Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I would really appreciate any help or advice regarding my situation.
Here is a brief outline of my account activity...
I haven't used the account to serve ads for a few months at least. Before this, ads were being served to my site which hadn't been updated for a long time.
Recently I removed the ads and then shortly after took the site offline in order to redevelop it. I installed the site on my local machine and began to redesign it.
The only thing I can think of that might have caused a problem was during this phase when I was trying to integrate ads into the new site. I copied and pasted my adsense code into a page on the site on my local machine to check the way it would look. I kept this to a bare minimum and I certainly didn't click on any of my own adverts.
In hindsight this might have been a foolish thing to do but I didn't think at the time that it might be a problem. I was just figuring out a new site design and adsense was included in that.
The only other time that anything unusual happened was over a year ago when my girlfrind unknowingly clicked on a couple of my ads to 'test' them. I emailed Google my apologies straight away and the replied that it was okay, just don't do it again.
Other than that, I don't even know anyone with an adsense account (other than my girlfriend who signed up recently and now knows better) nevermind anyone with a disabled account. I can categorically state that neither I nor anyone else I know has clicked on any of my own ads. And like I say, I haven't even served any ads for the last two months- before that the site was very low traffic and my number of clicks was tiny.
I would really appreciate any help or advice. Thanks in advance.
Good luck.
I really hope that my account gets reactivated. Hopefully this is just a genuine mistake. But now I'm paranoid.
I know for a fact that you could count the number of clicks my ads have recieved in the past six months on one hand. What I don't know is the ins and outs of how Google monitors adsense. But something seems to have gone wrong here.
jomaxx- My adsense account has never been associated with any other account. It is the first and only account I have and I don't even know anyone else who has ever had an account. (My girlfriend applied for her own account a few weeks ago but was refused because she applied before she had set her site up properly). Apart from that, nobody even knows that I've got an account.
That's why I was focussing on the fact that the site was closed for maintainance while I rebuilt it and ads were occasionally served (but never clicked on) during this time. Apart from that, the account has been more or less dormant for a long time.
I wonder if someone on the same server, with the same ip address, could have been banned. But if that happened, surely lots of people would get banned every time some fraudster got caught.
Other than that, I don't even know anyone with an adsense account (other than my girlfriend who signed up recently and now knows better)
It is the first and only account I have and I don't even know anyone else who has ever had an account. (My girlfriend applied for her own account a few weeks ago but was refused because she applied before she had set her site up properly).
I'm a little bit confused as to whether your girlfriend has an account or not ... she didn't use the same mailing address as you did, or your computer when she signed up did she? Either may have caused a flag.
When I made my first post this morning, I knew she had signed up and I assumed that she had been accepted.
This afternoon, I told her about what happened to my account I asked her if she had done anything with her account. She knows that I wasn't happy about her 'testing' my ads before but I asked her if she had even logged on from home where I check my account. She told me that she hadn't been accepted and hadn't applied from the computer at home.
I should have mentioned this when I posted again.
I don't want to send this thread off on a tangent, but I've been trying hard to figure out anything that could have caused this. Earlier this year, after using an internet cafe, my Hotmail account and eBay account were hacked by a total stranger. Ebay got things sorted out very quicky (the person had tried to buy a laptop). However, after an initial email saying they would help, Hotmail ingnored my repeated, polite attempts to get my account back. I finally got it back about a month ago (after almost 9 months) when it finally expired due to inactivity.
Needless to say that as soon it was hacked, I cancelled all of my credit cards and changed the passwords and assosciated email address for all of my internet things, including Adsense and Adwords.
But now I'm worried that it could be related to that. I can't remember if my hotmail account was associated with my Adsense when it was hacked, but it is possible. Although I don't see why a fraudster would use my name or a cancelled credit card number to open an adsense account almost nine months after first messing with my accounts. I hope I'm just being paranoid now because identity theft is more serious than being suspended from Adsense by mistake.
Just for the record, I have a great deal of respect for Google, but my bad experience with Hotmail in a time of crisis is why I am somewhat up in arms at the moment and frantically posting here.
Thanks everyone for all of your comments.
Good luck.
Termination; Cancellation. Subject to any third party agreements You may have with other Google customers (e.g., Your Web hosting company), You may stop displaying Ads, Links, Search Boxes, or Referral Buttons on any Site in the Program with or without cause at any time by removing the Google JavaScript or similar programming from Your Sites. You may terminate this Agreement with or without cause at any time by sending written notice of your desire to cancel Your participation in the Program to adsense-support@google.com. This Agreement will be deemed terminated within ten (10) business days of Google's receipt of Your notice. Google may investigate any activity that may violate this Agreement. Google may at any time, in its sole discretion, terminate all or part of the Program, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate the participation of any Site in all or part of the Program for any reason. In addition, Google reserves the right to terminate without notice any account that has not generated a sufficient number of valid clicks on Ads or Referral Buttons or valid impressions of Ads (in each case as measured by Google) for a period of two (2) months or more. Upon termination of participation of any Site in the Program or termination of this Agreement for any reason, Sections 3, 6 through 10, and 14 through 17 shall survive termination.
