Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I think it is important that Google know about these and remind the violators of the TOS and give them a warning. The reason I think this is important is because anything that could run up the Advertisers cost hurts those of us who are playing by the rules. We run the risk of losing advertisers which will adversely effect our earnings.
I would like to present a suggestion to Google that they provide an anonymous means for reporting these violations. Is there anything I'm missing by doing this that could backfire on us?
BTW, violations may be inadvertent in some cases. I got a stickymail yesterday that drew attention to double serving of AdSense ads on some of my pages. Apparently there was a publishing glitch with my include files when I temporarily switched from skyscrapers to leaderboards, and some (not all) of my pages were displaying both formats. I was grateful to the Webmaster World member who alerted me so I could fix the problem right away instead of waiting until I'd noticed it myself.
This is meant as a friendly comment that your website is violating the Google Adsense Terms of Use with the following appearing on your homepage:
"July 25, 2003
Testing Google's AdSense Program
[NAME OF SITE REMOVED] is currently testing out Google's AdSense program. Two text ads appear on event listing pages throughout the website except the homepage and primary content pages (About, Radio, Newsletter, etc.) Proceeds from your clicks will go towards paying for the website's expenses including web..."
Incentives
Web pages may not include incentives of any kind for users to click on ads. This includes labeling the ads as sponsors as well as asking users to click on the ads or to please visit the sites.
[google.com...]
9. How do you prevent click and impression spam?
Any method used to artificially and/or fraudulently generate clicks or impressions is strictly prohibited. Google monitors clicks on Google AdWords ads to prevent abuse of the Google AdSense program. Google's proprietary technology analyzes clicks to determine whether they fit a pattern of fraudulent use intended to artificially drive up an advertiser's clicks or a publisher's earnings. Our system can automatically distinguish between clicks generated through normal use by users and clicks generated by click spammers and automated robots. We are then able to filter out fraudulent clicks. Clicks deemed by us to be click spam should not be included in your earnings.
Prohibited methods for generating clicks include, but are not limited to, repeated manual clicks, using robots or other automated clicking tools and/or computer generated search requests, and/or the fraudulent use of other search engine optimization services and/or software. All clicks must be generated as the result of a user clicking on the ads. We therefore require AdSense publishers not to incite or provide any incentive for users to click on a Google ad. Please note that clicking on your own ads for any reason is also prohibited because this has the potential to inflate advertiser costs.
Please be assured that there is no need for test clicks in order to verify the validity of the ads. Our AdWords specialists review all ads and have already verified that the destination URLs of the ads are working and lead to a valid website.
[google.com...]
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The others are all newspaper websites, and in fact, in the top 10 U.S. daily circulation. Honestly, I doubt they'd care about anyone like me notifying them about their violation.
Is this a hoax or a plant?
Either way, its kinda creepy.
If you were an Adwords advertiser, would you want to see what I posted from that site above? Would you want people clicking on your ads for the only reason being that it would benefit that site and deplete your budget without any benefit to you? If Google didn't enforce this aspect of their TOS, would you not consider discontinuing your Adwords campaign?
As the program expands and comes under competative forces then we will see what happens. The market will determine acceptance long term, both from the publishers and advertisers. Google has shown in the past that in other areas they have managed to be innovative enough to suceed, including TOS enforcement. I think it is better at this time to sit back, be within the TOS and see what happens. If Google does not enforce their own TOS then decisions will have to be made by all.
To me AdSense is a gift. It increases my informational website's income over 300% per month. I would hate to see AdSense discontinued because of publisher fraud. While I'd be hesitant to report an AdSense TOS violator on my own, if Google encouraged it I probably would. I side with the people sending me checks, not the people abusing the good thing I have going.
In fact, a page with a running count of banned sites from both the Google Search Engine Index and AdSense for TOS violations would really drive the point home. A sort of public stockade. :)
they go buy accounts at major isp's just to cover their tracks.
You can say that again. Sheeeesh! Take a break?
Nick
Frankly, if I ran across one of these obvious and intentional violations (as opposed to a possible coding error), I wouldn't even bother contacting the site owner first. They'll be able to sort things out with Google without me getting in the middle of things.
Google doesn't tell me where my ads are running so that I can check on their presentation. Like everyone else, I have to depend on the diligence of others to display my ads correctly and to report non-conforming presentation.
with that said, I am not going to spend any energy doing it. However, if you all have a lot of time on your hands, please go for it! Hunt down the violators. Punish them!
YAY!
