Account Disabled - No Email Explanation

[GodLikeLotus]

Just returned from a short break in the Keys to find that my Adsense account has been disabled. I have checked for an email but there is nothing anywhere to be found.

Been a publisher for years, all unique quality content for seniors, we never click on the ads, and we are at a complete loss.

Filled in a form to Google 2 days ago and heard nothing back.

Is there anything we can do? At a total loss here.

[jbayabas]

Site Disabled = there's something wrong with your site. But you can still use Adsense.

Account Disabled = it is a more serious matter in which your site(s) may be in violation of fraudulent clicks or invalid activity. Youre the only one who can answer that. Once your account is disabled, it is very hard to get it back.

[OmarNYC]

What was your average revenue per month for the last year?

[Lame_Wolf]

What was your average revenue per month for the last year?

That has nothing to do with it, and irrelevant to the OP.

[Leosghost]

Best thing to do is search "account disabled WebmasterWorld"
that should pull up the previous threads on the subject ( there have been many , of differing quality , some more useful than others )..may be helpful ..

[GodLikeLotus]

From reading several of the older threads here, it seems that our days as a publisher for the mighty G are finished. Although this has come as a bit of surprise, I am looking forward to doing some real work on these sites in terms of selling the leads direct.

I find the whole MFA thing quite amusing really. I think that MFA is quite open to debate and interpretation. Personally, I would say that E-How is completely MFA or I don't think it would even exist. One could say that all sites with Adsense on are MFA, or in our case, the sites where made for making money, we simply chose the easy option for monetizing.

Ironic though that we get banned as a publisher whilst E-How and Wiki take quotes from some of our articles and credit us as the reference with that great No-Follow link. Still, it does bring some traffic.

[Ann_Smarty]

I actually find it weird that you got no reason. From old days, I remember they used to specify the reason.

I see a few complaints here and there that Google started disabling low-traffic sites. Maybe they are trying to increase the quality for advertisers.

Not sure if that's your case but of it is, you should be good to go when the traffic increases... But that's just an assumption.. I haven't done AdSense for years, so all I have is rumor :)

[matrix_jan]

@GodLikeLotus

What do you think, what was the reason, too many ads, CTR too high?

[Leosghost]

I see a few complaints here and there that Google started disabling low-traffic sites.

Where ?

so all I have is rumor :)

Spreading unsubstantiated rumors..is a good way to start panics..

[Ann_Smarty]

I did note that was a rumor and since no reason was specified we could only guess...

Doing a little research now. Looks like that rumor is not new:
[webmasterworld.com...]

In any way, there's no way to tell what went wrong unless they point you to the reason. So that's why I was curious...

[Leosghost]

I personally know ( as in, have met them and seen their adsense accounts ) 3 people who have adsense accounts applied for , approved and opened for over 2 years ( in one case 4 years ) that they have never used ..never put the code on a website....

So zero traffic..the accounts are still open..so Google are definitely not closing adsense accounts due to low traffic..

They could ( because it is in their TOS in the thread that you linked to..) however that thread did not mention any accounts having been closed for that reason..and one poster ( respected senior member StoutFiles ) gave a specific instance of not having an account closed for that reason..

So there was no "rumor" in that thread..

[Ann_Smarty]

I personally know ( as in, have met them and seen their adsense accounts ) 3 people who have adsense accounts applied for , approved and opened for over 2 years ( in one case 4 years ) that they have never used ..never put the code on a website....

I personally know people who own absolutely spammy websites and they are still ranking high. But this doesn't mean Google is not banning spam

But thanks for sharing your experience. It's good to know.

I do have Google Adsense account and I have very quiet ads on very quiet sites. I haven't touched those sites or ads for ages and if one day the AdSense is closed, I'll know that that's probably not because I have done anything wrong (because I am not changing anything on those sites for years)...

But right now it is running and looks like I have nothing to worry about

[netmeg]

MFA is kind of a dumb term; in a sense all of us monetizing with AdSense are MFA, and just because a site was created with AdSense in mind doesn't mean it doesn't provide value.

But the true MFA, where some bottom feeder plotzes a bunch of RSS feeds, or scrapes or spins other people's content in order to make a few pennies off long tail search terms - that's more problematic.

I'm no fan of eHow by a longshot, but they do provide value to some people. People do click on, read, and keep their content, no matter where it comes from. I keep finding printouts of their articles on the desks of clients and even my 81yr old mother, and as long as that happens, they're probably going to keep going.

[jpch]

Account Disabled = it is a more serious matter in which your site(s) may be in violation of fraudulent clicks or invalid activity. Youre the only one who can answer that.

Funny, I thought Google was the only one who knew for certain the specific reason they banned an account.

[jbayabas]

Funny, I thought Google was the only one who knew for certain the specific reason they banned an account.

Top 3 reasons why an account is disabled:

1. Invalid activity
2. Make pages specifically to display ads or minimal content
3. Multiple copyright violation

Number one is the most common -- 90% of the time. I'm sure the OP did not receive an email because he was already directed to Invalid Activity support page when logging in. 

[GodLikeLotus]

jbayabas - Number one is the most common -- 90% of the time. I'm sure the OP did not receive an email because he was already directed to Invalid Activity support page when logging in.

