Banned from Adsense with $1500 unpaid - for earning too much?!

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Well, another one bites the dust - me this time. I have always known Adsense is a risky proposition so I wasn't completely surprised when I received the dreaded notice the other day, not because I had done anything wrong, but because I know there are just too many stories of people being banned for difficult-to-place reasons, and I knew it was always a possibility.

No-one on this forum has seen any of my sites, but I hope you would have got the impression from my posts here that I favour building quality sites, using white-hat methods (a mostly quality content-based approach) and avoiding all the various schemes that are out there.

I am sure there will be people ready to say, "Well, you must have done SOMETHING wrong" or "They don't just ban people for no reason".

Well, Google/Adsense obviously have something against the way I was doing things because I got my account suspended (which as we all know is as good as being finished with Adsense for all eternity) - but I cannot for the life of me fathom what the reason was, since of course no detailed reason is given by them. In my case it was the "your account is related to an account that was disabled for violations of AdSense policies" version of the notice. Whatever the real reason was it certainly wasn't that, since I have only ever had one account with Adsense (since 2007), never been banned, never been associated with anyone who has been banned.

For the record, yes, I had all original, useful content, yes, I had privacy policies, no I did not encourage invalid clicks, no, I did not place my ads agressively (above the fold etc.) - and anyway, none of those were cited as reasons, right? But then we don't actually believe what they write in those notices anyway, so maybe I have to look for an obvious anomaly with my account.

The major "anomaly" with my account was that I saw a drastic increase in CPCs last month and this - I did not get much of an increase in clicks, but I did see some very large CPCs (which I posted about a few times). I have no idea why, I presumed some advertisers were using up their budgets or there was increased competition for seasonal reasons (the main site concerned is in the edu niche). The result was a MASSIVE spike in earnings (for me). It was an incredibly successful month or so in the book of most IMers, I would think: I ranked for some key search terms with high CPC and started banking with Adsense - that's what most people on this forum dream of doing, right?! I mean, everyone and his dog here are creating niche sites for high-CPC terms and hoping to rank them!

I genuinely do not know what I did wrong, and I really don't want to get into an autopsy (well, maybe you did this, maybe you did that), because there is just no way of knowing - they don't tell you, but I have a suspicion that they just do not like people deliberately targetting high-CPC terms with small "micro-niche" sites. Although my sites are a fair bit more sophisticated than your typical MFA, at the end of the day they are EMDish and quite keyword orientated, and that is pretty hard to get away from. At the end of the day, ANY site that actively seeks to get big Adsense clicks can be construed as being an MFA site and could come onto Google's radar, especially once you start breaking through the $100-$200 a day mark.

Heck, maybe some big-spending advertiser accidentally forgot to limit their budget and then kicked up a stink when they got all these expensive clicks debited, so they had to give them the benefit of the doubt and ban me and refund them - any number of conspiracy theories would work here.

Don't think I am here to whinge about getting banned - I knew that Adsense was never a revenue source to rely on, it was always just a sideline for me. It sucks that I will not get paid that $1500 or so, but I never counted on it anyway, I never do until it's in my bank account (funnily enough, I just got my last Adsense cheque, issued the day of the ban, for two months previously). My family won't be going hungry, and I am refocusing on other things - I do not expect to successfully appeal the ban, nor do I think I want to risk any business venture involving Adsense again. The affected site/s will work great for lead-gen, who knows, that might even be more profitable.

All I want to say is, if you are dreaming of Adsense riches with that niche site you are trying desperately rank, with the $50 CPC, make sure you have a plan B in place, because striking gold with Adsense might actually get you where you DON'T want to be - right on Google's Ban Radar.

Over and out.
#$1500 #adsense #banned #earning #unpaid
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    That sucks.

    Are all your sites in the same niche?

    I've recently been doing well with Clickbank selling as an affiliate (running Adsense also), but I plan on moving over to vendor soon.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      That sucks.

      Are all your sites in the same niche?

      I've recently been doing well with Clickbank selling as an affiliate (running Adsense also), but I plan on moving over to vendor soon.
      Yeah, pretty sucky, but I tried not to have a pity-party for myself.

      Well, the two sites that were earning most were both edu niche sites, built out in quite a similar way, but one was earning way way more than the other one.

      Clickbank is still something I have to focus on more. Big commissions and many many long-tail "problem-solving" keywords to take advantage of. Though I should really focus more on my own product/s, which I have a number of.

      Like I say, I am not here to complain really - I think it's wrong that they can act like that, but I knew the score, so I will eat it up.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by mrozlat View Post

      what a joke !!
      You know, I would just like an insight into the mind of the Adsense people. I mean, OK, it's Google's business (THE business) and maybe it all makes sense in their world, but I cannot for the life of me see why they would have no problem with, say, "Adsense flipping" type businesses (those guys are doing a great job, don't get me wrong, but I don't get why they allow it!) yet have a dislike for people effectively generating leads for businesses using decent content, even if there is a deliberate aspect to the way we do it.
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      • Profile picture of the author TryBPO
        Originally Posted by markowe View Post

        You know, I would just like an insight into the mind of the Adsense people. I mean, OK, it's Google's business (THE business) and maybe it all makes sense in their world, but I cannot for the life of me see why they would have no problem with, say, "Adsense flipping" type businesses (those guys are doing a great job, don't get me wrong, but I don't get why they allow it!) yet have a dislike for people effectively generating leads for businesses using decent content, even if there is a deliberate aspect to the way we do it.
        Ouch, Mark...really sorry to hear this happened to you. I won't even begin to speculate about why this might have happened. I know from your posts around here you're a straight-up guy who, I'm sure, didn't do anything deliberate to put your account at risk.

