I just got the dreaded Adsense letter

[Heuristic]

Well, the worst has happened: I received the following letter:

Hello,

We continually review all publishers according to our program policies (
http://www.google.com/adsense/policies ) and Terms and Conditions (
http://www.google.com/adsense/terms ). During a recent review of your
account, our specialists found that it was not in compliance with our
policies.

It is important for a site displaying AdSense to offer significant value
to the user by providing unique and relevant content, and not to place ads
on pages with little to no original content. Additionally, Google ads may
not be placed on non-content-based pages.

Your site should also provide a good user experience through clear
navigation and organization. Users should be able to easily click through
your pages and find the information they are seeking.

Please review Google's Webmaster Quality Guidelines (
Webmaster guidelines - Webmasters/Site owners Help
) for more information.

As a result, your AdSense account has been disabled.

You will receive payment for outstanding earnings, but we're no longer
able to partner with you or your network of sites.

Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Apparently, they don't think my sites were up to scratch. I've had that account since 2004 too. Can't figure out what went wrong and I'm not even going to try contacting them. It's depressing because I have been working like crazy to get some niche Adsense sites up and running. We are talking about months of work here.

My advice is to never assume they won't review your account or that you are in complete compliance - I thought I was. And often, there is no second chance.

It wasn't a matter of not having a privacy policy or invalid clicks - I'm sure of that. They just didn't like my sites (each had between 15-40 pages of unique content also).

Truly a bummer

[internetmarketer99]

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear, I know that must feel like a punch in the gut.

That said, I wouldn't let it get you down too much, or at least not for very long. Everything that you've done that would have made for good Adsense earnings are exactly the same things that would make for good - possibly better - earnings via Amazon, CPA, etc.

The key to Adsense is numbers. If you can build a site and drive targeted traffic to it, you can be as successful as you want. You have the "keys to the castle".

Join Amazon's program. Sign up for Offer Vault (Offervault - Find CPA and Affiliate Programs from Top CPA Networks) and type in each niche you're building for.

Consider the upsides - you're receiving your owed earnings, which many who get terminated do not, you no longer have to worry about that "dreaded letter", you have considerably more freedom in building and managing your sites.

Good luck~

Mark

[RedSynergy]

Exact same thing just happened to me. WTF?

I don't understand how they are still in business. Maybe all the internet marketers should get together and form some sort of strike. I know it sounds ridiculous but I just can't believe the stuff google is getting away with now.

They are too cheap to pay ANY staff, they just rely on bots most of the time. There are NO contact phone numbers, I mean we are generating their business for crap sake.

Both sides of the coin, adwords and adsense are just pathetic. Too much power in one very badly run company.

[waihon]

May be it's time to review the business model.

Why offering your content for free hoping visitors would click on an AdSense link on your site.

Why not turn your free site into a membership site and charge for your content. Of course your content has to be valuable and not easily available somewhere else. Better still, convert your content into multiple formats such as audio, video, and graphics animation.

Just an idea for consideration.

[Peter Adamson]

I lost my AdSense account 2-3 years ago. Never found out why. They kept all the money (but they did not refund me when my AdWords account had unexplainable spikes in CTR).

In retrospect I am glad it happened. I focussed on other things and it's working for me better than ever. I don't have to feel guilty about feeding the beast.

Take a positive attitude and turn it into an opportunity. You can now clear your head of AdSense and find a new revenue model. When you do you won't go to bed every night worrying about losing your AdSense account like you have been doing for 5 years.

Cheer up! There is lots to do out there that does not depend on Google!!

Also, read my article here:
SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources Blog Archive Black Hat, White Hat and Big G

It might help you put the whole thing into a new perspective.

[Heuristic]

@Internetmarketer99 - Thanks for that link. It just goes to show that there are all kinds of possibilities after Adsense. This is just a bump in the road.

@ Peter Adamson - That was an excellent read! And, yes, I do believe I will start sleeping better at night

[secretjustin]

Steve39: Your account was only disabled, not permanently banned. If you look over your site and follow the guidelines, you can resubmit your site and get your account up and going again. If you go to the page they suggested you can see the link at the bottom of the page
But as others have pointed out, there are many more opportunities available

IMHO - Peace

[Heuristic]

Originally Posted by secretjustin

Steve39: Your account was only disabled, not permanently banned. If you look over your site and follow the guidelines, you can resubmit your site and get your account up and going again. If you go to the page they suggested you can see the link at the bottom of the page
But as others have pointed out, there are many more opportunities available

IMHO - Peace

I don't know if they actually tell you you're banned. I think "disabled your account" actually means banned. In any case, I am not going to waste time with them. If they don't want me as a publisher, then fine. IMO, there are better opportunities out there.

Steve

[Estrella]

Hey Steve,

We have the same fate! Last night (16 September 2009), I got home from work, and received the exact same letter as yours. I think there are variants of the termination letter, but the one I got was exactly like yours, and I was shocked!

I've had my account since spring of 2005 and so far everything's been okay =/.

About 4 years ago, like everyone else, I built websites using automated page generation programs, but I don't think those pages are the culprit, since I don't even think they're still in Google's index.

About 2 months ago, I built a 1-page presell website (but it's a really good, genuine, detailed, and thorough presell), and I put Adsense on it, and I think that's the problem. I guess Google really doesn't like the so called "bridge pages" or "thin sites".

