Warning Letter From Adsense

[sircraig2000]

I am now a believer in the people that post and say that their AdSense account got terminated and they did not click on an ad. I just got this letter:

"It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the ads on your web pages...."

My account did not get terminated. It was just a warning, but I think my heart stopped beating!

I have never even accidentally clicked on an ad! I have not told any of my friends or family about AdSense and most do not even know (or care) about my website!

So what did I do? I removed all of the ads. Yep, every single one of them! What else can you do? The "invalid" clicks" are coming from someone or something that is out of my control! If it keeps up, I'll lose my account!

I guess I'll just wait a month and try putting them back up again. What would you do?

[sailorjwd]

After a good cry I'd attempt to get into a dialogue with G and provide them with whatever info I could and also try to glean info from them... like what page?

If you have logs then attempt to identify the IP with G's help.. then block it/them.

I think getting into the dialogue part is most important since it demonstrates you care and what to prevent this in the future.

[jimilives]

wow tough one, and glad to hear your heart didnt stop all together, I think mine would have.

A drastic albeit probably smart move on your part. If google cared (and thier lack of a phone support suggests they dont) they could easily just ignore repeated IP clicking, and if its coming from a script then why not block that IP altogether?

And as for google caring, i made 10k last month, I assure you they made just as much if not more from my ads, so over a year i will bring them 140k alone, if this doesnt warrant a phone number where a minimum wage kid can read me thier scripted replies then what does? I dont like paypal but at least they will answer your call and work things out a lot quicker then "email us and we will get back to it in 3 days with the same answer of check our online help forum"

[Dantol]

Craig, don't worry.

Every account has invalid clicks (aka: every account has certain percentage of invalid clicks, most of accounts have under 0 point something invalid clicks - enough to get you a warning letter). You can't stop visitors from clicking 2 or more times on your ads within the 15 minute period. If they are interested, they will keep clicking. Some of them have never heard about "Adsense". They keep clicking out of interest not knowing that they can put you into trouble.

[sircraig2000]

Here is the "interesting" part. I have had my account for several months and have never recieved a check because I opted to let them hold it. Just a few days ago , I released payment. Then today, I get this letter!

Coincidence? Uhm, maybe...

[miguelito]

just my opinion of course but make sure you write to them immediately politely protesting your innocence and surprise...no way will they give you more details, they never do but saying nothing and withdrawing their ads at the same time may be interpreted as an admission of guilt by them.

[Sierra_Dad]

I don't think it is coincidence, but I don't think it is anything sinister either.

Google may simply find it cost effective to give sites an extra review when they are about to pay out some actual money. After all, many people probably sign up for adsense that never implement it or actually generate much revenue.

[sircraig2000]

Thank you for your replies. I have been sick to my stomach all evening! As soon as I got the letter I replied to them and told them that I do not know how the "invalid clicks" were generated and that I have removed the ads. I hope they write me back. We'll see.

[BillyS]

I think sailorjwd is giving you some pretty sound advice. You need to make Google understand that you are just as concerned as they are and willing to work with them to prevent this from happening in the future.

[arrowman]

I'd put it back to Google as a polite question. Explain that you're fully aware of the TOS and that you're pretty sure you did not click your own ads or violate the TOS in any way. Ask them what you can do to further investigate or solve the problem.

[PalX]

sircraig2000 G knew that it wasn't you and thats why you received a warning Email, they didn't ban you coz they knew its not you who is doing it, so by sending an email they are telling you to watch out and take care of the problem before they do it on their own.

[ownerrim]

"they could easily just ignore repeated IP clicking"

such a simple thing you have to wonder why they don't

[arrowman]

"they could easily just ignore repeated IP clicking"

such a simple thing you have to wonder why they don't

Of course they do. What makes you say they don't?

[miguelito]

Of course they ignore them (in terms of payment) but they still use it as a weapon to slap you with....you get added to their "suspicious" list whether they know it wasn´t you or not.

With the sharp increase in negative publicity for adsense regarding invalid clicks etc they will pull the plug on any site that could cause complaints from advertisers no matter what the reason....so many sites with adsense these days that they can afford to kick out a few innocent victims....anything to keep the advertisers happy and maintain their (googles) staggering revenue

[europeforvisitors]

I got one or two of those e-mails from Google a long time ago. I just wrote back, offered to provide any materials they might require (server logs or whatever), and pointed out that even a casual glance at my site would make it clear that I was publishing for the long haul and wouldn't be foolish enough to endanger my Google business relationship with phony clicks. AdSense Support sent a polite boilerplate reply, and that was the end of that.

On two other occasions, I was the victim of massive clickbot attacks (including one that ran up about thirteen hundred dollars' worth of inexplicable clicks in a single day). In those cases, I wrote to Google before they had a chance to contact me, and I was thanked for taking the time to report the anomalies.

I'm sure there are many other people here who have received warning letters without being dumped from the program. It's possible that the warnings are generated automatically (unlike the decision to terminate a publisher, which AdSense Advisor discussed in another recent thread).

At any rate, if you have a clean site that will easily pass the "sniff" test, you'll probably survive this incident and possibly others as well.

[hunderdown]

sircraig, if efv received warning letters in the past, I don't think you need to be too concerned for yourself. Put the ads back up, do the other things people have suggested, and move on.....

