Paid Traffic: Is it aginst Adsense TOS?

[mystarter]

Hello,

I'm thinking of buying traffic from DP forum to 'initiate' momentum of my new site.

I use Adsense on my site, and wondering if buying traffic to my site will against Google Adsense TOS.

Any comments/concerns from warriors about this?

Also would like to know, how to differentiate between bot traffic and human traffic.

Thanks.

[rapidscc]

Hi,

I'm not so sure since "purchased" traffic is not specifically
mentioned in their TOS..Here's the quote from their TOS

"Traffic Sources

Google ads may not be placed on pages receiving traffic from certain sources. For example, publishers may not participate in paid-to-click programs, send unwanted emails or display ads as the result of the action of any software application. Also, publishers using online advertising must ensure that their pages comply with Google's"

Here's the link to their terms of service..

https://www.google.com/adsense/suppo...GJwPwDdHyoYt-w

All the best,

[SimonHarrison]

If you're talking about paying people to come to your site and click on your adsense links, then yeah , LOL, it's against their TOS , obviously.

Bot traffic is what it says, basically a BOT which flicks between proxies visits your site to inflate numbers, human traffic is actually humans visiting, both can be paid for.

Paid traffic is a huge catch all, obviously not all paid traffic is against their TOS as PPC on Google itself is paid traffic and many sites run Adsense that also pay for search or content traffic to their website.

That is entirely different however from paying somebody from DP for a package of people to come and scam click adsense on your site which is presumably what they woudl do.

[jorgesil]

Hi

I don't think purchasing traffic is against Google TOS.
There are sites using PPC with Adsense on it.

Now what probably could make a diference is the type
of traffic you purchase.

If they are paid to click your Adsense links it will be
against Google TOS.

Anyway I'm not an expert this is just what I think,maybe other
people in here could help clarify the things.

Jorge

[mystarter]

They won't be the paid-to-click package that i'm interested in (i know this package also available).

The one that i'm looking for is the paid traffic only, without commitment to click on ads.

According to providers, traffic will come from domain redirect (expired), their website networks, etc.

I'm also not sure how to confirm it will be real human visitors.

Any other comments?

Thanks again.

[SeanSupplee]

If its creating forced traffic to your site I do believe it is a violation of their terms. Your traffic needs to come from natural means within reason that is. If your doing TV ads or whatever then that find you paid for that traffic. If its paid per click traffic like you see on some of those crappy sites then no don't do it.

[jtormey]

I've certainly had Adsense on Blogs where I was directing traffic to another offer, and that does not violate the TOS. If you had PPC traffic specifically to only click the Adsense ads so you could make money, that would violate the TOS.

For example, you hire a company somewhere in the world to send traffic to your site to click on your ads and that was the main job. Click and leave. That violates the TOS. If you are not doing that, you're good.

[SimonHarrison]

Originally Posted by mystarter

The one that i'm looking for is the paid traffic only, without commitment to click on ads.

According to providers, traffic will come from domain redirect (expired), their website networks, etc.
.

Why bother just sending traffic to your site like that then what's the benefit ?

In regards the domain redirect, it's human traffic but this is on DP, which lets be honest, nobody would trust as far as they could kick. They could quite easily say domain redirect and then bot you 10k visitors.

[mystarter]

Good question!

This is the answer.

My plan for this campaign is actually to invite as many people as possible to become a member for my site. In other word, to expose my site to bigger crowds. This is marketing phase, not yet monetization phase. That's why i don't need people to click on the ads yet.

If the visitors are human (real human), perhaps some of them will register as member to my site.

Yeah..up to certain extent, i do agree with your opinion about people on DP. But, i don't find any similar offer here in WF.

Any alternative suggestions?

Thanks again for all feedbacks.

Originally Posted by SimonHarrison

Why bother just sending traffic to your site like that then what's the benefit ?

In regards the domain redirect, it's human traffic but this is on DP, which lets be honest, nobody would trust as far as they could kick. They could quite easily say domain redirect and then bot you 10k visitors.

[Free Business Training]

I know that you can't run Adsense on traffic exchanges, safe lists, etc.

I have traffic coming from Adwords every day to an MFA site and Google has no problem with that.

Write some articles, bookmark your site, create profiles on social networks, build web 2.0 pages that point to your site.

I would be very curious to know how many sign-ups you get from your 10,000 "visitors."

My guess is zero.

Hang in there...it just takes time.

Brent

[juansaldivar]

As I had seen traffic arbitrage is not permitted.

[WD Mino]

Well way back when I used ad sense and I got banned for paying for targeted traffic. it is a NO NO
-WD

[IM Headlines]

Google won't know if the traffic that you're getting is
free or paid traffic, and they really don't care.

