I got a credit from Google!

After a month of dispute I got $6300

[goneriding]

As an update to my posting at www.webmasterworld.com/forum81/1418.htm - today I received a $6300 credit from Google. This is way better than nothing or even more than I expected to receive as I was told by so many other Adword customers that receiving a refund from Google would be highly unlikely.

Woo Hoo - I may get a christmas bonus after all.

[Chndru]

Wtg! Did they ever tell you the reason? Just wondering!

[goneriding]

After I provided them with a list of suspicous url's they were able to determine that we received $6300 worth of clickspam and immediately applied a credit.

[goneriding]

Oh and my superiors do not think is a call for an Adda Girl. They want details and specifics as if they are going to get more from Google!? Like I said $6300 is better than nothing - Google could have taken the money and ran.

[dkoller]

If I may ask, how many clicks and days made up for that $6300? I'm hoping it's high CPC term over a fairly long time, otherwise your story is quite frightening!

[goneriding]

It is about a 17% credit and yes this is frightening. Google does not inform you when signing up for an Adwords Campaign that you are automatically opted into the Total Targeted Content, which I was charged $26k for. Basically, some folks caught onto the #1 highest paid word on the internet and created sites posting the Adsense feature. This all happened within a 30 day period.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

goneriding, I'm happy to hear that your inquiry has led to a positive result for both you and your company. I hope that (at least) a pat on the back is forthcoming, if not an actual 'Adda Girl'. ;)

I do want to respond to one thing that you've posted, though, just for the sake of clarity. You mentioned:

Google does not inform you when signing up for an Adwords Campaign that you are automatically opted into the Total Targeted Content...

Please note that this is actually mentioned as the very first of the Terms and Conditions that each advertiser agrees to when creating an account.

I know I'm repeating myself when I say that reading the Terms & Conditions is time well spent. They're so important that there is a link directly to them, at the bottom of every page in an AdWords account.

AWA

[powerstar]

>>>> Please note that this is actually mentioned as the very first of the Terms and Conditions that each advertiser agrees to when creating an account.

You must be kidding... That should be turn off by default. We opt in to recieved real traffic. This is in alot of cases are not real. Terms and Conditions, you guys know that in most cases nobody will read them but you can always say...we told you read the "Terms and Conditions" Give us real traffic and not "Terms and Conditions"

[Robino]

I read the TOS anytime I sign up for a service that bills my credit card. Why wouldn't you? Saying, "nobody reads that stuff!" is a mickey mouse excuse!

We aren't kids!

[donb01]

I have a very low daily spending limit set, and they have been very good about crediting me for excess clicks over my daily spending limit. I don't understand how someone could rack up that many clicks over your daily limit and you would get charged for it. I have been doing this about 16 months now and this is the first time a shadow of worry has passed before my eyes... It always seems to me that as soon as the system sees me up to my maximum budget it stops generating ad impressions... Is there something I am missing here?

[powerstar]

By default we were all added to recieve traffic from AdSense. How reading the terms will help me if I join Adwords 12 months ago? or should I read it every night before I go to bed just to make sure.

[ogletree]

donb01 nobody is talking about spending limit. We are talking about fraudulent clicks. People that click on your site to make money for their adsense program.

[donb01]

My fault... I was reading "adsense" and writing "adwords"... 2 dufus points for me!

[RedWolf]

donb01 nobody is talking about spending limit. We are talking about fraudulent clicks. People that click on your site to make money for their adsense program.

Yes, but if you set your daily budget to what you are willing to spend, then this should have been caught at the budget limit. To rack up $26K in charges you would need a daily budget around $800 even assuming Google 205 fudge factor. That is why my budgets only total around $15 currently. Though I have had to studily raise them throughout the last week from the $5 they totaled last month.

[goneriding]

Wow, great feedback from all. We set our daily budget at the recommended amount per google to maintain a top 3 position. Based on the CPC of this word it was pretty high, however, now that I have not included adsense it has dropped significantly.

Thanks again for responding

[ThatAdamGuy]

I just wanted to note that -- while about 1/100th the size of the refund mentioned in this thread -- I DID receive a refund ("adjustment") from Google this evening. The remarkable aspect about it, though, is that this was unsolicited. While it's unsurprising that some of my AdWords are ripe for click-fraud <sigh>, I was nonetheless surprised and pleased that Google proactively evaluated and took charge of the situation and issued me a credit without me asking for it.

I might note, too, that even though I've bid on nearly the exact same keyword list with Overture (and, formerly, GoTo) for nearly half-a-decade, I've NEVER gotten an adjustment from them.

