Forum Moderators: martinibuster
The thing is, the paranoia stems from the fact that (a) publishers do not know exact reason why they are banned other than the broad "fraudulent clicks"; (b) it is easier to lay the blame on Google ("they banned me for no apparent reason") rather than acknowledge one's own violation; and (c) the person do not know that what they are doing are indeed a violation and they end up kicking and screaming when banned.
You said "The more money you make, the less chance you have to be kicked."
That's a really interesting statement. I'd love to see the statistics that back that up--and I'm sure many others would too! You must have access to some really privileged information!
Just my 2 cents.
I think you're definitely right about the fact few woudl acknowledge there own problem compared with blaming Google.
I have been a publisher for over a year now and have had growing success. I've never clicked my own ads or had others do it - nor do I give out my url or have to worry about "inner-office" accidents or anything like that. I have had a few times when Google emailed for me to change something and I complied immediatly and they were very good about it.
Just worried they might "buckle down" or do something different for higher level of income...
It does make sense that the more money you make, the less chance you will have of being kicked (provided it's legitimate money!). Reason: they expend some time administrating accounts. Time is money. Small accounts will cost them money IF there is too much hassle i.e. frequent flagging or investigations. It may be worth more (cost less) just to ax the account. For large accounts, it's more likely worth the time to adminsiter in spite of some hassles that may be generated.
Yes, and common sense probably enters the equation, too--whether it's gut instinct (a.k.a. the "sniff test") or a scoring system that takes various factors into account. To use extreme (and hypothetical) examples, an authoritative reference site that existed before AdSense came into being and has a fairly average clickthrough rate might be viewed with less suspicion or skepticism than a new, heavily optimized directory site that focuses on high-bid keywords, has three AdSense units, a slew of inbound links from a network of affiliate sites, an extremely high clickthrough rate, and a conversion rate below the norm. Or at least that's how things would be if I were doing QC for AdSense. :-)
can anyone say "mesothelioma"?]
No, but I can say "mezzo-soprano." (I wonder what that keyword is going for these days?)
I'd still like to see the statistics!
This happens fairly often on these boards. We all make assumptions about what Google is up to--I do myself--but we should be careful not to present them as fact.
Personally, I'm thinking of launching the AdSense Zen movement. We can't know the answers, so let's stop striving to find them, go with the flow, accept all advertisers, all ad types....
That somebody can also attest from firsthand experience that a clean, legitimate site is likely to remain in "good standing" (Google's own words) after being attacked by a clickbot, nitwit, or competitor.
I should have quoted in full. The comment that I was responding to was "The more money you make, the less chance you have to be kicked. Don't forget: your money, is also Google's money." A bold statement, which as others later developed has something behind it. But on its own, I felt justified in asking for statistics....
You want your site to fall within the norm for every metric Google has access to. If you can do that and make the UPS club then you should be fine. If you want to optimize revenue, make like the most profitable ones (convert like tey do, on topics they convert on).
Google knows your Google index status, history, in your industry, your Google referral traffic (and how it varies, which I would expect to be the most important) and the activity of many, many similar websites in similar areas.
I would not be at all surprised in a very good site with very good content etc. was banned because it grew outside the norm, and the conservative progam management simply decided not to assume the risk.
No facts to offer for these "ideas".... they are nothing but my own extensions of normal business to the AdSense situation. YMMV