I am actually directed to "AdSense account may be disabled for policy reasons" which without any further advice is useless. We run around 15 different sites using Adsense (or we did) and they are very different in terms of design and layout.

I have not had an email from Google Adsense. Even if I made the changes (whatever they are) I have no way of contacting the Adsense team.

Just in case anyone has not seen the page we are directed to, here it is

[support.google.com ]

My main earning site has now had all the adsense code removed, and we are working directly with one of the largest suppliers directly. Good move Google.

Can anyone advise what you should do if you do not get the email they claim to have sent? How can I contact the Adsense department?

[netmeg]

[support.google.com...]

[GodLikeLotus]

Netmeg, the problem is I do not have an email from Google Adsense, so I do not have an "Issue ID#", which is a required field on the page you suggested. Also I have not made any changes, as I don't know what is wrong.

[netmeg]

I have never heard of a situation where there was no email whatsoever, so if you haven't found it in your spam folder, I dunno what to tell you.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter whether or not you've made changes - possibly Google has, or possibly they see something wrong with your traffic. The policy violation could actually be happening outside your site, and not generated by you. They'll even disable accounts for a potential of significant risk that hasn't occurred yet.

The bottom line for Google is, the advertisers have to be protected at all costs, even if that is at the cost of a long term publisher who never knowingly or unknowingly did anything wrong.

The only other thing I can suggest is to go over to the Google AdSense forum, and see if you can convince a top contributor over there to flag your account for review. It helps not to be antagonistic (FWIW) even though you naturally feel so.

AdSense is what it is. The publishers don't drive the bus here. The advertisers do.

[jbayabas]

Netmeg, the problem is I do not have an email from Google Adsense, so I do not have an "Issue ID#", which is a required field on the page you suggested. Also I have not made any changes, as I don't know what is wrong.

YOur violation is serious enough that it does not require an email or Issue ID. Google had already provided you a link to the reason: "AdSense account may be disabled for policy reasons".

For Copyright violation, you will receive an email to give you a chance to file a counter claim. Except for multiple violations, no email is required.

For Adult content violation, you will also receive an email so you have a chance to take down the offending images. But this is not serious enough to have your account disabled.

For Invalid Activity violation, Google is not very forgiving. If your account demonstrates deceptive behavior then it will be disabled instantaneously. No email is required. This, I believe 110%, is what happened to your account.

[GodLikeLotus]

YOur violation is serious enough that it does not require an email or Issue ID. Google had already provided you a link to the reason: "AdSense account may be disabled for policy reasons".

For Copyright violation, you will receive an email to give you a chance to file a counter claim. Except for multiple violations, no email is required.

For Adult content violation, you will also receive an email so you have a chance to take down the offending images. But this is not serious enough to have your account disabled.

For Invalid Activity violation, Google is not very forgiving. If your account demonstrates deceptive behavior then it will be disabled instantaneously. No email is required. This, I believe 110%, is what happened to your account.

You are making a very wild assumption here. I have been publishing for years, and NEVER click on the ads that appear on my sites.

The link that appears on the page "Account Disabled" goes to "AdSense account may be disabled for policy reasons". [support.google.com ]

If my account was disabled for invalid click, then they would have given me the link to "AdSense account disabled for invalid activity". [support.google.com ]

[netmeg]

Nobody in this forum can speak with any authority on what is going on with YOUR account (I'm talking to you, jbayabas) It's all conjecture.

Like I said, your best bet is probably at the Google AdSense forum.

[jbayabas]

My bad, your violation is not Invalid Activity, it's more serious than that -- your account is in violation of "program policies." No wonder you didn't receive an email.

[ember]

jbayabas, do you work for Adsense? If not, I don't think you can know what happened to the OP's account any more than the rest of us can.

[diberry]

MFA is kind of a dumb term; in a sense all of us monetizing with AdSense are MFA, and just because a site was created with AdSense in mind doesn't mean it doesn't provide value.

But the true MFA, where some bottom feeder plotzes a bunch of RSS feeds, or scrapes or spins other people's content in order to make a few pennies off long tail search terms - that's more problematic.

Thanks for this definition. You're right, any site conceived with "...and I'll put an adblock here... and here..." could be thought of as MFA. But if the site has original content that is not organized entirely around profitable key phrases, then I would not call it MFA. Adblocks - whether Adsense, CPM, affiliate banners, whatever - are just one way to monetize a site.

[Lame_Wolf]

Thanks for this definition. You're right, any site conceived with "...and I'll put an adblock here... and here..." could be thought of as MFA.

There is a difference between Made For Advertising and Made With Advertising.

[jbayabas]

Why do people always assume I speak with authority? The OP asked why Google never emailed him or gave a precise reason as to why his account got banned. I answered matter of factly that Google already provided him the link with detailed information about the status of his account, which is in violation of "Adsense program policies."

Here's a fact: Nobody is ever given a very specific reason they were banned, Google Adsense is very secretive in that respect because they do not want to give too many clues about how they detect fraud and give fraudsters an opportunity to potentially work around them.

[netmeg]

Why do people always assume I speak with authority?

Believe me, they don't. They think you *think* you speak with authority.

[jbayabas]

They, you, *think* wrong.

[Lame_Wolf]

Believe me, they don't.

Amen.