Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I just read, and re-read their TOS, policies, and FAQ, (specifically, the section on click spamming (https://www.google.com/adsense/faq#basics9), and am positive that I don't do any of those things....
EXCEPT, one time I was checking out my message board and clicked on a link to a health food site because I was interested in buying health food-related products. The last sentence in the second paragraph says "Please note that clicking on your own ads for any reason is also prohibited because this has the potential to inflate advertiser costs". Would they really disable my account automatically because I was legitimately interested in an advertisers product and clicked on their link, just because I own my site?
I just don't know what else the problem could be. :(
This has been a very good month for me because my site is related to a baseball team that is in the playoffs, and the majority of AdSense ads that showed up were for ticket brokers. There are even threads on my message board by users discussing what great deals they got through these brokers because of the Google ads.
I'm really bummed, because for the first time ever my site was actually beginning to turn a profit. They wouldn't disable my account just because I had a good month, would they?
Reading threads here, other people seem to have gotten notices or warnings; mine was automatically disabled. I'm just really frustrated because I thought I was just running the ads and being a good citizen doing so.
Has anyone ever heard of this before?
No, they are not going to disable accounts just because they happen to be making good money. Google makes money from you too, so it is in Google's best interest to keep your account active. But it makes sense from a corporate point of view to suspend accounts with incidences of fraud.
If you go back through the forum, you will find many more detailed discussions on this topic.
If you are trying to appeal it, be polite, offer your logs, and offer to assist the AdSense team in any way. The key is to be polite - firing off an angry email won't get you anywhere productive ;)
It seems that many who have received the fraudulent clicks letter are running adsense on discussion boards. It may be that discussion boards seem to be a "high risk" area for adsense publishers, perhaps for similar reasons to yours.
There are even threads on my message board by users discussing what great deals they got through these brokers because of the Google ads.
Yes, I agree, that is probably what lead to your account being disabled. That could cause people to click on the ads out of curiousity, just to see those "deals", even if they had no intentions of purchasing. It would make me curious to click, even if I had no intentions or even any interest in purchasing tickets of any kind.
Google likely noted an increase of clicks on ads on certain pages, which resulted in an investigation. And if many of those clicks were made right from that thread alone, I can see why your account was disabled.
I've been very polite and affable in the emails I sent to them; and explained that nothing was done on purpose to artifically increase click-thrus.
I do think that the idea that perhaps the discussion of the "good deals" set up a red flag, but I also think that a sudden increase in clicks and revenue in September raised a red flag as well.
I'm still waiting to hear back from them on my last email, and I have my fingers crossed that something good will come out of it.
-jim
I do think that the idea that perhaps the discussion of the "good deals" set up a red flag, but I also think that a sudden increase in clicks and revenue in September raised a red flag as well.
How much 'sudden increase' did you see?
I saw a 41% and 65% increase in clicks and revenue respectively compared to last month.
-jim
I haven't heard whether or not they are going to withhold my last months' earnings; but I'm going to assume that they are.
-jim
>other people seem to have gotten notices or warnings; mine was automatically disabled
Sounds clear cut and easily findable. If you sticky me the URL I'll see how long [if at all] it takes me to find the reason.
Now this is only theory, and maybe someone that is more knowledgeable can help confirm or refute this, but suppose when you check your AdSense account Google sets a cookie on your browser. Then you click on an AdSense ad. Google takes a look at your cookies and sees that the same computer used for checking the account was used for clicking on the ad. Bingo, you're flagged. As in gotcha!
I have nothing to support this theory but I don't think it would take a rocket scientist to catch click thieves this way.
Is that a legal contract? Has it been challenged?
Btw, i don't want to send my logs to *anybody*. Google should figure this out by themself as soon as possible!
I think some webmasters are having problems in transitioning from the cpm advertising model to the adsense revenue share model. In the cpm model encouraging users to click could be viewed as a good thing, with the adsense model this is not the case.
Any encouragment to click adsense ads is ill advised. If such encouragements were made, lets say in a forum post, it would be a grave mistake. Not only is the adsense TOS being broken but the short lived surge in page specific click thru rates, must stand out like a sore thumb.
They follow the trail, you get nuked.
I am sure they will pay what is owed because I will not accept otherwise.
I am sure they will pay what is owed because I will not accept otherwise.
So, did you ask them whether or not they will hold your last month payment?
I took the same view on a similar matter in 1989, two years suspended was the result. When you are digging a hole for your self the most important step to take is to stop digging.
Adsense are far from infallible but they "see" more than me or you.
I only know 1 thing for sure. I have not done anything fraudulent.
"I took the same view on a similar matter in 1989, two years suspended was the result. When you are digging a hole for your self the most important step to take is to stop digging.
Adsense are far from infallible but they "see" more than me or you.
"
Do you have some kind of a special arrangement with them? So far NOBODY was paid if the account is disabled...
It's not a good feeling to know that you can be booted either because you have some employees that probably don't record what you say (DO NOT CLICK) or your mum wants to make you some bucks because she love's you or your competitor found out that you publish adsense.
...or if you run them on a message forum. Since the ads are targeted, they may relate to the discussion (as in the baseball tickets case) and people are bound to include them in their talk... and good folks lose in the end. This hasn't been confirmed, but reading your discussions in this thread, I can see how it can happen. G might need to add a clear warning about including adsense ads on discussion pages.
Oh, something similar to:
The text ads that say "Ads By Google" at the bottom are very lucrative. The once a day rule applies to these ads to, but don't be afraid to click on the same one each day.
or
It's going to be a long off-season, so your clicks now will help me pay the bills later.
Which would violate the tos, but probably was brought to g's attention by a competitor.
I don't agree that they should kick someone out without warning though and give them a chance to get a clue. Most of us have run other cpm ads for other networks for years and adjusting to this cpc like model is totally new and we've not completely wrapped our brains around it.
Go ahead, mis-quote me out of context all you want. Try to maliciously destroy my credibility all you want. Hey, it's your site, if you want to sink to that level, so be it.
That's really cool, friend. Really cool...
-jim
I have the whole thread if you want to see the context again, I would advise against it though.
What I would humbley suggest is that you re-read Brett's post. My take is that it is sending a clear message to adsense that they need to readjust their attitude to webmasters such as yourself. A ban straight of the bat for what, imho, was a dumb thing to say is too harsh. Adsense must accept that webmasters must be given the time to adjust from a cpm to a cpc model, they need help, guidance and maybe even training. After all they have "training" for advertisers, why not have they same for the publishers who are the foundation that the whole system is built upon?
I was pointing out that the example is EXACTLY the types of things that the AdSense team is going to look for. It's what got you. I was trying to explain it - not justify it. Only Google can justify it.
I don't agree with it for a minute. It's a whole new type of ad program and your types of comments on your site is exactly the types of comments I've left on my own sites time and time again to enhance revenue.
That's the problem when you try to do these types of things in public.
Though, if the site violates Google's policies or TOS, THAT I can totally understand.