What really surprises me is the fact that your sites have 15 to 40 pages of unique content, and yet your Adsense account still got disabled! That really tells me that if your sites (which are technically better than mine, since yours are more "meaty") are a problem for Google, that means mine is an even bigger problem. I guess I have been on their death row all along, *sigh!!!!!!!!!!*

Anyone know Google's protocol for finding offending sites? Do they just hire a bunch of employees who randomly lurk on the web, trying to find offending sites? There must be literally billions of webpages that have Adsense, and I wonder how Google stumbled upon mine...

[munstersg01]

Sorry to hear that Steve, you may wish to consider using Adbrite, the way it display ads and payout is similar to adsense.

[abinowbhat]

You have 3 alternatives:

1. Ask Google to reconsider banning your account. In most cases if they find a genuine reason then they will activate the account again.
2. Apply for new adsense account on new website which did not have Google ads earlier.
3. look for Alternatives, one can be affiliate marketing, another can be using Google competitors like Adbrite, Bidvertiser, Infolinks, kontera, etc. But as per my knowledge Google is the best PPC master.

Starting an affiliate business is good but it requires very high traffic

[Marhelper]

This Google Rules the World mentality is absurd! It is very clear that they feel they can do whatever the heck they want b/c pee ons (as they see it) have no real room to complain. In a sense, they are right because IM'ers keep coming in droves. I get that Adsense is an easy way to throw up some monetization (albeit it a poor means by which to do so IMO, for the most part) but there are far better ways to do this, IE: CPA, CB, or your own product of course.

There is no need to fear some letter from Big G, look at this as an opportunity that has been cast upon you.

[marketseeker]

Would you be interested in giving up your url so I can have a look at it. Mabey I or someone else could spot something that could help everyone.

[Heuristic]

Originally Posted by marketseeker

Would you be interested in giving up your url so I can have a look at it. Mabey I or someone else could spot something that could help everyone.

I'd prefer not to give out my url's on a public forum, but I can tell you this:

Previous to my niche Adsense sites, I had been running Adsense on 2 authority sites since 2004/2005. One was in the relationship niche, and the other was a business opportunities site.

I would assume that up until this year, everything was okay - otherwise I would have lost my account years ago. It must have had something to do with recent activities. Here is what I've done recently:

1. In May, I started using the Bluesense Theme on my business site.
2. I created 7 adsense niche sites using Xsitepro2.

If the problem was with Bluesense, it could be because in the individual posts, even though the adsense block was wrapped by the first paragraph, you could say that the block was directly below the title of the post. But that would mean hundreds of like themed sites would also be affected.

As far as the xsitepro sites go, I had a few product sites and the rest in high paying niches like VOIP and debt consolidation. These were not thin sites. I was competing for medium competition keywords, hence, I had to write quite a bit of good, original content.

All these sites had a big Adsense block above the fold. I made sure that there were a few lines of text between the title and the ads.

Upon looking at these sites, I have to admit that they looked like MFA sites. That is, until you dug around and looked at the amount of content. Maybe this Google employee was in a hurry and said, "oop's, ok mfa site :BANNED" - I don't know.

Hey, in this business, I've learned that you have to roll with the punches. On to bigger and better things!

Steve

[NicheCowboy]

Steve,

That sucks bro. I feel for ya.

Like others have said, Adsense isn't the only game in town. Betting on them 100% is like putting all of your 401K into Citigroup or Bank of America stock!

One tip for everyone, in your Adsense account under "allowed sites", be sure to add your sites to the list. You don't want any screwed in the head competitors putting your code on other sites. They could put porn content, handgun sales, or any other forbidden stuff with your ID. One complaint email to google, and you're gone.

Pearson

[warrich]

did you read tos of adsense might be you skipped something, may i know which website has been blocked by adsense

[Heuristic]

Originally Posted by warrich

did you read tos of adsense might be you skipped something, may i know which website has been blocked by adsense

I lost my whole account, so all my sites are no longer showing ads. I don't know which site triggered it. I was meticulous with keeping up to date with the TOS. I knew them inside out and all my sites had privacy policy, contact, about me, site-map, good navigation, and so on.

[NicheCowboy]

What I hate is it's all subjective. It's not like you are clicking on your ads, or don't have a privacy page.

Google can basically decide which traffic sources aren't converting for their advertisers, and cut them off.

[RedSynergy]

What is most irritating for me is that I can't even login to my dashboard to check what sites I have adsense on, and to look for areas of concern.

If they didn't like my content, then some kind of warning email would be better for them and me. That way I could fix the areas, and we would both benefit.

[JimHardin]

Geez that stinks...I am relatively new and had submitted my site to have adsense. Its been about a month and I have been checking but they still haven't given me an answer and the status says its still in review. How long does it actually take to get approved for adsense?

[Heuristic]

I got my email almost right away. If you have not received one yet, you may still have a chance. Check this out: Google AdSense Locks Down Publisher Accounts For Manual Review

Originally Posted by RedSynergy

What is most irritating for me is that I can't even login to my dashboard to check what sites I have adsense on, and to look for areas of concern.

If they didn't like my content, then some kind of warning email would be better for them and me. That way I could fix the areas, and we would both benefit.