What they care about, is the quality of the traffic. I know
plenty of people that got banned from adsense because of crappy
traffic, both paid, and free.

If the traffic that you're buying is of good quality, then you shouldn't
have any problems.

[Kay King]

When you buy that kind of traffic you are getting visitors who will open the site, close the site and move to the next site - and these are "human" visitors.

When it comes to adsense I think any time you think of a way to get traffic and aren't sure it's "OK" - it's probably best to avoid it.

There are times when it's worth taking some risk because the rewards can be worth it - this isn't one of those times. If google thinks there's something kinky going on with your site, they will ban you...and it's permanent.

[WD Mino]

From google terms of service

Google ads may not be placed on pages receiving traffic from certain sources. For example, publishers may not participate in paid-to-click programs, send unwanted emails or display ads as the result of the action of any software application. Also, publishers using online advertising must ensure that their pages comply with Google's Landing Page

Invalid click activity consists of any clicks or impressions that may artificially inflate an advertiser's costs or a publisher's earnings, and for which we decide not to charge the advertiser. This includes, but is not limited to, clicks or impressions generated by a publisher clicking on his own ads, a publisher encouraging clicks on his ads, automated clicking tools or traffic sources, robots, or other deceptive software.
Please note that clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user interest, and any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions is strictly prohibited

Yeah I think it is best I was nieve and bought my traffic package figuring the same thing get a jump on it. actually generated over 53 bucks then.GONE. won't do that again
-WD

[mystarter]

Oh..O.K.

Thanks for all feedbacks.

To cut it short, i'll save my $30 or so (plan to buy traffic) for another things.

Regards.

[Brent Crouch]

Here is a thread where someone from Adsense wrote in to address this question. The rule is a bit subjective, but I think the bottom line is you should be okay if you are sending paid traffic to a quality page that has unique content. Also the ad you use to send visitors to that page should be honest about what they are going to receive on the other side.

Arbitrage OK?

I've always sent paid traffic via Overture and Adwords to my sites that were monetized with Adsense. You just have to be careful using other PPC networks. I seen another post from a Google rep stating there were companies pretending to be PPC networks when in reality they were sending bot traffic. The rep suggested any PPC traffic you send to your page should be segmented so you can compare visitor activity to other known good networks. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your pages.

[fiero]

Originally Posted by mystarter

...
This is marketing phase, not yet monetization phase. That's why i don't need people to click on the ads yet.

If that's so then remove the ads for now until you're ready to monetize.

This way, no need to worry about going against the TOS.

[paulgl]

Please explain how you can buy traffic from DP.
If that exists, sign me up!

Are you talking about buying someone's sig link?
That would be perfectly okay.

Marketing phase? Man you should be in the money making
phase from day one. If not, what's the point?

You can use adwords, but the point would be moot. You would
not get nearly enough clicks to make it pay.

Paul

[Boris_yo]

paulgl,

Haven't you read about Abrishek Agrawal in HyperVRE 2 case studies? How he made good money with buying traffic from Yahoo and Google? His ROI was really high. I don't know if he still has success though...

[Stuart Macfarlane]

The basic adsense policies are found here:
http://www.google.com/adsense/support/b ... =checklist

Traffic Sources
Google ads may not be placed on pages receiving traffic from certain sources. For example, publishers may not participate in paid-to-click programs, send unwanted emails or display ads as the result of the action of any software application. Also, publishers using online advertising must ensure that their pages comply with Google's Landing Page Quality Guidelines."

Okay so it does not say adsense cannot be on the page, what it says is that it must conform to the landing page quality guidelines. So of course next I would go check out the landing page quality guidelines which can be found here:

Obviously Arbitrage is the biggest example. But they do not say ads are not allowed what they do say is this:

Examples of acceptable websites:
Websites that have more content than ads"

The page also says:

Quality Component
Other than complying with our Advertising Policies, we also recommend that advertisers bear in mind the three main components of a high-quality website: relevant and original content, transparency, and navigability. Maintaining a positive user experience in these areas will help improve your site's landing page quality. We’ve summarized some key points below, and you can visit our FAQ article about improving landing page quality to learn more."

So to me that is saying that the first thing you need to do is make sure your content is original and gives your visitors value (and what they are looking for), that there is good site navigation and be transparent in what your site or business is focused on, how you interact with customers and how info is stored or used.

Under transparency it also says:

Transparency
In order to build trust with users, your site should be explicit in three primary areas: the nature of your business; how your site interacts with a visitor's computer; and how you intend to use a visitor's personal information, if you request it. We’ve listed some tips on maximizing your site's transparency below.

