Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I just signed up today for AdSense and i'm wondering if it's a good business desicion here.
You see, I hear all the time on forums like this one that Google has shut people's account down for basically stupid reasons.
They say that Google closed their account because of click fraud but they mention that they never clicked their ads whatsoever. They say that the clicks have been made by competitors who want to shut them down by clicking many times their ads!
Also, others have said that simply by modifying their web pages (where the adsense ads were), they lost their accounts too because by refreshing their pages to see the modifications, that made the ads do a few impressions and you are not allowed to make those impressions!
So what advices would you give me to make sure that my account is not closed by tomorrow (just kidding here)?
Remove the adsense ads when I want to make modifications to my pages to avoid ads impressions? Track the page where the ads are located for click frauds?
It would be nice to have a "Top 10" reasons why Google will shut you down to prevent newbies like me against this nightmare of having a lucrative business getting shut down overnight.
If there is a similar thread regarding things to watch for, please send me the link.
Thanks
Rick
Read the Program Policies and the T&C document. Don't click your own ads for any reason, ever. Make sure you don't even come close to bending the rules until you've been hanging out here for a while. You'll be fine.
So what advices would you give me to make sure that my account is not closed by tomorrow (just kidding here)?
1) Actually read and abide by the Terms... it's pretty simple really.
2) Don't believe everything you hear :)
I don't think ex-adsense users are quite in that league (well, most of them), but I'd be a little sceptical of the claims. I've seen many 'innocents' telling us what they'd done wrong, clearly having never read the TOS, and others have been caught out changing their stories.
That's not to say that Adsense is perfect. But it's significantly safer than bungee jumping. :)
Also, others have said that simply by modifying their web pages (where the adsense ads were), they lost their accounts too because by refreshing their pages to see the modifications, that made the ads do a few impressions and you are not allowed to make those impressions!
If they ever banned me for that - they can go "you-know-what" themselves.
I'm pretty sure they can tell same ip of the person doing it and know that this is almost a necessity when updating to see the ads you are getting.
I don't believe most of these stories anyway.
As others have pointed out, most of those "I didn't do anything wrong" stories are found to be bogus.
If you ask others to click your ads you will get banned.
If you are associated (by Google) with someone who is banned, then you will be banned.
If you blatantly breach or ignore the Google Terms and Conditions you will be banned.
Stay on the straight and narrow, and you should have no problems.
By the way - you do not need to remove AdSense when checking your site - I do not think your own impressions will be a problem. Although they may affect your statistics if they are a significant proportion of the total impressions.
Who reads these 10 page contracts anyway! I guess now I don't have the choice. The only question I have here is that since i'm not a lawyer, I don't know if I will understand every concept presented there.
Any big ones I need to focus on?
- Don't click your own ads (I get this one).
It would be nice to have a thread just on this TOS section where we remove the boring stuff and just take out the main lines.
They may click your ads to help you or post nude pictures of you on the net.
Who reads these 10 page contracts anyway!
The ones that *do* read those 10 page contracts are usually the ones that *do not* start the "I've been banned" threads.
When someone puts a long contract in front of you, you should consider it an opportunity to learn, rather than grumble about it.
The fact is that most "legalese" is clearer than regular English, once you take the time to understand what is being said. Things in legalese aren't very ambiguous.
Areas to read carefully are how many ad blocks, what can appear (or not appear) on the same page.
If in doubt, ask them - or ask here.
amen to what everyone else is saying.
And if u do accidently click, send them an email and let them know.
Its one thing to do something wrong, then the other people guess. but just telling people whats going on makes all the difference.
Sometimes is not how much money is on the line, is what is going on, and the person paying out, what information do they know about the situation. If the person receiving cash tells the person giving out money whats going on its fine, not knowing, is what will likely get u banned, because they will guess what is wrong.
When someone puts a long contract in front of you, you should consider it an opportunity to learn, rather than grumble about it.The fact is that most "legalese" is clearer than regular English, once you take the time to understand what is being said. Things in legalese aren't very ambiguous.
10 Points.
You see, I hear all the time on forums like this one that Google has shut people's account down for basically stupid reasons.
Why, do you plan on giving them a stupid reason to shut your account down?
Many of us have been in AdSense for years without a problem.
BTW, I must ask, why did you sign up if you thought it was a bad business decision?
Signing up for AdSense itself sounds like a bad business decision if you thought it was a bad idea in the first place.
Who reads these 10 page contracts anyway! I guess now I don't have the choice. The only question I have here is that since i'm not a lawyer, I don't know if I will understand every concept presented there.....It would be nice to have a thread just on this TOS section where we remove the boring stuff and just take out the main lines.
Google sends me thousands of dollars every month, it would be STUPID of Google not to have a contract with me.
I read their contract, I would be STUPID not to have read the contract.
Both sides abide by the contract it would be STUPID of us not to do so.
And for the record Google AdSense polices runs to THREE pages, NOT TEN pages.
Anybody not prepared to read these THREE pages and understand them, really should not be taking part in the AdSense program, and if they do, would stand a higher than average chance of being thrown out.
The additional legal document may appear more complicated, but Google have taken the trouble to distil out the essentials. When you sign up for AdSense, the above link is given for you to tick that you have read.
[edited by: encyclo at 7:02 pm (utc) on Feb. 28, 2007]
[edit reason] fixed link [/edit]
1. No Reason. "I has edea bannd why i has beened"
2. Never clicking your own ads. "I have never clicked any of my own ads on my 68% CTR site"
3. Friends. "I think my friends have been clicking my ads, not me of course, I would never do that"
4. Click-Attacks. "I think I was click attacked, someone keeps clicking a lot of ads on one channel. I refuse to mention this to adsense support since I enjoy the profits"
5. Inappropriate Content. "I have a question, can I put ads on my bestiality site? I put the AS code on these pages, but a month later I thought it might be smart to ask now"
I read the terms and conditions, and stick to them - I don't discuss the revenues I receive for example.
I think you should trial it, if the account is closed unfairly, put it down to experience and move on, you'll lose very little.
Matt
