What kind of BS is this?

[Scott Ames]

I've about had it with the high and mighty who treat people like crap. I've had my Adsense account almost ever since they started. As a thank you for my long term service I get this:

While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense
account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since
keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our
advertisers in the future, we've decided to disable your account ....

There is no discussion, no warning, nothing. Then, when you look at the FAQ's you get this:

We understand your concern about the actions taken against your account. Please know that our actions are the result of careful investigation by our team of dedicated specialists, taking into account the interests of our advertisers, publishers, and users. Though you may be disappointed with our decision, we are unable to reinstate your account.

Careful investigation my ass. This company was happy to have me as a publisher in the beginning and kissed my butt. Now they don't need me anymore for whatever reason and just shut the door and turn their backs. I was super careful about following the rules, even reporting unusual activity if my revenue spiked and gave them tracking info that I had. (not in a long time did that happen)

Well adsense revenue started to suck anyway. To hell with Google.

[simonLC]

To put it bluntly, that damn sucks.

Sorry to hear that Scott.

[simonLC]

Just bought you a beer - hope that helps!

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by simonLC

Just bought you a beer - hope that helps!

Thank you so much!!! Gosh.. I am here all mad and stuff and you made me smile.!

[simonLC]

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

Thank you so much!!! Gosh.. I am here all mad and stuff and you made me smile.!

haha no stress, mate.

I'm intrigued though; what type of site did they hammer you on? (If you don't mind sharing details)

[Shane Dolby]

After they shut down my biggest earning site for unknown reasons i have been slowly moving all my websites off adsense and in to more profitable things.

Unfortuantly it happens to many people everyday.

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by simonLC

haha no stress, mate.

I'm intrigued though; what type of site did they hammer you on? (If you don't mind sharing details)

I've had a site in the network marketing niche since 1998 and recently a forex blog. I had adsense on both.

[j hogan]

Yes it's disgusting, I got banned last year when i was starting to hit $600 a month, no explanation, and how can you give an explanation when they won't tell you what you're accused off?
Adsense is too risky in my book.

[Mark Hess]

You always hear stories about this happening to people... There's not much you can do about it. Are you going to appeal it? or just stick with that "to hell with Google" approach?

Some people have gotten their cases overturned but it almost takes a miracle for that to happen. Google's TOS for adsense publishers pretty much states "F@%& You Publishers... Google is God".

[terryd]

Damn that really sucks, especially if you have a network of adsense sites!

Kind of puts people off promoting adsense especially when someone gets cut for no reason.

[George Stavrakakis]

That's crazy.

Has anybody had any problems with them paying out for money earned from adsense? If so, what did you do about it? I'm a member at another forum and one of the members hasn't been paid over $200.

[SarahMcHarry]

Hi Scott,

I have also been banned from Adsense, in my case because of Adwords/Adsense arbitrage.

They disabled my Adsense account but not my Adwords. I have tried several times to get my Adsense a/c reinstated but to no avail.

I feel your pain

Sarah

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by Shane Dolby

After they shut down my biggest earning site for unknown reasons i have been slowly moving all my websites off adsense and in to more profitable things.

Unfortuantly it happens to many people everyday.

I knew Adsense was a risk. I guess anything is where someone else controls almost all aspects.

I used to know Eric Schmidt (l I worked for him before Google ), but I'm sure that won't help. I don't know him well.

I've been meaning to move to something else, now is my chance.

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by MarkH45

You always hear stories about this happening to people... There's not much you can do about it. Are you going to appeal it? or just stick with that "to hell with Google" approach?

Some people have gotten their cases overturned but it almost takes a miracle for that to happen. Google's TOS for adsense publishers pretty much states "F@%& You Publishers... Google is God".

THWG is my approach. I looked at their appeal form. My gosh they almost want every freaking piece of detail about my sites there is. No way.. I'm not going to play.

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by j hogan

Yes it's disgusting, I got banned last year when i was starting to hit $600 a month, no explanation, and how can you give an explanation when they won't tell you what you're accused off?
Adsense is too risky in my book.

That really is bad. Did you try to appeal or just replace it with something else?

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by SarahMcHarry

Hi Scott,

I have also been banned from Adsense, in my case because of Adwords/Adsense arbitrage.

They disabled my Adsense account but not my Adwords. I have tried several times to get my Adsense a/c reinstated but to no avail.

I feel your pain

Sarah

Arbitrage, I never got into it, but I thought about it. I don't see the big crime. All Google did was cut their own revenue by banning you. I know they don't care. I've heard of large accounts being banned. They are just not hungry enough to care about people.

[Pete223]

Although I understand that Google would probably need a whole building stuffed
with people to respond to questions one would have after being pushed aside by
the mighty G, but It's the least they could do... especially with long time
publishers!!!

It's probably easier to get a reply from the Pope then it is from Google!

