AdSense has stopped ad serving on my domain. Can you help me figure out why?

[GaryHarvey]

Hi folks. One of my sites is Harmedia.com and today I've received this email from Google. Can you help me figure out what the problem is? - please.

I've read through several pages at the Google site including the one referenced in the email below, but am none the wiser here. I've also asked several other webmasters to take a look and they too are a bit mystified so any guidance you can give would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Gary

Here's the text of their email.....

> Hello,
>
> While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently
> displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our
> policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies
> on pages such as harmedia.com.
>
> Publishers may not place Google ads on pages that violate
> Google's webmaster quality guidelines
> (http://www.google.com/support/webmas...r.py?answer=35
> 769#quality). While we've included the following excerpts from
> these guidelines, we recommend that you take the time to review
> them in their entirety.
>
> * Make pages for users, not for search engines.
> * Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects.
> * Don't load pages with irrelevant words.
> * Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with
> substantially duplicate content.
> * Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase
> your site's ranking or PageRank.
> * Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or
> other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with
> little or no original content.
> * Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A
> good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining
> what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another
> useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this
> if search engines didn't exist?"
> * If your site participates in an affiliate program, make
> sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant
> content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.
>
> As a result, we have disabled ad serving to the site.
>
> Your AdSense account remains active. However, we strongly suggest
> that you take the time to review our program policies
> (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies ) to ensure that all of
> your remaining pages are in compliance.
>
> Please note that we may disable your account if further
> violations are found in the future.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> The Google AdSense Team

[Tsnyder]

I don't know a lot about AdSense but is there a chance
they don't like the $7 ad boxes?

Tsnyder

[GaryHarvey]

Thanks Tsnyder.

I've run the script that displays those ads for
over a year now and it hasnt been a problem. Yet.

So I'd be interested to hear from others who are
running the same ads.

The script doesnt show contextually sensitive ads.
It just shows the ads for any keyword you insert
as k=keyword, or you can leave that blank and
the script rotates through the current best selling
7dollar products.

Gary

[Norma Holt]

Hi Gary, This is typical of Google Adsense. They did the same to me some time ago and to many others in the forum. With me they claimed illegal clicks until I pointed out that if I was clicking, or anyone else, there would be money earned which there was not.

They then changed their mind and claimed something else. It is a mystery as to why they do this but my advice to everyone is to be aware that sites which display adsense may be at risk of cancellation.

[YoYoPro]

lately it seems there's a dart board in the corporate office with about a million different adsense publishers on it. They then take turns throwing the darts and disabling random sites from those publishers.

honestly they have a horrible way of narrowing down the problem they have with your website... seems to be happening to a ton of folks lately.

[markquinn]

Maybe they see it as a type of 'cookie cutter' site.

Also, the site seems to be de-indexed.

Have you considered testing Kontera on it?

[GaryHarvey]

Thanks folks.

markquinn, I believe it was de-indexed at the same time
as the email was sent. And yes, I am considering other
advertising options including Kontera. Is Kontera one
that responds to content or keywords like Adsense does?

Or any other Adsense alternative that does the same
thing?

I'd be pleased to have any and all suggestions.

Mark, a question. Why Kontera in particular?

TIA

Gary

[GaryHarvey]

Norma, did you get back into the good books of Adsense?

If so, how?

Or did you replace their ads with _______?

Gary

[GaryHarvey]

yoyoman, I sure hope you're not right but so far I cant figure
a more rational reason behind this in my case. I've got a few
ideas but equally I've got reason to dismiss them.

Norma.... from what you write, I realize you were in contact
with them. Do you happen to have a record of how you did
the contacting?

Was it adsense-support@google.com or something else?

Gary

[TimPhelan]

Gary, I can't see anything except for the other ads. Perhaps they resembled the adsense too much? It's hard to say. I just had a good little niche site that was banned by adsense also after having it for three years. It's very frustrating and a good reason not to rely on adsense for income. Adsense is very unreliable. I learned the hard way.

[GaryHarvey]

Tim, I'm getting that same take home message
again and again... dont rely on Adsense.

Did the ban and de-indexing spread to your
other sites?

Problem I see here is this:
If they ban one site and DELIST it, and then
to extend the delisting to all my sites, I am
in big trouble.

How did you avoid that?

Gary

[TimPhelan]

No, it didn't affect other sites. This one was different though. I bought it from someone. Plus, it wasn't deindexed. They just took off the adsense. I am still getting traffic to it from Google.

If all your sites are like that, then it may affect your other sites though unfortunately. Then again...who knows?

Originally Posted by GaryHarvey

Tim, I'm getting that same take home message
again and again... dont rely on Adsense.

