Google AdSense Account Disabled

[Donna]

How many AdSense accounts perfectly clean and more than 3 years old got suspended today out of the blue ? Looks like last straw for cash grab.


"With our advertising programs, we strive to create an online ecosystem that benefits publishers, advertisers and users. For this reason, we sometimes have to take action against accounts that demonstrate behavior toward users or advertisers that may negatively impact how the ecosystem is perceived. In your case, we have detected invalid activity on your site and your account has been disabled."

I got 2 different accounts operating on 2 completely irrelevant websites suspended today. They were earning average 150-250$ and 500-600$ the other a month.

Is it worth the effort to appeal or go for other PPCs ?

[netmeg]

Other than selling direct ads, I've yet to find anything that pays quite as well (unless your site focus is narrow enough to make it worth turning into an affiliate site) Did you notice any traffic changes on the sites?

[Donna]

Yes, I noticed -20 a week prior. Both had only one horizontal adwords bar 7** x 1* pix, about 200 pixels from top. Thats all the AdSense I had.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

So what did you so to get this?

[Leosghost]

Possibly did the "bar" look too much like nav ? or was tucked up against an image/ header graphic..? They've said in the past they like neither of those juxtapositions..

Re "worth the effort to appeal" ? ..it isn't going to do any harm, but based upon what gets written / reported here it probably won't do any good..

[jbayabas]

Adsense has an accurate way to detect invalid activity. A site with more than 5,000 page views a day should not get over 3% CTR. Even above 2% is very suspicious. Google knows the average CTR of each market/niche. And if they detect something abnormally high CTR continuously, then they will disable your account for invalid activity. However, for a small site with less than 5,000 page views per day can have a high CTR above 5% once in a while (but not continuously) and that's ok.

I suspect your sites get very high CTR that's why they disabled your accounts. And rightly so. I have 6 high traffic sites and none of them averages more than 2%. The highest CTR I received by the end of the day was around 0.75%. The daily CTR average of all my sites is about 0.30% which is very normal.

[netmeg]

Well none of us can speculate because we don't know the sites (and I have much higher CTR than that on some sites, and much lower on others)

When I've seen sites that got notices of invalid activity, it's usually been a case of clicking on one's own ads (which I'm sure Donna knows not to do) or some kind of unusual traffic pattern (like from a country that doesn't usually visit the site, or from a small range of IPs, or something similar)

It does seem a little unusual for them to call out both sites, but you say they're under two different accounts. Could the multiple accounts be what the problem is?

[jpch]

A site with more than 5,000 page views a day should not get over 3% CTR.

Is this your opinion or can you share some references from Google that support this claim?

[jimbeetle]

Adsense has an accurate way to detect invalid activity. A site with more than 5,000 page views a day should not get over 3% CTR. Even above 2% is very suspicious. Google knows the average CTR of each market/niche. And if they detect something abnormally high CTR continuously, then they will disable your account for invalid activity. However, for a small site with less than 5,000 page views per day can have a high CTR above 5% once in a while (but not continuously) and that's ok.

You seem very, very sure of these numbers. From whence do they come?

[Donna]

My CTR was avg. 0.85%. The better viewed site had 20000 pgv a day and the earnings were roughly 15-18$ a day. The email I got was redirecting me to Google's AdSense help page on invalid clicks. I kept the same or very similar stats for the last 7 months. I have never clicked on my Ads. The color on the ads was black and white compared to the background so in no way it was deceiving. The only thing comes to my mind is my competition suddenly bot clicking or something. They were both in the same niche but very different in nature. I know I said earlier irrelevant in nature but the way they engage their targeted audience. NO spam, no scraped content no link building for the last 1 year.

P.S. I do have the same whois info on both domain. And I do run some affiliate offers too.

[ember]

Adsense has an accurate way to detect invalid activity. A site with more than 5,000 page views a day should not get over 3% CTR.

Hmmm....no. I've met with Adsense reps who have looked at my site with a higher than 3% CTR and said it is not a problem.

[jbayabas]

Donna, the last 7 months doesn't count. If it was, Google would have banned you already since then. The invalid activity may have happened recently. Don't you find it odd that both your accounts were banned with 2 totally irrelevant content? Have you shared your sites to friends or family members? Some jealous person may have Clicked bomb your sites. But that is highly unlikely. Even if they did Google's technology would just ignore those clicks. I still believe that it got to do with your Ctr the last few days.

Ember, how much daily page views do you generate for that high CTR? Less than 10,000 page views per day? If yes, that is also normal. However, If you get over 100k page views per day with very high ctr (over 3%) is suspicious.

jimbeetle, I based this observation as a publisher for 8 years with high traffic sites.

[edited by: jbayabas at 6:38 pm (utc) on Sep 8, 2012]

[levo]

There is another post on Google support forums, from someone with two Adsense accounts, who also got banned.