AdWordsAdvisor, I'm already drafting a brief thank you via e-mail, but please also convey my appreciation for this gesture to your teammates.

[Robert Thivierge]

...reading the Terms & Conditions is time well spent

AdWordsAdvisor, you should have mentioned that even when people read the Terms & Conditions, and (as a result) decide to opt-out of "content" site inclusion, that Google may ignore their request, and show their adds on "content" (ie. non-search) sites anyhow, without their consent. In my case Google never fixed the problem, or even responded seriously, even after months.

If Google investigated complaints about sites showing adds improperly early-on (even small issues), they might prevent bigger problems later.

Also, problems with bad AdSense sites could often be fixed easily, if advertisers had more freedom to pick and choose where the adds go. AdWords customers could stop running adds on individual site the moment something looks a little suspicious.

[liamgt]

I got a credit today as well which was totally unexpected. According to google it was for "Fradulently Generated Clicks". It was only for $12 but i suppose it all helps.

Liam

[beren]

One of my clients got a refund of $5900. While this is almost certainly a fraction of the actual fraud losses, it’s heartening that Google has made any kind of gesture. The amount is comparable to what Overture has refunded us in the past. Google has not in the past refunded us money. Of course, before the explosion of the AdSense program, their quality was so high they didn’t need to and we didn’t expect them to. It’s only in the latter half of 2003 that we saw vast increases in obviously dodgy clicks.

We turned off our ads from content sites over a month ago, and despite this refund, we are leaving it off for now. The potential for abuse with AdSense is too great, especially for high CPC search terms. We have recently experienced a substantial drop in costs with no significant drop in quality.

[Nermin]

i see more and more people going away from this. before florida update i was #2 for my keyword and my boss is ready to drop 5000 a month to be on goodle even if it means adwrods but I am so scared of that thing. don't have a good feeling about it. oh those times before florida :)

[Rossv1]

I also just received an unsolicited refund from Google that amounts to about 25% of my monthly budget...glad to receive it, but startled to find out that SO MANY of the clicks were fraudulent...uhh, thanks Google.

[marcs]

Same here, refund received without asking for one. Small amount, yet it is about 30% of our monthly spending.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

AdWordsAdvisor, you should have mentioned that even when people read the Terms & Conditions, and (as a result) decide to opt-out of "content" site inclusion, that Google may ignore their request, and show their adds on "content" (ie. non-search) sites anyhow, without their consent.

Robert Thivierge - I didn't mention this, because it is not the case.

If one opts out of either partner choice, then ads will stop showing on those sites as soon as all servers have updated.

The only scenario I can imagine in which ads would continue to show on partner sites after unchecking the appropriate box, would be the following:

If an advertiser un-checked the box in question in the 'Edit Campaign Settings', and them moved to another page without first clicking the Save All Changes button, then the ads would continue to run on those partners. Account wide, if changes are not saved, then they are not incorporated in the account.

If you are aware of another scenario, please email AdWords support from within your account, and request that the email be copied to AdWordsAdvisor.

AWA

[ogletree]

I got a credit today as well and i did not ask for one.

[Shak]

a number of people who I know have had credits in the last 24 hours, and I have seen copies of at least 3 emails.

nice to see the system working.

Shak

[RedWolf]

I got a credit for over showing ads last month, but that's all. But then I don't really think I am in an area that is ripe for click fraud. At an average of 8 cents a click it would have to be very blatent to make much of a profit for someone. every once in a while I'll get a short spat of 5 to 10 suspecious clicks very close together, but I figure it is proably a competator since they are almost always on searches instead of content. Since it happens so infrequently and in such low quantity, I shrug it off and figure they are just increasing my CTR which will hurt them in the long run. If I suddenly had my budget drained by midday, I would look into it much more closely.

[eWhisper]

Are you taking about the 'overdelivery credit' or is there another type of credit?

I think I get the overdelivery one almost every day, another one, well, never seen it.

[RedWolf]

I was talking about an overdelivery credit, but I think most here were getting credits for fraud clicks on their ads.

[beren]

Overdelivery credits are common; this was a special refund that Google notified us about in an e-mail. The amount probably varies widely, and I suspect most advertisers won't get a refund. One of our clients got a week's worth of spending in refund. A second (in a less fraud-prone market) got less than half a day's worth.

[doopsie2die4]

I got a $20 credit from Google to convince me not to drop them and close my account. I fell for it and now 3 weeks later I am out over $600. They do insist you stick very closely to there recommended budget. I couldn't so they don't run the ads in good positions. I made $184 last month only because on one day (Nov25) I went and set the budget at $400 per day.What a mistake! After reading all your letters I understand that they are the most expensive on line. I have shut down all ads.