March 2019 AdSense Earnings & Observations

"Google clawed it all back. I knew it was too good to be true."

[Cralamarre]

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System: The following 6 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adsense/4934778.htm [webmasterworld.com] by martinibuster - 2:58 pm on Mar 1, 2019 (utc -5)

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Well, looks like the big improvements I saw in the days leading up to Valentines Day were all for nothing. Google clawed it all back. I knew it was too good to be true.

[Cralamarre]

I suspect it's just Google doing what Google does and steepening the criteria for valid traffic/clicks.

It would be nice if AdSense actually responded to requests for assistance with these issues, especially from long-time publishers. A couple of years ago, I would actually have regular conversations on the phone with an AdSense rep who would give me personalized advice with my site. These days, I can't even get them to reply to an email. I feel so used.

[Cralamarre]

Update: Lol... Right after I posted my previous comment, I received an email reply from AdSense about the invalid click activity. So forget everything in my previous post. :)

The email was fairly generic, stating that the clawbacks are due to accidental clicks on ads, and it offered the usual advice on how to reduce the risk of accidental clicks (proper spacing around ads, keeping ads away from navigation buttons, etc.).

However, the person who emailed me back was also able to tell me which ad unit is most responsible for the highest invalid click activity, and that most of it is coming from high-end mobile devices. So I'll be taking a closer look at it and seeing if I can figure out what's going on. I'm still not sure why this has suddenly become an issue. I've used the same ad layouts for a long time without any problems.

Overall, it was a very friendly email. No threats of closing my account or anything like that. Just some helpful advice. I'm glad I emailed them now.

[edited by: Cralamarre at 4:01 pm (utc) on Apr 2, 2019]

[Wader]

Just point him here or tell him that many users start to have problems from november/december. As i see many owners start to have invalid clicks. Im think that there is a bigger picture here where adsense compesate cort penaltyes from our pocket. And show them accidently to many of us as invalid clicks.

[Cralamarre]

Well, now I'm confused. According to the email I received from AdSense, the ad unit responsible for the majority of the accidental clicks on mobile devices doesn't even display on mobile devices. It's a responsive ad unit and I have it set to "display:none" for mobile screen sizes.
In fact, according to my AdSense report, yesterday I had 5 clicks on the ad unit from mobile devices, yet 0 impressions. How is that even possible?

[Wader]

I told u that reports are fake. Im thinking to hire some expert to check all this.