Your site should:
Openly share info about your business and clearly define what your business is or does.Honor the deals and offers that you promote in your ad.Deliver products and services as promised.Only charge users for the products and services that they order and successfully receive.Distinguish sponsored links from the rest of your site content.Ensure prices or billing methods are easily located on the website and are obvious to users.*In cases of recurrent billing or subscription situation, the price and billing interval must be present in a clear and obvious location on the page where the user provides their information, and a mandatory opt-in box must be present.*

*Providing prices and billing information in very small print on the webpage is not considered "obvious" to the user."

So again follow good business practices, provide pages like privacy policies, disclosure pages, etc., and not try to make google or other ads seem to be part of the content.

I also understand that you cannot advertise for say cooking tips and send a person to a page on insurance rates.

But besides that the policy does not seem to specifically say you cannot send adwords or other people through other online advertisements to pages with adsense, it just says that the ad to send the person must not using confusion or deception to get the person there, the person should be able to easily find what they are looking for, ads must be clearly labeled as such and your navigation and content must be good.

[soumya002000]

I am really getting frustrated as i am not getting enough traffic. My website is bekarjobs.com which is all about posting new job information.
.
Now i am considering to buy paid traffic. There are some site i came around, who wants to sell traffic with just 10$ or so.
.
I have adsense ads in my site. I just want to know that whether there will be any effect on the adsense ads if i buy traffic??? Is buying traffic against TOS of adsense??

[cagliostro]

I would say not to buy anykind of traffic if your website has adsense. Do not take that RISK.

Paid traffic (even junk traffic from paid sources) is good only for improving your Alexa rank for new sites.

[JacksonRiddle]

Paid Traffic = Google Adsense TOS

It is against Google Adsense's TOS to buy traffic or to participate in paid-to-click programs.

"Google ads may not be placed on pages receiving traffic from certain sources. For example, publishers may not participate in paid-to-click programs, send unwanted emails or display ads as the result of the action of any software application." - Google Adsense Support



Difference Between Bot Traffic and Human Traffic

Bot Traffic is basically referred to as website visits by certain internet software applications. This kind of traffic is considered as "invalid" and "illegal"... and obviously leads to higher bounce rates.

while

Human Traffic is referred to as website visits from real people coming from different sources (search engines, referral sites, etc).

[Domsa]

Originally Posted by paulgl

You can use adwords, but the point would be moot. You would
not get nearly enough clicks to make it pay.

Paul

Using AdWords is a bad idea, I looked into it for quite a while. Generally your costs would exceed your revenue by quite a bit. On the other side, if they don't, your AdSense account would be banned because they consider it to be an arbitrage and strictly prohibited.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by JacksonRiddle

Paid Traffic = Google Adsense TOS

It is against Google Adsense's TOS to buy traffic...

Wrong. You can buy all the "traffic" you want, as long as you follow
the rules. Read the rest of this thread.

I mean come on. Anyone with adsense for any length of time has
gotten boatloads of free ADWORDS vouchers from google saying,
what? To use it to get TRAFFIC to your adsense site!

Originally Posted by Domsa

Using AdWords is a bad idea, I looked into it for quite a while. Generally your costs would exceed your revenue by quite a bit. On the other side, if they don't, your AdSense account would be banned because they consider it to be an arbitrage and strictly prohibited.

I did NOT say adwords was a good idea. In my opinion, for 99.999% of people,
it's not. But google cajoles adsense users into it, AND, they even tell you
how adwords users are supposed to do it. How?

You have a page that is monetized by something else. Let's say a local
plumber. You hope people will buy your service. But, you know people are
not all going to buy your service, or even be in your service area. That's
where the adsense comes in. Give the people who will not buy another
chance at giving you revenue. I lost the page, but a while back google
published a case study on a plastic surgeon and how he was making a decent
amount on the side by using adsense on his adwords pages.

Buying traffic is not against google adsense TOS. Google's whole
empire is built on paid traffic. They love it. But they love it done
right.

You cannot, and I must repeat, you cannot (or should not as you
may get caught) use adwords if your site is only monetized by
adsense. That is against TOS and is not what adwords is for.

Adwords is for people to get what they click for.
Not just another ad.

But to say adwords is against TOS is just silly. It's not.

Next time you get that free voucher, send it back. With a note.
Saying, "Sorry, I can't use it. You are asking me to break your TOS."
Right. Think.

Again, this just points out what I keep screaming about. Start
actually reading the adsense TOS. It's a pretty good read.
And they publish it for a reason.

