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Booted from Adsense - don't know why.

         

RustyACE

2:28 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I've been booted from Google Adsense after earning about $250 bucks or so in the past couple of months.

They claim that I have been clicking on my own ads. Which I have not.

No recourse, just, <paraphrase>"We cannot reveal our algorithm, but we reviewed your account again and confirm that invalid clicks were generated with your account"</paraphrase>

Account closed, end of story, see ya'- next.

I have not clicked on any of my ads. I have emailed them several times and this is all I get above.

Has anyone else experienced this?

$250 isn't much, but it's a big deal when they take about 90 days to pay and then when you are about to get your first check they boot you.

How is it possible for them to confirm that I've been clicking on my ads when I haven't?

Thanks in advance for advice,

Rusty

[edited by: Jenstar at 4:43 pm (utc) on Feb. 11, 2004]
[edit reason] No email quotes as per TOS, thanks! [/edit]

WebMojo

8:33 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Here it is, right off the Google TOS page for all you "smart guys out there"

#6 Prohibited Uses. You shall not, and shall not authorize or encourage any third party to: (i) generate fraudulent impressions of or fraudulent clicks on any Ad(s), including but not limited to through repeated manual clicks, the use of robots or other automated query tools and/or computer generated search requests, and/or the fraudulent use of other search engine optimization services and/or software

It does not say you can not click your own ad for research/testing... as long as you dont abuse it...

thankyou and good night los angeles..
love mojo
a big shout out to my man brett for backing me up...
goodnight

QuoVadis

8:34 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Do you believe in the future of Adsense Publishers? I am afraid there is too much froud around.. Maybe google will filter the sites with Adsense later and only the big sites will stay and the small will be gone from the program. I dont want this to happen but as long as some guys are trying to make money with fround this might happen..

just a thought...

QV

tombola

8:41 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



WebMojo, follow Brett's advice.

... but don't start whining when you'll get the "Dreaded Email" ;-)

Goober

8:41 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Google is the "bank". You are the "teller". How many times do you think you could reach into the teller draw at your local bank to take a few pennies, a few dollars before you got caught? If you get caught, the bank fires you.

Simple.

Random click or not.

Goober

Jenstar

8:41 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



It does not say you can not click your own ad for research/testing...

Webmojo, do note what it says in the FAQ, which you have agreed to abide by when you signed up for AdSense.

These prohibited methods include but are not limited to: repeated manual clicks, using robots, automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software. Please note that clicking on your own ads for any reason is prohibited, to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs. All clicks must be generated as the result of a user clicking on the ads. We therefore require AdSense publishers not to incite or provide any incentive for users to click on a Google ad. (bolding mine)
[google.com...]

Don't think it could be any clearer ;)

Chicken Juggler

8:44 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)



One thing I do is make sure that I only check my contol panel from a static IP. That way there is no way somebody else can get that IP and click on the ad. I have a VPN so I can check it anywhere.

Brett_Tabke

8:48 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



It is up to them to track their system. This "wink & a nod - don't click on your own site" stuff is minor league stuff. It's 2004 and it is the nets premier adversing program. They can give you a magic cookie to know you are in the program and then filter you off. If not, then there is as much more serious problem with their fraud control.

I seriously doubt, that nobody anywhere has gotten booted out of AdSense for occasionally clicking their own ad.

buckworks

8:50 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



It is my site, and I have a right to see where it takes me and if in fact the links are working...

no harm done...

I'm desparately afraid that this guy is not being sarcastic, that he actually believes what he's writing!

Please get it through your thick skull that to an advertiser who pays for clicks your so-called "research" is FRAUD, plain and simple. There IS harm done!

Advertisers do not sign up in order to pay you for checking that the links work, or so that you can verify where the links go. That's the job of the Adwords editorial staff, who do it without costing the advertiser any money.

jomaxx

8:53 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



And some of those ads cost a pretty penny. How would you like some webmaster checking to make sure his links "work" every day, and costing you say $10 a shot?

QuoVadis

8:54 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



If these guys are really so curious for their ads contain they can just see the link type it on their browser and see what's it. but clicking on the ads is wrong. I am surpised how come google did not see it. maybe they are reading it here..

Macro

8:57 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



buckworks, we shy away from the use of strong words like fraud, but that is indeed what it is.

As trillianjedi says:

Try posting that in the AdWords forum and check the reaction

It's not a no victim crime. There's somebody paying for it. The same people who click their Adsense ads would scream blue murder if they were paying for somebody else's fraud.

It's very well for someone who's not an Adsense publisher to pass comment on what Adsense publishers should be able to do. Foolhardy publishers who jump on such suggestions deserve to lose their accounts.

Jenstar

8:59 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I doubt that nobody anywhere has gotten booted out of AdSense for occasionally clicking their own ad.

Yes, I agree with this. There is no reason to be paranoid because you have an ad every once in a while. But there is a difference between that and a deliberate campaign to click on your own ads for your own financial gain.

The more people who do this, the more likely Adwords advertisers are to opt out of content sites, meaning less money for all publishers.

Chicken Juggler

9:07 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)



I clicked on a few and sent an email to Google right after. They told me not to do that again but did not say I was in trouble. I had several emails back and fourth about why I did that. They kept trying to help me. I agree with Brett they need to have an opt out system. Have a place where you can put your IP and that IP will not get counted.

WebMojo

9:09 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Well Jenstar,

I guess you're the big winner, if what you pasted is off the google site, then you guys are right, i am wrong...