Maybe one day they'll have competition and they'll need to revise these
practices... only businesses with "monopoly" positions like them can get
away with such sh*t!!!

Hope this will not affect your business too much Scott...
(probably will, in a good way )

Cheers,
Pete

[__internet__]

i've been banned from adsense for a long time now for no reason. never depend on google to make money

[Scott Ames]

Thanks Pete. I agree. They should consider a few factors before just banning accounts.
You are prob right.. it will affect my business in a good way. I'll be forced to get busy now.

My focus wasn't Adsense thank goodness.

Originally Posted by Pete223

Although I understand that Google would probably need a whole building stuffed
with people to respond to questions one would have after being pushed aside by
the mighty G, but It's the least they could do... especially with long time
publishers!!!

It's probably easier to get a reply from the Pope then it is from Google!

Maybe one day they'll have competition and they'll need to revise these
practices... only businesses with "monopoly" positions like them can get
away with such sh*t!!!

Hope this will not affect your business too much Scott...
(probably will, in a good way )

Cheers,
Pete

[WritingMadwoman]

Wow Scott, that truly does suck. But I agree with you that Adsense earnings have been declining - I used to do quite well with them, but over the past 3 or so years I've noticed that my earnings continue to drop even though the traffic to my sites has continued to climb. In some cases it has more than doubled, but yet the revenue keeps dropping?

At first I thought people were getting immune to the placement, so I tried a few different placements, different colors, etc. - nothing has worked to bring it back up so I have gradually been phasing out Adsense. I think I only have one remaining site with the scripts on there, and that will be changed over soon too.

Maybe see this as an opportunity to make even more money without a big iron sledgehammer hanging over your head (or sites)

Wendy

[spsfinest212]

Sorry that happened to you.

I've always heard bad things about adsense. Don't plan on getting involved with them anytime soon.

[tknoppe]

Bummer. Have you looked into the Yahoo Ad Network? Might be a good replacement - at least it's not owned by Google (yet).

[Bakai]

Adsense has become a joke, so much so that some people are actually promoting bluefart methods of exploiting them, imagine that.

[Ryan6]

You still have some good options with PPC. Microsoft's latest program looks good and Adbrite is always worth a shot - at least with Adbrite they have restrictions on the number of clicks a visitor can go through.

[j hogan]

I tried to appeal, but it was pretty impossible since they won't tell you what your supposed to have done. they just refused it, I didn't knowingly do anything so I haven't got a clue why it happened. I replaced it with affiliate products.
Oh and they kept that months earnings....

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by j hogan

I tried to appeal, but it was pretty impossible since they won't tell you what your supposed to have done. they just refused it, I didn't knowingly do anything so I haven't got a clue why it happened. I replaced it with affiliate products.
Oh and they kept that months earnings....

I figured they would keep the earnings. How nice of them to use my site for nearly 10 years to make money then kick me out on the street without my last check. I've heard people like you complain for a long time but I guess I thought I was immune because I tried my very best to make sure all the rules were followed.

[Fernando Veloso]

Ah Scott just move on and give them a finger. Or two or three.

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso

Ah Scott just move on and give them a finger. Or two or three.

Ha Ha.. that made me laugh., thanks!

Good idea!!

[anth.elias]

I dropped adsense about a year ago, and have never felt better, now a days when I see a site that has adsense the first thing I think of is this site is not making any money.

With all the other offers out there like getting 20 bucks or so for a lead through CPA ads (simple email submit) I'm not sure why any one would want to place adsense ane there site or sites.

Unfortunately I don't think Bing is going to be able to kick big G butt anytime soon. I still love G they send me over 90% of my traffic for free.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

I've got Adsense running on some of my sites and it is making me some pretty good money, but it certainly only makes up a very small portion of my overall revenue.

[infohog]

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

I've about had it with the high and mighty who treat people like crap. I've had my Adsense account almost ever since they started. As a thank you for my long term service I get this:

There is no discussion, no warning, nothing. Then, when you look at the FAQ's you get this:

Careful investigation my ass. This company was happy to have me as a publisher in the beginning and kissed my butt. Now they don't need me anymore for whatever reason and just shut the door and turn their backs. I was super careful about following the rules, even reporting unusual activity if my revenue spiked and gave them tracking info that I had. (not in a long time did that happen)

Well adsense revenue started to suck anyway. To hell with Google.

I feel your pain, Scott. The Google Nazi's did that to me also. No discussion, no explanation, just killed my account. And if you're unlucky and foolish enough to have all your eggs in that Google basket life is painful for awhile.

I'm not a big Adsense or PPC guy but I've had no issues with Yahoo or MSN Publisher networks or PPC.

Best of luck.

[Lawrh]

Give AdUnitPro a shot. You create your own ads pointing to affiliate products or CPA offers. Looks like adsense but potentially pays a lot more.