[Yoman]

seems like you have been a bad bad boy. ha ha

Or someone on your web pages might have been a bad bad visitor

[derekwong28]

miguelito, I understand that you were suspended a few months ago. How did you get in again? Did you open another account and was the original site still suspended?

SirCraig, at least you got a warning letter that was generated by a robot. I have never received any warnings but my account got suspended last week. Luckily I was reinstated after 3 days.

The culprit site went from an average of 120 unique visits a day to over 2000 visits on the day of suspension. But 2000 visits is only a small proportion of the 15000-20000 visits that I normally get for all the sites in my account. Therefore the system they use is highly sensitive.

After this experience I am no longer interested in reading threads on how much you can make on Adsense in a month. I am more interested in how to prevent a recurrence and how to protect your revenue if I get suspended again.

[OptiRex]

they could easily just ignore repeated IP clicking

But just how many would be considered repeat?

Is it by quantity or percentage, and it's not by clicking one ad repeatedly?

Yesterday a very quiet site of mine had a 500% CTR since the visitor(s) decided to view several ads. These were most likely genuine, trade visitors but such a CTR could just as easily be considered fraudulent.

None of us have any way of knowing from Adsense, insofar as I am aware, of who our visitors really are, and I'm not chasing through my logs every day just to see where a few extra clicks possibly came from.

So where is the bar level set before a possible fraud flag is raised?

Obviously revealing this may let the more unscrupulous know what to do or not, however it would probably allay the continuing fear that raises its head every week.

[jetteroheller]

they could easily just ignore repeated IP clicking

But just how many would be considered repeat?

There is no controll on the publisher site at AdLinks.

So somebody clicks on the AdLink and is out of any controll from the publishers server.

So there is only one chance for a cooperation:

The publishers creates the content
Google decides what clicks are valid or invalid

Any other approach to try to find out what happens on a 700 clicks per day account would stop me to make new content and bring me into the insane asylum within a year.

[WallyWorld]

Just keep in touch with them. You might want to get a script called Adsense Tracker. I use it and it shows me every click from every page/ad and the number of page views. So, if there is something odd going on, it is easy to spot.

Having said that, recently my Adsense account was showing a tremendous increase in clicks but my tracking wasn't showing the clicks at all. I emailed G and told them I thought someone was fraudulently clicking on my ads from somewhere other than my websites. They sent me a few emails, one asking for some info on my domains, traffic, etc.

Eventually, I got a letter saying their investigation was over and they were deducting a few hundred from my account for fraudulent clicks but that my account was still in good standing with G.

So, it pays to keep an eye on your clicks and contact G if you see something that looks wrong.

[OptiRex]

You might want to get a script called Adsense Tracker.

Is this the $100 tracker found at #1 in a G search?

I ask this since there seem to be several such trackers and questions have been raised about whether they conform to the Adsense ToS.

How long have you been using whichever version you have?

Any problems?

[jbgilbert]

I'd also be interested in the "adsense tracker" if I knew exactly which one you are talking about -- there are tons of them listed out there.

Also.... has anybody ever contatced Google regarding its use? Did Google respond?

[oddsod]

And as for google caring, i made 10k last month, I assure you they made just as much if not more from my ads

Not on the current understanding of the profit split, they don't.

[jomaxx]

There is a free tracking script that was discussed and developed here.

AdSenseAdvisor is on record as saying such scripts should be fine as long as they don't change the look or functionality of the ads in any way.
[webmasterworld.com ]

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

OptiRex and JBGilbert I have stickied you a link to the reporting software that I have been using for about the last three months. ($50)

[OptiRex]

Thanks BeeDeeDubbleU, I'm checking it now.

[WallyWorld]

OptiRex, their home page is the one to related-pages.---. If you have a clickbank acct you can save about $40 by using your own link. And, Clickbank is easy to get a refund from if you don't like it within 90 days.

I've been using it for about 6 months. The guy who created it is good about getting it updated quickly when there is a change at Google.

Google reviewed my site and I told them I had my own tracking script and they didn't seem to care. You need to put a one line script on each page that you have adsense on. And, the script needs to use your MySQL to store the data. About the only thing it can't tell you is how much you made on a click.

I'm sure there are other scripts but this one has worked good for me. It is a pretty sophisticated script. The data is in an easy format with several data windows and you can find out about anything about a click including the user's IP.

[ann]

Reading at Google I did come across another reason for "invalid clicks".

It seems if you have the wrong kind of traffic, maybe the ripoff kind from a company that does little more than steal your money, your clicks will not convert for the advertisers. A certain percent of these kind of clicks (Google is NOT telling how much) will get you terminated with an invalid clicks email.

Just my 2 cents.

Ann

[sircraig2000]

What an outstanding Forum! Thanks you everyone. I really appreciate all the tips and support.

I received the the following email from Google:

Hello Craig,

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. We have noted your input and will continue to monitor the situation.

As you know, in order to protect your interests as well as those of our advertisers, Google monitors clicks on Google ads to prevent any abuse of the AdSense program. Google's proprietary technology analyzes all ad clicks for invalid click activity that is intended to artificially drive up an advertiser's clicks or a publisher's earnings.

If, in the future, you suspect that invalid clicks may have resulted from a visitor to your site, we suggest that you review your site's logs for any suspicious activity and notify us with your findings. This information can help us in resolving any issues, although as outlined in our Terms and Conditions ( [google.com...] Google will use its sole discretion when determining instances of invalid clicks.

We look forward to your continued participation in Google AdSense. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to respond to this email.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team