It does seem like a strange coincidence that she was recently rejected, though. I suppose it's possible that YOU are connected to HER and that SHE is somehow connected to some previously suspended account. That's just a wild stab, though. All you can really do is wait for Google to do a closer inspection and see if they change their mind.
The point from the TOS that icedowl has highlighted is interesting. That would make the most sense at the moment. If I get suspended from adsense for simply not delivering enough impressions or generating enough clicks (as opposed to doing something fraudulent) I wonder if I would be able to reapply.
I suppose I'll have to wait and see. I'll post my progress here so you can see how things work out.
Thanks again.
Anyway, I haven't heard anything. I think I'm going to write to them but I don't know what else I can say that I haven't already said in the emails... I was shocked at being suspended; I don't know why it happened; I have always done all I can to obey the TOS (and I emailed them in advance the one time I was worried about a violation); I have no connection to any other adsense accounts whatsoever; I'm sorry this whole situation has happened; I would really like to work with them in any way possible to resolve the situation.
One thing I'd like to say to everyone here at Webmasterworld:
I appreciate people taking time to offer me any advice or support they can. I realise that in discussing people being kicked form adsense, it often transpires that the person in question has bent the rules one way or another, and as a result many around here are slightly jaded on the subject. I can understand that, but I'd just like to say again that I'm 100% white hat.
One thing that I've noticed is that I got the email on 28th of December. It turns out that that's the same day G updated the cached version of my page.
I wonder if that's got anything to do with it... the fact that my site was in maintenance mode. So Googlebot recorded a simple "System Offline- The site is closed for maintenance, call back soon" page, but they registered the fact that ads were still being served (because as admin, I was on the site, tweaking things and loading pages). I don't know. That doesn't explain why my "account was found to be related to an account previously disabled for invalid click activity". The Google people are smart cookies and it seems unlikely that they would send the incorrect email.
So really, I'm still as confused by it as I was ten days ago. :(
Galaga, if you havent done anything wrong, then dont worry. Just send an email to adsense support team and they will investigate your issue. If you come out clean you will be reinstated.
the chances of you ever getting back in are slim. Bear in mind that google THINKS they know everything about you and in their supreme arrogance will not believe you. If you had the same surname as the Pope but lived in outer mongolia they could still believe you were "related" in some way (no I'm not trying to upset any RC's) and ban you. They won't listen to reason.
As I have said in a previous post and NO_ONE answered me. Just how does Google know you are related to anybody unless they are:
1/ Carrying out covert surveillance on every adsense publisher (and even I don't believe that) OR
2/ Carrying out full genealogy searches on everyone applying to be a publisher (and if that is the case I think they have bigger problems -MFA, scraper sites, sites using autosurfs to increase their page views etc etc)
I've got to be logical about this and say that either:
1. Google are not giving me the real reason for banning my account.
or
2. They have made a mistake.
It's as simple as that as far as I'm concerned. I couldn't be in a better position to say that my account has *not* been associated with another one.
Personally, I don't think Google would either accidentally or purposefully give me the wrong reason for my account being dropped. Therefore, I think it's just a mistake. How it happened I don't have a clue.
I simply don't understand how they can be so confident that my account is connected to another one. I mean, it just isn't. Which means that noone in my family has an account, none of my friends do, noone ever uses my computer except me, it's the only computer I use, noone knows about my account, most of my neighbours probably don't even have computers etc. etc.
But somehow, they have reached a different conclusion and my account gets dropped like a hot potato.
It's just lucky that I had a very small amount of money in the account. Imagine it had been thousands.
The dissapointing part is that I've always been a big fan of Google. I've always been very quick to 'big them up'. Which makes this kind of hard to take. I still have respect for G and I'm not going to turn into some crazy Google basher, but I can't say that this hasn't left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm putting together a letter at the moment that I'm going to send to the 'plex. I'm not trying to ask for my account back, but it doesn't seem right just not to say anything. I mean, Google should know if they are making mistakes, because presumably, they don't want to. And they have probably got my name on a blacklist beside all the spammers and lowlifes. It's the principle of the thing.
*sigh*
you mention your hotmail account being hacked. Does this mean you had to set up a new Adsense account under a new email address? This would explain the 'previous account' bit - although not the 'invalid clicks'. Your old adsense account would have been fixed to you as the payee on the payments so no thief would have profited from that.
Maybe you are still receiving 'canned' responses - hopefully your polite persistence will lead to a more thorough investigation.
Iguana:
Well, I tried to log into my Hotmail account one day, and couldn't. I feared the worst and checked all of my other online accounts. I found that apart from eBay I could access all of my other accounts. Obviously, the first thing I did was change all email addresses and passwords associated with them- including Adsense and Adwords.
I didn't check the hotmail account daily, so it was difficult to tell how long it had been out of my control- although it appeared to only be a few days.
That was early last year, so it's difficult to remember (it was a pretty panicked and stressful few days) but if memory serves, the Hotmail account could have been associated with the Adsense account.
As for setting up a new Adsense account- no, I didn't do this. I was under the impression that it isn't allowed.
I mentioned the Hotmail account because it is the only thing I could possibly think of that could have linked me with anyone fraudulent. Quite how, I have no idea, not being a fraudster myself.
At the end of the day, it's the scammers, spammers and bottom feeders that are screwing things up for everyone else.