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by Lawrh

Give AdUnitPro a shot. You create your own ads pointing to affiliate products or CPA offers. Looks like adsense but potentially pays a lot more.

Thanks.. I will check that out. Never heard of it until now.

[Mark Brian]

There is a guy who complained and brought his case to court and eventually won (got his money but not the account). I forgot the link though.

So if you have the time and money to give Google a lesson, I say bring it to the courts! You have a great chance of winning since Google representatives can't really give a solid "evidence" why you should be banned.

[Mitch Miller]

That right there is why I never understood working to hard towards the Adsense model. You can't make an asset out of something that you can't control.

[JennJessop]

That sucks! Sorry. But hey who knows this could be your big lucky break. You were content using adsense to make your money and now thats gone, The next money maker you find could be the one that makes you millions! Always look for the silver lining, who know I might be too much of an optimist, but either way good luck with whatever comes next for you!

[edgray]

This is the problem when a company has such a monopoly like Google do.

Let's hope the next big search engine (bing maybe?) is a bit nicer to it's customers. Afterall, we're the ones who keep their company going.

[askloz]

If they deemed your site unfit, it's most likely due to a high bounce rate, and or invalid clicks going on. These are the two main reasons for banning people's account.

Phone them up, and complain, but be nice about it, and say you followed all their rules etc, and they should re-instate it, don't take no for an answer and if necessary ask to speak to their manager, if they give you the back hand, ask to speak to their manager until you get to the top of the managers list - speaking to the top dog normally works, you just need to get past those sheep first..

[Scott Ames]

Originally Posted by Mark Brian

There is a guy who complained and brought his case to court and eventually won (got his money but not the account). I forgot the link though.

So if you have the time and money to give Google a lesson, I say bring it to the courts! You have a great chance of winning since Google representatives can't really give a solid "evidence" why you should be banned.

I would like to, but it would expend all my energy and time. Google simply has more resources than I do. I think it best I just move on and use an alternate source.

[sdcast]

Originally Posted by Shane Dolby

After they shut down my biggest earning site for unknown reasons i have been slowly moving all my websites off adsense and in to more profitable things.

Unfortuantly it happens to many people everyday.

if you don't mind, would you please share what other profitable things.
because i'm building a website now, and would like to get off to a good start.

thanks,

Sharon

[webdesignservice]

That's to bad Scott, Google seems to be so unfair and not cool at all, banning people adsense account without warnings or any notification and not giving exact reasons or more detailed info.

I've heard a bunch of stories the same as what you've experience. Sad to know this really happens.

[visit_faraz]

Now this is really scary.
Since I am also an adsense publisher and have even created a few sites based on adsense alone.
And then I have based a few sites based on ebay alone.

And I have heard that both of these could just kick you out without any reason.

Anybody has other alternatives in mind?
I mean anything other than affiliate marketing and cpa programs?

let me know about them.

regards,
faraz

[Emmanuel ED]

That's one of the reasons I left adsense, I had about $750 in my account and just when I though of withdrawing I got fed the same lame story. I had never clicked on any of my ads neither did I join any clicking network.

I just hope they do something about it though I don't think of returning either. I'm focusing on CPA and the likes...

[developerholic]

Originally Posted by Mark Brian

There is a guy who complained and brought his case to court and eventually won (got his money but not the account). I forgot the link though.

So if you have the time and money to give Google a lesson, I say bring it to the courts! You have a great chance of winning since Google representatives can't really give a solid "evidence" why you should be banned.

Yup, he won. But Google re-appeal the case

[thinkrich]

Just like insurance companies...they love to take your money, but loathe to pay it out.

Like Paypal, they think they are 'God' and can bully people whenever they feel like it.

I have never been one for adsense so google can go jump.

[Jeremy123]

loz what would be considered a high bounce rate,

even if the bounce rate was high why should that effect the advertiser

[Mitch Miller]

It seems to me that a high bounce rate would be a great thing for Google as long as it is the click of an Adsense ad that was causing the bounce?

[Mr_Julian_S]

This is a common story now, though I prefer using adsense but due to such stories that come forward, I really get in dilemma to continue or not with Adsense anymore. An so I have already started searching for some good alternatives for Adsense and while searching I found this link having over 180 alternatives of adsense. The Biggest List Of Google Adsense Alternatives On The Net

I hope this will help all those who are in similar situations.

[oZestretch]

I am so glad I have never put effort into Adsense. I never felt the reward for effort was not warranted with the risk involved. These stories just tell me that time old saying my dad told me "Son, when ever possible, learn from other peoples mistakes".

That and "Never throw the first punch!"

[Jeremy123]

People who got there account closed, are you sure you did not
break the TOS.

How could a billion dollar company just close people's accounts
for no reason, that would cause a lot of bad karma toward them
after a while.