Forum Moderators: martinibuster
(I've changed the earnings slightly but they match what I'm on about)
31-Oct-2006 Earnings... US$4,900.00
30-Nov-2006 Earnings... -US$3,900.00
I did not recieve any payment for October as I had not verified my account in time for the payment by november 28th.
Anyway I expected to see Earnings accumilated for november as the similar fasion of October.
I was amazed to see a Minus symbol.. I look into it further...
AdSense for content US$2,100.00
Subtotal US$2,100.00
Adjustment - Invalid Clicks -US$6,000.00
Total Monthly Earnings -US$3,900.00
Now why did I come to webmaster world to ask this question? What does this mean, do I owe google almost 4k US dollars.
If I add both my monthly earnings 4,900 and 2,100 = 7,000$ and they say 6,000$ is invalid, then I should be left with 1000$ Correct?
(Oct 4,900$ - Nov 3,900$ = 1,000$ )
Now what I don't get is if thats the case why was the month previous not put into the equation for my Earnings, and therefor should indicate 1000$ for this december EFT.
Either way I'm not ungreatful I'm just shocked, suprised at how it's layed out, and now wondering if it's going to start playing up every time payment arives I'm not going to be able to rely upon google.
In regards to the invalid clicks, I have no idea only that I appreciate that they have been removed and not a ban , however it is ironic that serving on my page which generates over 10 million page view a month hasn't earnt 1 single valid click? that's got to be a lie.
[NoodleBox.]
[edited by: noodlebox at 1:37 am (utc) on Dec. 5, 2006]
it is ironic that serving on my page which generates over 10 million page view a month hasn't earnt 1 single valid click? that's got to be a lie.
I can't comment on most of what you wrote, except for the above. Invalid clicks can be for a lot of reasons. For example, let's say you had "please click the stuff below", and then had adsense ads. That would mean that ALL your clicks would or could then be judged invalid because they were generated in an "illegal" manner.
Keep the details of this tween you and google, just give us a rough overview posting here.
Guys I have a sign over my ads box that says other Widget Links
YES this is a bannable violation.
R E A D the tos. Only thing allowed is "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisement"
[edited by: MThiessen at 2:33 am (utc) on Dec. 5, 2006]
Anyway I'll just hope that after x-mas my earnings for december are okay but it's along time to wait to be sure ;(.. hopefuly I get a 1000$ eft this month then I can be positive it'll be all good.
I don't mean to sound ungreatful but I've earnt well over 10,000$ in cheques and this happens when I'm doing even worse than I normaly do... man give a guy a break it's x-mas :( I had a great previous x-mas with really big checks coming in, like 12,000$+ and now this x-mas I fear google more than anything.
I don't mean to sound ungreatful but I've earnt well over 10,000$ in cheques and this happens when I'm doing even worse than I normaly do... man give a guy a break it's x-mas :( I had a great previous x-mas with really big checks coming in, like 12,000$+ and now this x-mas I fear google more than anything.
Just curious, did you notice a spike in revenue during the month that generated invalid clicks? If not, be cautious about further in-depth audits. If you generated that much in invalid clicks and the revenue and traffic is the same you may be looking at a whole lot more negative numbers.
Not trying to scare you, but you need to find the source of the problem.
One good thing I noticed within the last 3 hours is my click value has increased 4-5 fold (so now only a couple clicks increase the dollar signs on my account)
Maybe I'm saved! WOOHOO! ....but it sucks that I've lost 6,000$+ meh.
I'm not even blaming fraud clicks or click attack.. I think that somthing has triggered off alarms, but i don't think google are quite sure to tell me.
My advice to you is watch your logs, pay attention to anything they say, and be prepared for this in future. If you saw no increase in click during that time, then logic suggests that it is:
A. A mistake on google's part
B. You have had a click-bot targeting you for a while
C. Your users somehow feel it "helps" you to click your ads, and they have consistantly done so for a while.
Best of luck.
