

thvi

[Palehorse]

Thvi, though you most likely have honorable intentions, but asking for details is not a good idea. It gives potential click bandits "does and don'ts".

Suffice it to say it is NOT an achillies heel.

[thvi]

I can accept that. Would be grateful to hear from a few other ad-displayers also. Is this the general concensus: that it is an issue, but one that has been managed?

Thanks again,

thvi

[jomaxx]

This is the achilles heel of the whole Web, not just AdSense. A "competitor" could get you kicked out of pretty much any advertising program, even affiliate programs, via spamming, spidering, and/or building bogus websites that violate the program's TOS. A determined attacker could cause you plenty of other headaches as well.

On the plus side, there's very little incentive for anyone to do this. The only scenario I can think of where it makes any logical (although not ethical) sense is when an AdSense publisher is reinvesting the revenues in PPC. Except for that situation, a competitor is unlikely to benefit at all and would be risking significant civil and maybe even criminal penalties if caught.