Did the ban and de-indexing spread to your
other sites?

Problem I see here is this:
If they ban one site and DELIST it, and then
to extend the delisting to all my sites, I am
in big trouble.

How did you avoid that?

Gary

[Martin Luxton]

Gary

A while back I got a website that rotated plr content so it made everything look "fresh".

When I had problems with clickbombing and got my account suspended one of my main arguments supporting the fact I was white hat was that I got rid of this site when I realized it wasn't giving value to visitors and the way it was setup was designed to fool the search engines.

I got my account back so I think that helped. Maybe if you got rid of the "refresh here to see different ads" by your ad boxes that would help. And maybe add some original non-ezine articles content.

Martin

EDIT: I see you read my mind. I was just checking the phrasing of your call to action and you've changed your ad setup!

[pearsonbrown]

I had a similar letter a couple of weeks ago about one of my sites. This is just my theory and I have no evidence at all to back it up.

Adsense don't like 'made for Adsense' sites at all. They want their ads to appear on genuine content sites. Your site, with its varied content elements ranging from acne to home based business, does not look like a genuine content site. It looks like a site with various pieces of PLR posted into a blog. I don't know if that is genuinely the case but an Adsense reviewer is not going to spend a long time looking at your site - it's the first impression that counts.

As I've said that's pure speculation.

Pearson

[GaryHarvey]

Martin, I've done what you suggested... and removed the
call to action that was under the $7 adboxes.

On reflection I agree it could look a little spammy.

Thanks for the thought.

Btw, I lived in Scarborough before heading off to
the UK when I was 22. Now back, living on the other
side of the country.

Gary

[GaryHarvey]

Originally Posted by pearsonbrown

I had a similar letter a couple of weeks ago about one of my sites. This is just my theory and I have no evidence at all to back it up.

Adsense don't like 'made for Adsense' sites at all. They want their ads to appear on genuine content sites. Your site, with its varied content elements ranging from acne to home based business, does not look like a genuine content site. It looks like a site with various pieces of PLR posted into a blog. I don't know if that is genuinely the case but an Adsense reviewer is not going to spend a long time looking at your site - it's the first impression that counts.

As I've said that's pure speculation.

Pearson

Pearson, an interesting possibility. And I'd be very keen
to hear what other Warriors think about that possibility.

EzineArticles.com and lots of others have multiple unconnected
topics all on one domain and they also run Adsense ads.
Hmmmmm. Not sure what to think about that.

I do agree with you that the site is not about a single
clearly identified theme. The connecting thread for the topics
chosen is "Articles about home & family, house & garden
and the things we deal with at home".

BUT is that admittedly-broad theme enough to kill it for
Adsense?

Would love to hear what others think/know about this
as well. Meanwhile.... thanks Pearson.

Gary

[pearsonbrown]

"EzineArticles.com and lots of others have multiple unconnected
topics all on one domain and they also run Adsense ads.
Hmmmmm. Not sure what to think about that."

Two points to consider.

1. As Kurt has repeatedly posted, don't expect Google to treat all sites in exactly the same way. It may tolerate things on, say, the CNN site that it would not accept on your site.

2. Ezinearticles is clearly not a 'made for Adsense' site. In the case of your site (and indeed my site that got sanctioned) it's not so immediately obvious where the 'value added' is. If an Adsense reviewer looks at your site, they'll do it quickly - and the 'value added' element needs to be immediately obvious.

Again I must emphasize that I have no hard facts to back this. Just my 'best guess' as to why my site was sanctioned.

Pearson

[GaryHarvey]

2. Ezinearticles is clearly not a 'made for Adsense' site. In the case of your site (and indeed my site that got sanctioned) it's not so immediately obvious where the 'value added' is. If an Adsense reviewer looks at your site, they'll do it quickly - and the 'value added' element needs to be imeediately obvious.

How graciously put.

Pearson, I dont think you're a Grumpy Old Man at all.

Gary

[Eric Lorence]

Hi Gary,

Also check your site to make sure you have not been hacked, check your files for any unusual hidden links.

The most common mistake is keywords on identical color backgrounds resulting in hidden text.

Sounds like a simple problem, else they would have banned your account entirely.

Good luck!

[GaryHarvey]

Eric, now that's something I hadnt thought of. So thanks
for coming in on this one. Appreciated.

I did a ctrl-a to select all text on the home page and
no text shows up where it shouldnt.

Also I did a View source and searched for

<!--

and found nothing untoward.

Got any other tricks to catch this if it's an issue here?

Gary

[Eric Lorence]

The easiest way to check is to go into your Cpanel and Awstats, check referring sites and keywords.

