Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Today i recieved an "account disabled for invalid clicks" email from Google.
No warning email before it...
I made no clicks because i have the googlesyndication ips disabled in my hosts file...
Something is broken at google but...
...life goes on :)
Please answer, as it may help others in the future.
I may have a page which is designed for outer mongolians but wouldn't be obvious to a US based google person who in all likelihood hasn't been outside their state. Or I may issue a weekly newsletter which highlights a particular page (WITHOUT asking them to click through-simple remedy the google staffer signs up in their own name to the newsletter and scans it periodically)
It is Googles high handed attitude which gets to most people (I presume). Their basic attitude it appears is "you're guilty-just admit it". I suppose all monopoly organisations are like that until they get real competition. Heres hoping that comes soon.
Do you feel obligated to explain "why" to wallmart when you change your mind about a purchase?
it is NOT a monopoly! Monopoly means there is only ONE PROVIDER.
YOU are the provider (and there are many many many of 'you'). In this case there is one CUSTOMER.
one CUSTOMER does not make for a monopoly. It may make for a bad business model if you have to rely on only one customer, but it is not a monopoly.
They don't "owe" you a single solitary thing whatsoever, period.
Then when CJ and overture and **** get their fingers out it'll be an OGLIOPOLY.
Meanwhile, their game, their rules.
provider=payee
customer=payor
1+1=2
Their basic attitude it appears is "you're guilty-just admit it".
Guilt doesn't necessarily enter into the decision of whether to drop a site. In some cases, Google may drop a site because it doesn't generate enough revenue to cover its network overhead (including the cost of investigating where questionable clicks are coming from). Google could say, "Sorry, but your account is more trouble to maintain than it's worth," or "We aren't accusing you of anything, but your conversion rate is way below normal," or "Nothing personal, but your visitors appear to be a 'happy-clicking' bunch." Should they be that forthright in explaining their reasons for cancelling an account? No, because they'd just be inviting arguments from publishers and endless criticism in the press or on public forums.
advertiser 1 \ / publisher 1
advertiser 2 - GOOGLE - publisher 2
advertiser 3 / \ publisher 3
... ....
So (assuming diagram comes out), Google is acting as an agency which puts advertisers in touch with publishers for a cut. But, Google is the only one out there (no competitor), so Google currently has a monopoly on this.
Mind you - it's not a traditional monopoly, since a competitor could break into the market. (A perfect example of new market creation). And that's where Google is going wrong - instead of realising that they could be easily dethroned by a new competitor, they seem to assume that they have an exclusive monopoly situation going on.
Apparently, "invalid clicks" is used by Google for all reasons why a site is stopped from participation in Adsense.
For me that means:
Somebody got me banned or my site is not converting.
Period
Apparently, "invalid clicks" is used by Google for all reasons why a site is stopped from participation in Adsense.
I sure hope this is not correct. Nothing will hurt Google’s creditability faster than not being truthful about why your account is being disabled. They don't have to get into a detailed explanation, but certainly some vague statement is better than a mistruth.
1. My mom (different computer/IP/city) told me that she clicked several times on my ads few days after I launched the site. My roommate (different computer, same IP) clicked them once or twice as well. They just wanted to "help" me a bit... and of course I asked them not to do it right away. I've logged to adsense from their computers. I don't remember whether I sent them an e-mail "just in case", but didn't have any problems.
My site earns around $10 a day and has extremely low CTR (below 0.5%, because I have many impressions per visit and most visitors come back).
2. One guy from "my community" has a website made with frames and I guess he hasn't ever served a single paid google ad (he hasn't changed the code after they made frames accessible, so I guess google bots have never seen that actual page). 100% PSA's. $0 for google after several months and they haven't cancelled his account. If I had to guess, I'd say he served at least 100k empty ads (it's a small site devoted to a piece of software this guy makes).
Just wanted to add a bit about accidental clicks and sites that aren't profitable for google.
greetings,
mateusz mucha
One party has an unfair advantage over the other.
capitalism.
The commodity in question is advertising space. There are thousands and thousands of site publishers and thousands and thousands of advertisers. Nothing stops them from getting together themselves. Many do. Monopoly? Hardly.