Might help alot.
Man that sucks, what should i monitor in my logs for any click bots? if you can pm me up some idea's I'll do some log checking... as for my users clicking my ads? what if they always clicked them by accident everytime they came to my site, argh... do we say make Google adsense for unique visitor not repeat? ... maybe that's what I should do?
I'm going to try this once more, since I don't think my point was clear. If ALL (or almost all) of your clicks have been deemed invalid, LOOK FIRST at whether you might have inadvertently done something (like labeling of ads, using traffic exchanges), or anything else that would create invalid clicks).
ANY TOS violation can mean that all your clicks are deemed invalid, and it may not have anything to do with what clickers did or didn't do.
Best thing to do - have someone ELSE (someone with a fresh eye) who really knows adsense tos well look at your site, and traffic sources, so you can RULE out TOS violations that are under your control.
(like labeling of ads, using traffic exchanges), or anything else that would create invalid clicks).
Also look at the layout. If you have it set to where the ads are far right, I mean hugging the right scroll bar, are they clicking it by accident trying to scroll?
Clearly action on your part is needed, unfortunately only you and google can really figure it out.
As the helpful poster above suggested, re-read the TOS ( I have read it dozens of times, you should too) and make sure you are not breaking the rules.
Is there something you AREN'T telling us here? You wouldn't happen to have like a few extra adsense accounts, or something brilliant like that?
I'm not trying to insult you, but some folks come for sympathy and help, but conveniently neglect to disclose what THEY did to screw up.
How have you determined the time frame for the invalid clicks?
What if this new type of invalid click was generated by a previously unknown method that left fingerprints? Google might be going back 12 months and reviewing data to come up with these numbers.
In the other case it was reported that it was $200k out of $360k or something like that. Is google giving you any indication about the time frame? Maybe $2k of the debit is from your big December of last year.
And no I dont want sympathy, im just letting everyone know of my situation so that honest publishers like myself can explain the situation to those who take adsense for granted as honest publishers would think... "if i dont cheat i'm okay." you're never safe, google don't even go into detail about it.
You said:
I did not recieve any payment for October as I had not verified my account in time for the payment by november 28th.
and
I've earned nearly 100k in adsense earnings over past years
If you've earned close to 100k, how come you didn't receive payment for October because you "didn't verify" your account?
You appear to have received a lot of money without verifying your account, but then suddenly you had to verify to receive your Oct. earnings?
I must be missing something.
I think it is much more a problem of we simply do not have enough information from two posters to really know what is going on.
Something is up, but it is hard to determine what from these two threads.
In the old days you just worried about getting the dreaded "fraudulent clicks" email and getting kicked out of the program. Now we get to worry about spending Adsense money, only to find out later that some of the money is owed back to Adsense?
It seems weird on the surface of it, but I'm wondering whether there's a plus, and that is that perhaps in some cases, google is NOT banning for as many offenses, but is basically allowing people to remain in the program, continue earning, BUT, to have to compensate for the invalid clicks. Is that better than a life long ban, and forfeit of all current earned income?
They don't seem to be asking to be sent a check out of pocket.
Maybe it's too early to tell if this is a trend, and whether it's good or bad. Clearly, if they keep people in the program ONLY to get the money "back", then ban them, it'd be a new wrinkle. But we don't know yet.
rbacall, i said i've recieved checks, I've confirmed a EFT payment method on my account and selected this as form of payment somehow my payment had not been sent
Ok. Got it. You changed payment methods. I'm still thinking there's another shoe hanging in mid air, and that there is information missing. If you want send me your url in private mail, and I'll be glad to take a look to see if any tos violations jump out.
If you want send me your url in private mail
Good luck, I've asked him twice, got a response to each email, no url.
No offense guy, but if you are serious, then let us know.
You wouldn't happen to be a web developer in EU that has a website with the name noodle in it? If so, that's one hell of a lot of talent you got going on. If that's not you, never mind.
