AdSense Filter Broken

[rannans]

I thought this may have been my doing, maybe adding the wrong URL into the filter.

But sure enough, i am now getting ads on my site that i have added to the filter over 1 month ago.

For those with a few questions.

Yes, i obtained the url from both the preview tool as well as copy shortcut, they are both identical, even when i add to the list it shows in red, DUPLICATE

just how many of these so called filetered ads, are getting through i wonder now, effectively stopping the ads i need and the big biggested problem, affecting clicks and income?

this really needs to be corrected immediately

cheers
mike

[MyNewPC]

I can't believe the timing of your post. I just emailed AdSense Support because this is happening to me as well. One of the domains that is now appearing in AdSense ads on my site has been in my competitive ad filter for over 3 years. And there are others as well. I hope that everyone experiencing this will email [e-mail]

[trollpod]

same here. I just found some ads apearing on our site and rechecked the Adsense Competitive filter. Result: Ads are showing up for two domains whcih have been completely blocked by the filter. Hope, this has not been up for a log time and will end up soon.

Jens

[noodlebox]

same here. they are using some kind of url method that we can't block.

[Scurramunga]

This has also happened to me.

[danimal]

same here.

based on past experience, they will pretty much ignore the problem if you don't provide proof, so use a screen grab program.

[Green_Grass]

Yes.. I realized I was getting 1 cent clicks and went to check. The MFA's were all back with a bang nothwithstanding the fact that I had put them in the filter.

Terrible.

[c5VamPirE]

Add me to the list too, I was actually wondering what was going on until I got here and discovered that I am not the only one facing this problem

[chrisv1963]

same here

[europeforvisitors]

You might want to check your filter list to make sure that you're filtering at the most basic domain level:

mfa.com

NOT

www.mfa.com
subdomain.mfa.com

That may or may not be your problem, but if it is, the fix is simple: Just strip off everything but the root domain, including the "www."

[TheTraveler]

In some cases they are buying urls that are slight mispellings of the core url and doing redirects or cloning. Other times rotating the redirects or clones, sort of like the shell game. Also they are rotating the urls in the display url so sometimes you go for that other times the real one from the preview tool. Then they just rotate everything the next week and start all over again.

baptist & babtist almost look visually identical, took me two tries on that one.

foolishurl com net org info biz
foolish-url com net org info biz
foolis-hurl com net org info biz

on and on and on.

Sometimes you have to block half a dozen derivatives to stop them, it's becoming a real problem

[MyNewPC]

Thanks for your suggestions; however, this is clearly an issue of the filter not working.

[TheTraveler]

Well that is totally GooGflu, you can catch that just about anytime.

[MyNewPC]

I just received a reply to the email I sent to AdSense Support last night. They said they've resolved the filtering issue but to allow up to 24 hours for it to take effect and if I'm still seeing filtered sites after 24 hours, to let them know.

[sailorjwd]

I've been told in the past that the url filter occasionally has a brain fart. That's not an exact quote :)

Similar to the brain farting of every one of Google's tools. Too many plugs to plug in correctly all the time.

[noodlebox]

[tkq?ce.com...]

?=replaced to protect privacy.

Don't you just think that looks illegal for adwords?

[makes a little sense]

We need a better filter. A filter that is MORE powerful than those who are attempting to steal our hard work.

[Scurramunga]

[update]

Just spotted a (nasty fat) MFA on my site that I have had blocked for over two months.

Checked and double checked my filter and the problem is on Google's end.

[rannans]

also still getting the same ads from my filter, so this issue is definately not resolved as per previous posting (24hrs replt from google themselves)

surely they can get this part right, especially when they give us so limited filterly options!

[caines]

Long shot - but have you recently added section targetting? I found when I implemented section targetting my filter "brain-farted" I had too basically start over clear it and re-add everything after which it was ok again - just a thought.

[MyNewPC]

Within 10-15 hours after I received the reply from AdSense Support, the filtered ads stopped appearing on my site.

Have those of you who are still seeing filtered ads on your sites contacted Google Support? There's really no point in complaining here if you haven't. It doesn't accomplish anything.