[varun21]

I have CTR in the range of 10% on three of my ad units (last 7 days).

[ken_b]

I got 2 different accounts

2 personal accounts?

Or 1 personal and one business account?

.

[jbayabas]

varun21, how much page views do you get per day? For a small site, that is normal. Also it all depends on your niche. If you have a lot of first time visitors, then that is normal.

[jimbeetle]

jimbeetle, I based this observation as a publisher for 8 years with high traffic sites.

Ah, so you dont' actually *know* that "A site with more than 5,000 page views a day should not get over 3% CTR." That's just a supposition on your part based on your experience with *your* sites, not my sites or other folks' sites. As we know, all sites are different and it's very difficult to make statements to cover them all.

[varun21]

@jbayabas: 10k+ pageviews this week. It's a web design blog, more than 5 yr old site.

[edited by: varun21 at 7:01 pm (utc) on Sep 8, 2012]

[jbayabas]

jimbeetle, yes that is my observation based on my many years of experience as a publisher with many high traffic sites. Google will never ever tell you how they detect invalid clicks to prevent fraud. You don't have to believe me. That is your right. But I'm very confident about my statement.

[ember]

You can have two accounts as long as they are completely separate, one personal and one business or two business. Different company names, different bank accounts, different tax ID numbers, etc.

[jpch]

As we know, all sites are different and it's very difficult to make statements to cover them all.

Exactly...which is why Google doesn't even make statements that would cover every site's analytics.

The highest CTR I received by the end of the day was around 0.75%.

Using my observations I would say this is abnormal. A high traffic site should never have less than 1.5% CTR. But WTF do I really know as I'm just basing this on my observations...which are very limited given how many sites I have AdSense on and how many sites there are with AdSense. So hopefully people reading this thread or posting on here like they are experts with definitive knowledge will consider how limited their view of the AdSense world really is.

[ember]

jbayabas, have you ever met with Google reps personally or over the phone to evaluate your sites? Or are your comments, which I find interesting, just your opinion based on 8 years of publishing?

[jbayabas]

A high traffic site should never have less than 1.5% CTR

I consider page views of over 100k per day a high traffic site. I'm calling publishers with over 100k page views PER DAY that has over 1.5% Ctr  to come forward. Then I will agree with your statement.

I am one but I don't receive more than 1.5% Ctr. And I'm doing just great.

[Donna]

Like I said ,they are both completely different AdSense accounts(banking info, names etc.). The only thing in common is that both domains are registered to me and both site compete in the same niche.

I feel like some competitor has run a bot clicking campaign on both sites or maybe all site in the same vertical. My CTR has never been over 1.5% as I rely on CPA more and make as much in a day from it than in a month from AdSense in most cases.

Its just the nuisance thought of why would my AdSence get banned out of the blue. I guess one less JS to worry about.

[netmeg]

Nobody in this forum - nobody - can speak with authority about what is normal or average for any sites other than their own, no matter what they think or want the rest of us to think. Remember that. Only Google has that information.

[ember]

Nobody in this forum - nobody - can speak with authority about what is normal or average for any sites other than their own, no matter what they think or want the rest of us to think. Remember that. Only Google has that information.

Yep.

[jbayabas]

they are both completely different AdSense accounts(banking info, names etc.)

That's how accurate Google detection is. Even with two different account names, it can detect invalid activity.   Google will not ban an account for no reason.  

Banned publishers will always make excuses  on why their account get disabled to protect their own interest. But the fact is, Google knows and is very accurate 99% of the time. 

[jbayabas]

Nobody in this forum - nobody - can speak with authority about what is normal or average for any sites other than their own, no matter what they think or want the rest of us to think. Remember that. Only Google has that information.

If I could warn/prevent publishers from having their account disabled, then I have done my job. Many publishers -- especially new ones -- always try to inflate their CTR in hopes of getting more money. Be warned, you will get banned. 

[Lame_Wolf]

If I could warn/prevent publishers from having their account disabled

It's not your job to. Everyone that signs up for Adsense has the same TOS that you and I agreed to. If they cannot be bothered to read it, or to follow it, then they get what they deserve. End of.

[martinibuster]

...they get what they deserve.

That's a bold statement. Are you ominscient and know all the facts?

If someone steps off a curb without looking and gets run over by a bus, did they get what they deserved?

It's easy to say that people deserve bad outcomes when they don't observe rules or common sense. I have a strong sense of justice and am outraged when rule breakers don't get caught. In a perfect world the bad guys would get punished for their misdeeds.

But what are the rules? Perceptions of what the rules are differ. In Europe and the USA it's a common perception that if you link to the source of a piece of content that it's ok to publish online. It's actually a common misunderstanding worldwide that if something is published online, literally publicly available, that it's ok to re-publish. If someone steps off a curb without looking and gets run over by a bus, did they get what they deserved?