In my defense though, my clicking was never to generate income for my site and was for research only... I was more passionate about getting my point across of not being a thief or commiting some type of fraud...

you would think google in all their glory would know what ip their publishers use and not count them as valid click thrus... they prob. do, and thats why I havnt been booted yet, or maybe im lucky, or maybe i'm on the list for upcoming boots this month...

thanks jen, sry google adwords peeps... no more clicking for me...

Jenstar

9:10 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Have a place where you can put your IP and that IP will not get counted.

I agree, then it would prevent all these "ACK! I clicked an ad!" threads we see pop up every couple of weeks.

Premium publishers have this option, so hopefully it will be something that regular publishers get. And another person complained his clicks didn't show up in his account, so there is a good chance that there is some sort of program in place for static IP users where clicks are discounted.

transactiongeek

9:12 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)



Yah, Brett is stating the obvious here. Google should be smart enough to ignore clicks from your own IP address.

Too bad he didn't state it about 50 messages ago.

ganderla

9:16 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Premium publishers have this option

I thought premium publisher got paid by the impression?

WebMojo

9:17 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



transactiongeek
i already said that 50 messages ago pg. 3 this thread 3rd post from top last paragraph...

love mojo

europeforvisitors

9:23 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)



Yah, Brett is stating the obvious here. Google should be smart enough to ignore clicks from your own IP address.

And maybe Google is smart enough. But regardless of whether Google is smart or stupid, clicking on your own ads is both a violation of Google's TOS and a fraudulent use of advertisers' money.

WebMojo

9:31 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



actually it does not state it inside the TOS but rather inside the FAQ... so maybe thats what google needs to fix...

love mojo

jomaxx

9:35 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I agree some kind of solution would be good, but ya know what? If Google DID allow webmasters to click from their home IP address, or using a special cookie, or whatever, it would probably result in 10X as much confusion and 10X as many threads of this kind as there are now:

"Help! My IP address changed." "I got a new computer." "I dialed in from home." "My ISP must have changed the block they use." "I forgot that I had purged my cookies." "The cookie must have gotten lost." "Norton must have blocked my cookie." "Why shouldn't I be able to click from wherever I happen to be?" etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum.

richmondsteve

9:37 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Google could filter out clicks from site owners.
...But they don't.

You can click ads on your own site.
...But you may get booted.
...And you're taking money out of the advertiser's pocket.
...And doing so hurts everyone involved with AdSense.
...And it's trivial to check ads without clicking them.

Do the right thing.
Do unto others as you'd have done to you.
As you make your bed, so must you lie in it.

WebMojo

9:38 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



if you cry about any of these:

"Help! My IP address changed." "I got a new computer." "I dialed in from home." "My ISP must have changed the block they use." "I forgot that I had purged my cookies." "The cookie must have gotten lost." "Norton must have blocked my cookie." "Why shouldn't I be able to click from wherever I happen to be?" etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum.

you are not a webmaster...

love mojo

RustyACE

9:45 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I never thought about the static IP vs changing IP problem before.

I use comcast, the world's largest provider of internet services and I have dynamic IP address. Which means that ever single time I log in I get a new IP address.

That means that at any given time my dynamic IP address is being used and then given to someone else who uses it.

The point is, there are 2 crowds developing here. Google-Mind-Numbed Robots who are quoting every crossed t and dotted i in a policy that has no recourse.

Google says they detected fraud, I ask what kind of fraud, and they say, it's fraud goodbye.

I have carefully reviewed the TOS, and I have followed every single letter of it.

If you want to view the google ads on your page, simply hover, click R mouse, properties, copy & paste, and go view the website.

No need to click the ads.

There has to be some other explanation for why I was booted than my ads were clicked on. Sounds like that happens often and people aren't booted.

Google has made it clear they're not about to tell me what activity they found (so all of the above posts are speculation) because then it would let people know how to work around their detection devices.

Closest thing I can figure is that their fraud radar is set to maximum to protect the integrity of their Adsense network and earn them money and I'm a blip that's actually a whale swimming around and they just blasted what they thought was a nuclear sub out of the water.

Now, I'm like that whale that exploded in (asia somewhere) and I'm trying to get back to the OCEAN.

Has anyone, ever, successfully been re-instated? IF NOT, this discussion is over.

Other than for others to realize that the Adsense can be pulled from your feet at anytime (following the TOS to the letter or not).

Rusty

Jenstar

9:51 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Has anyone, ever, successfully been re-instated? IF NOT, this discussion is over.

Yes, a member here has. But it was a compliance issue, if I remember correctly, and not a fraudulent click one.

Daily Sparring

10:21 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I have a hard time believing that you have 'never' clicked your own adds. I have clicked my own in an attempt to see what Google is advertising and making sure that it is relevant.

QuoVadis

10:34 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hello Daily Sparring ,

I am not sure you can have your google add 2 times on one page.. please read TOS.

Regards
QV

bhartzer

10:56 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Don't click on your own ads--rather, click on where it says "Ads by Google" and it will bring up a comment page with the urls.

If you don't like the ads then click on the "Ads by Google" link and complain.

trillianjedi

11:15 pm on Feb 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I have carefully reviewed the TOS, and I have followed every single letter of it.

That's where you're mistaken, and perhaps why you're feeling let down by google.

TJ

Visi

12:51 am on Feb 12, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Just shakes his head...let me see, everyone states following TOS? Posting specific stats..ummm...let me see....having ads served twice....ummm...forget about the one click issue...its basic education at reading we need to worry about:)

How about actually reading the TOS and FAQ's? Thats the contract you agreed to.

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