Is there a 'behind the scenes' set up for adsense?

Do each publisher have individual settings or is it all the same?

[netchicken1]

Do all google adsense accounts operate on the same level playing field, whereby each is equally rated by the google adsense code alone?

Or are there settings behind the scenes that are done namually for smartpricing etc.

So can a google employee "look" into your account and see if you are being smartpriced, or flagged for something?

I am curious to see if asking google to "look into" an account is actually a possability or not or if individual publishers can be penalised. Or we can change our fate in google purely by how we set up our sites.

Any ideas?

[skweb]

My understanding is that the process is fully automated.

[jomaxx]

Google are algorithm-happy, but I have no doubt that they still hold the keys to the black box. Their search engine algorithm is also "fully automated", but it's been well established that they can still impose and remove manual penalties.

Anyway, that doesn't mean that asking Google to look into an account will result in them doing so, and if they do so it doesn't mean they will give you a direct answer. In fact, every time I can remember that a publisher has asked such a vague question about why their earnings aren't higher, they've gotten a standard boilerplate response.

(Targeting is a different matter, though. I do recall reports of targeting problems being cleared up after Google was contacted.)