Paul

[GaryCarlyle]

I think some people here are commenting for the sake of it and not even trying to answer the question. You may pay for traffic but you may not pay people to click on the ads. Simples.

[johnrapp]

has anyone ever NOT gotten banned for sending 10,000+ hits to a site and making $500 a day?

[pwtmike]

Originally Posted by mystarter

Hello,

I'm thinking of buying traffic from DP forum to 'initiate' momentum of my new site.

I use Adsense on my site, and wondering if buying traffic to my site will against Google Adsense TOS.

Any comments/concerns from warriors about this?

Also would like to know, how to differentiate between bot traffic and human traffic.

Thanks.

why would you not want to pay for seo work? and try to rank your site for some decent traffic keywords... I think that would be more bang for your buck as an investment... and bring you more traffic longer term. It may not be an overnight solution, but once you stop paying for traffic, the sales also stop...

[yumiko]

Frankly speaking, this a very stupid question from pwtmike. The person is obviously looking for a quick fix and quick traffic. SEO takes time. There should be a balance between short term solution and long term solution. If you are solely depending on long term solution, then you are going to eat 1 white bread everyday, tightening your pocket for SEO. Sorry if you feel that I am insulting. I am just being honest. The majority here who said that paid traffic is against google policy have just spoken out of what they feel instead of knowing what's real. Absolutely hate it when people who mislead others.

[yumiko]

By the way, to be 110% safe, get your paid traffic to a page that is without Adsense such as "Enter here" page. Insert adsense subsequently to all the other pages. With this, you can stop worrying about your precious little neck getting chop by Google.

[amilyjoe]

It is unethical to buy link or use paid tactics to get back links. If ad-sense recognizes such kind of act then they can do heavy penalty to your site.

[seoforu]

Question is really good but shall we talk about this matter as from where the traffic is coming. Many sites purchase traffic and are doing well with adsense. Thing to remember is "traffic is not bad" but traffic from bots,robots and other stuff is bad. Sites like Digg offers sponsored listings...what do you think its an example of ? clearly, it is an example of paid traffic. Any questions?

[korneld]

I don't think it is. It's just hard to get ahead in this game and earn a positive ROI. Even if you can get 1k impressions for $5 with banners and get a .5% CTR (that's good) and a good 5% of people click on your AdSense ad, you are still only making $5 at $.10 a click. In other words, you break even.

[fahimk123]

in my opinion you should not buy traffic if your website is new, go for generic ways and look to get the relevant traffic....

[TinaYi74]

Adsense arbitrage is definitely frowned upon by Google. Whether you get banned or not is uncertain. I have heard stories from both sides.

It can also be an expensive way to earn money through the program if you don't manage your PPC campaigns properly.

[Hubert115]

It is against the TOS but they wont really be able to catch it. Just don't buy clicks

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by Hubert115

It is against the TOS but they wont really be able to catch it. Just don't buy clicks

Paid traffic and paid links are not against google or adsense TOS.
Nobody actually reads what google says, nor takes it
in context.

People would be more successful if they actually read stuff
for themselves.

I assume most people who get banned fail to read. Judging
by some of the replies, many are not reading shinola.

Paul

[keithneal]

I'm going to give you a few tidbits of Google Adsense's program policy:

Point 1: Any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions on your Google ads is strictly prohibited.

Point 2: sites displaying Google ads may not:

• Use third-party services that generate clicks or impressions

Definition of impression: a single display of a particular ad on a web page

These are two things that say roughly the same thing: it's against their TOS to use paid traffic to generate impressions to your ads as well as actual clicks. Traffic = impressions to your ads, just in case you were wondering.

Edit: Does no one read the TOS or policy program?

[BHeard]

When you READ the TOS and policy it explains clearly..
If you use paid traffic you need to know what sources they are providing.
Google thrive on PAID traffic they make a great deal of money from it
what they are trying to do is make the system realistic so the whole online world does not simply spam itself to oblivion even with paid traffic...

Read the TOS

Bot traffic will get you banned.
Traffic going to a landing page that has no ads or actually has content
Think about the rest of the online world we don't all actually want to be spammed to death..
Facebook is a social media site but we have to find ways to bombard that with sales by stealth etc.

Because there are so many black hat ways it just inflate the problem and does nothing for the service..

That said..
TOS - you can get traffic to your site by legitimate natural means...
so if you buy X number of view and they all arrive at the same time - you will be noticed.
If the are from HUMAN visitors - exit traffic etc.
While they are not likely to stay on your site they still count as a hit for SEO

[shiko5000]

i think if all your traffic is all coming from Paid Traffic it is against google

[KeepItSimpleSilly]

You can try it and tell us how it goes