Even if there were many multiple PPC 'brokers' like adsense, how could the operate any differently? They will always act in their own best interests (in this case serving the advertisters - the real customers)
I think it is the nature of the beast. Any PPC program would add and *remove* publishers when it needs to.
It is the essence of the customer-provider relationship. Customers will buy or *not* to suit themselves for reasons they are not likely to disclose.
Is is painful for the provider? Yes. Is it normal? yes. Will it ever change? nope.
Any PPC 'buyer' will act the same. ALL buyers of ANY commodity act the same.
just as bad.
Bad? Doesn't matter, it is thus. And will always be so.
A lot of people in history thought things would stay the same and were proven wrong. Google will have its' turn. You can't pick and choose who you will treat badly and do it forever. You have to take the high road to stay on top. That doesn't always mean scraping every dollar for today at any cost of tomorrow. Others will come, offer better programs, times will change. But, people will remember and state how "Google used to do it" making sure not to make the same mistakes.
Who do you expect to get into this market and do context sensitive ads on a large-scale better than Google?
I certainly have no faith in either Yahoo or Microsoft to do this "better" (for the mid-small web biz). BASED ON FACTS, ie how their other services are run, e.g. the fact that in their SERPs the competitive terms are dominated by their own properties. Sponsored listings are mingled with "organic" SERPs. Not to mention technology, although money can buy it.
Maybe Yahoo can change to the better? But I'd need to see real evidence of this before I change my mind.
Microsoft's business culture is just incompatible with my view of what the Internet is all about, so I'd hope they never succeed in their Internet-related ventures.
As a businessman, I'm not very happy that Google is the only player, but think of the alternatives.
If a smaller player came about, I'd be happy to work with them.
instead of realising that they could be easily dethroned by a new competitor
Adsense easily "dethroned"? I don't think so. The barrier to entry is pretty high. A*sonar, for one, isn't finding entry that easy. When someone does enter they are competing against an established player who webmasters have a great deal of trust in.
If I set up a Macro-Adsense-lookalike program tomorrow and asked everyone on Webmasterworld to sign up I wonder how many would rush to change their code over...
Jenstar, I have no intention of launching such a program ...so please don't pull this post on that count ;)
<added>dhatz, that wasn't meant for you ;) - our posts obviously crossed. When you said "smaller player" I don't think you meant as small as me...</added>
It might be a startup advertising agency
True, true. Or it could be someone in something else altogether who fancies having a go. Microsoft maybe (oh, no!) or the Chineses Govt, or the BBC. And, don't get me wrong, I do hope someone succeeds. A little bit of competition never hurt. BUT, they won't find it easy.
Are we making the mistake of assuming it will be a search engine (in whatever form) that will launch a viable alternative? It might be a startup advertising agency that thinks it can do better and may indeed do better.
Or why not industry-specific PPC networks? I can see this working in the travel industry, where providers of electronic timetables, hotel reservations, etc. have high name recognition among potential advertisers who use their services. A smart OEM provider could offer private-labeled AdSense-style networks in any number of industries.
any body else received this email response from google? you think google will actually pay the outstanding balance? we do feel we delivered clicks to them legitimately.
google says that the outstanding funds will be paid by year end.
If they are metioning this in their emails, I think that they will come through with the payment.
I would save the email, and send them a reminder if you have not received the amount due by 1/30/2005. If there is no action on that, I would send them a letter with copies of the emails attached.
paid by year end.
I'd send the 'reminder' at 12:01:01am 1/1/05.
Now if you had been dealing with Del Boy Trotter....
Were you targeting high value keyword? I don't know what are high value keyword, but i use keyword that describe best my business
Could a friend have been trying to help you?
Maybe, it's always possible, but never ask anybody to do it and never got anybody that told me that they did it.
Do other people use your computer? YES, employee and also, my girlfriend give french course at home, student have access to my computer when i'm not there.
Did you login to adsense from multiple computers? No
Is it possible that you received a lot of clicks from a foreign country? Possible, but how can i know?
Do you use a discussion forum on your site? No, not yet.
Did you "buy" traffic? No
What was the range of your earnings per day? ($0-10, $11-50, $51-100, $100+) about 2$ or 3$ per day.
Unless the TOS says interest, you won't get any interest.