[Scurramunga]

Have those of you who are still seeing filtered ads on your sites contacted Google Support?

Yes. It was on another similar filter related matter. The resulting response was an email suggesting the problem was from my end.

There's really no point in complaining here if you haven't. It doesn't accomplish anything.

Completely incorrect.

It was this thread that has reassured me that I wasn't going nuts when I previously made my original complaint to Google. Thanks to all those who have contributed to this this thread, I have now been alerted to the fact that the problem is real and still exists.

I would suggest that you rack up a few more posts before you coach other members on what should or should not be posted on a Forum.

[MyNewPC]

Scurramunga, if AdSense Support said the filtering problem was on your end, what specifically did they attribute it to and what did they ask you to do to resolve it? Why did you wait until a post came up that you disagreed with before providing this limited information?

I've been a registered member of WebmasterWorld for 3-1/2 years and was a very active poster in 2003-2004 using the screen name BlueFin. Unlike any other forum in which I participate, this one deactivates your registration after not posting for a certain period of time.

I've been an AdSense publisher since 7/1/2003, one week after it launched to the general web community.

[netchicken1]

Why would the problem suddenly be at the webmasters end when we all have the same issues?

I have seen bad adverts as well,and I havn't changed anything on my site at all!

Also the ecpm has dropped through the floor over the last 4 days which suggests low paying adverts have snuck back in.

Surely the problem is at googles end and the fixing of one site should resolve the others.

We are not the only discussion on the net at the moment on this topic, there are at least 2 other sites where the same situation if being complained about

[Scurramunga]

MyNewPC

Scurramunga, if AdSense Support said the filtering problem was on your end, what specifically did they attribute it to and what did they ask you to do to resolve it?

As I mentioned the problem was similar. At the time urls that I had entered into my filter were disappearing and filtered ads were reappearing, G.support suggested that I may have deleted them. However as the problem was persistent I knew this was not the case, but didn't bother to argue with Google any further.

Why did you wait until a post came up that you disagreed with before providing this limited information?

Does it really matter?

Regardless of whether I had experienced this problem previously or not the fact remains that threads such as this one DO alert members to problems that could otherwise pass unnoticed.

netchicken1

Why would the problem suddenly be at the webmasters end when we all have the same issues?

You obviously haven't understood my post, as my complaint was made privately to Google at another time. At the time I reported the original problem, the issues were not being discussed in a public forum.

[MyNewPC]

After three full days of having this issue resolved, I am once again seeing filtered sites appear in ads on my site. I have not touched the filter list.

I have replied to the AdSense Support email providing screenshots and the URLs of the pages on my site, as they requested.

[chrisv1963]

"After three full days of having this issue resolved, I am once again seeing filtered sites appear in ads on my site. I have not touched the filter list."

Same here. I'm very disappointed. Promoting competitors on my website is not exactly the best way to do business ...

[MyNewPC]

I received a reply this morning to the email I sent on 12/30. They indicated they are aware of the problem and working hard to fix it.

[Mentat]

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System: The following 5 messages were spliced on to this thread from: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adsense/3210308.htm [webmasterworld.com] by martinibuster - 12:34 am on Jan. 7, 2007 (utc -8)

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this days my site is saturated with MFA ads :(
I think Google enlarged my list 3 times by now (software industry)

The problem is that the filter is not working...

This is the response from google (3 days ago)

<snip>An email acknowledging that the filter isn't working</snip>

In december I was hopping that the new quality landing page will kill MFA, but now MFAs are stronger than ever..

P.S. I would really love an option to ban *.info domains!
I have a feeling that there is no useful domain with INFO tld...

[edited by: Mentat at 11:24 am (utc) on Jan. 6, 2007]

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:31 am (utc) on Jan. 7, 2007]
[edit reason] See TOS [webmasterworld.com]. [/edit]

[newborn]

I have tried to kill them but they always find a way. The problem is when you block them they come back even stronger just changing the domain name. Imagine you can get a domain name and hosting for just 10 bucks for 2 months. Run Google Ads and Trade off with Adsense, making at least a 10:1 ratio.

We just have to realize that MFA's are here to stay and another prudent method must be explored of how to deal with these guys.