The most common will be for po-rn or ph-arm, if there are an unusually high amount of searches for these keywords leading to your site, this will mean links hidden deep in the site or in the template files.

[GaryHarvey]

Good point again, Eric. Thanks. Will check that tomorrow.

Bedtime now.

I've spent the last little while deleting some articles to
streamline around the home & garden, family & health
theme. Is that still too wide??

I'm only part way through that process, so some articles
are now in the default category and need to be moved
... tomorrow.

Gary

[derekwong28]

It seems that your site is completely de-indexed (banned) by Google. I wonder when did this happen? This seems to be similar case to this

Google Takes out another site of mine today

I wonder whether the Google search team is directly passing information to the Adsense team about sites that they have banned. It seems that Google is really going after "Made for Advertisement" sites.

Derek

[GaryHarvey]

In case you're not following the discussion at
Google Takes out another site of mine today
here are my conclusions so far.

Option 1

Edit the template to move the ads to ABOVE the article titles.

Option 2

Leave the ads where they are (under the article title
and above the article content) but add the word
'advertisement' above the ads.

Option 3

Replace Google ads with other ads.

The easiest seems to be option 2.

From a thread that Kevin Campbelle identified, this is now
the way Google is playing this so if you are running Adsense
ads below your article titles, I suggest you read this thread
Google: No AdSense Ads Below Blog Title
and change your site before Google sends you an email.

This might not be the end of the topic but I do want to say
THANK YOU to all contributors. It has been a very
helpful discussion.

Gary

[GaryHarvey]

Derek, thanks for contributing. The first time I was
aware of having been de-indexed was the Google email,
which came yesterday. I have been getting Google
Alert emails for that site so I am fairly certain that
that delisting occurred at the same time they sent
the email.

Gary

[derekwong28]

Gary, there is a way of getting round both the Adsense and Search Engine bans. You can mount a new domain for the existing content and do a 301 redirect from your old domain to the new domain. I know that this has been done for sites earning hundreds to thousands per month. However, you will have to tread carefully given that you have received a warning letter. Therefore I would try by best to find out what the real reason is and make corrections before proceeding.


Derek

[maestero2010]

send email to google support and let them know this case.........with some exchange of email with google experts will let you knw exaact scenerio of what heppened

[GaryHarvey]

Thanks for suggesting this. Actually I did so, and got an
email from their support person saying they dont give
specifics. They just gave me the standard pages about
policy.

That still left me with only my guesses about what
particular feature of my site they didnt like.

It would be very handy if Google gave some details,
eh? Then we'd know what to fix.

Gary

[dburk]

Hi maestero2010,

I noticed that you are digging up a lot of old threads and posting to them. Often you are posting pretty much what has already been said.

Is there a reason you are doing this?

Your practice is essentially burying nearly all the recently started threads.

[GaryHarvey]

Thanks for your thought provoking comments, John.

Does Google have a problem with sites that are fed by
scripts that automatically publish content within
categories? I've read their policies and never seen any
reference to this so would be pleased to know more of
your thinking here.

The geranium article is indeed the latest article but in
a few hours it's going to be something else.

Also, the ad rotator script that I am using -- it actually
wasn't on the site when Google wrote to me. You think
that is a problem? - why, please?

Gary

[GaryHarvey]

Don, I must admit that getting a NEW post on this OLD thread
was a surprise to me. However it is turning into a helpful
discussion. At least for me.

Gary

[John Rowe]

Gary, I deleted my post once dburk pointed out what maestero was doing. I didn't take the time to notice that your last post was dated today, so I thought you were long gone on this issue.

I'm going to bed now but will find this thread tomorrow and repost my thoughts and a few more.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by GaryHarvey

Don, I must admit that getting a NEW post on this OLD thread
was a surprise to me. However it is turning into a helpful
discussion. At least for me.

Gary

Hi Gary,

That's great, I'm glad you are benefiting.

I was just trying to point out that we have one member here that is going through and targeting threads that died out two months ago and they are posting to so many of them that nearly all the recent threads are now buried several pages deep. And looks like that are going further back in time with no end in site.

I commented on your thread because it just happened to be the last in a long serious of old threads that were dug up.

[GaryHarvey]

John Rowe, please do. I will look forward to them.
Gary

[Hyaku_Man]

GaryHarvey, I'm curious how much your site was earning from Adsense before they stopped serving ads. Does Adsense only review sites that are really big earners or have suspicious activity going on?

[GaryHarvey]

The site was hardly earning a thing. The worst consequence
in this case is that the site drops out of the Google index.

Gary