        I would check out Spencer from NichePursuits thoughts on the issue. He was earning 10K+ per month and recently went through the process of adding another account. It might be worth it to read about his story and reach out privately if you think it would be helpful. That being said, I'm guessing you're thinking about staying AWAY from AdSense for now, heh.
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        • Profile picture of the author markowe
          Originally Posted by TryBPO View Post

          Ouch, Mark...really sorry to hear this happened to you. I won't even begin to speculate about why this might have happened. I know from your posts around here you're a straight-up guy who, I'm sure, didn't do anything deliberate to put your account at risk.

          I would check out Spencer from NichePursuits thoughts on the issue. He was earning 10K+ per month and recently went through the process of adding another account. It might be worth it to read about his story and reach out privately if you think it would be helpful. That being said, I'm guessing you're thinking about staying AWAY from AdSense for now, heh.
          Thanks dude, and just to reiterate, I am not down on your model - it's good for you! It's just hard to fathom what their problem is and what they are OK with...

          Oh THAT Spencer - I hadn't checked out his blog in a while. I will go and catch up on what he did.

          But yes, I am putting some lead gen stuff on my site right now and will see how that goes for the time being.
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  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    Simple explanation: they do this to a lot of accounts and keep the money. Then they have more profit.
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  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    ^^ err ..they don't "keep the money".

    Did you acquire any sites that could have belonged to someone with an account that was later banned.
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    • Profile picture of the author mosthost
      Originally Posted by retsek View Post

      ^^ err ..they don't "keep the money".

      Did you acquire any sites that could have belonged to someone with an account that was later banned.
      You believe their story about 'refunding advertisers?' Advertisers must be getting some major refunds, then, with so many account closings.

      Why is it so hard to believe Google would keep money? More and more people use Adblockers and are ad-blind. How exactly is Google to going to keep their revenue rising?
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      • Profile picture of the author markowe
        Originally Posted by mosthost View Post

        You believe their story about 'refunding advertisers?' Advertisers must be getting some major refunds, then, with so many account closings.

        Why is it so hard to believe Google would keep money? More and more people use Adblockers and are ad-blind. How exactly is Google to going to keep their revenue rising?
        For the record, I really find it hard to believe that this would be a sustainable, or even LEGAL business model, but anyway, I can't really be bothered to get into trying to second-guess them, I guess I just want to say, watch out, Adsense is NOT a reliable option for monetising your sites long-term and you NEED to make sites that can be monetised in other ways (which I did) if the worst happens.
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        • Profile picture of the author ralchevd
          Originally Posted by markowe View Post

          watch out, Adsense is NOT a reliable option for monetising your sites long-term and you NEED to make sites that can be monetised in other ways (which I did) if the worst happens.
          I can only agree with you. If you expect it to be your long-term (years and years ago) main profit source, then you are in a trap!
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      • Profile picture of the author retsek
        Originally Posted by mosthost View Post

        You believe their story about 'refunding advertisers?' Advertisers must be getting some major refunds, then, with so many account closings.

        Why is it so hard to believe Google would keep money? More and more people use Adblockers and are ad-blind. How exactly is Google to going to keep their revenue rising?
        I don't have to believe it. I get fairly constant refunds (or click quality adjustments as they call them) in my adwords account. Other regular adwords users will probably tell you the same thing. For me, its usually about 2-5% of spend. Some months it's alot more -- which i suspect is when they break up large organised click fraud rings, or just ban more publishers than usual. But the money does go back to advertisers.

        Do you have evidence that they don't refund or is this just a "gut feeling" type thing ?
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      • Profile picture of the author SeoKnightsInc
        Originally Posted by mosthost View Post

        You believe their story about 'refunding advertisers?' Advertisers must be getting some major refunds, then, with so many account closings.

        Why is it so hard to believe Google would keep money? More and more people use Adblockers and are ad-blind. How exactly is Google to going to keep their revenue rising?
        Did you ever used adwords ? If no than i dont think you must comment on their refunding without observing yourself. No organization specially such big company will not do such stupid things. Do you really mean that their revenue is rising is cuz they are banning adsesne account ? (lol)
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      • Profile picture of the author willyboy104
        Originally Posted by mosthost View Post

        You believe their story about 'refunding advertisers?' Advertisers must be getting some major refunds, then, with so many account closings.

        Why is it so hard to believe Google would keep money? More and more people use Adblockers and are ad-blind. How exactly is Google to going to keep their revenue rising?
        They do refund advertisers, and it simply comes up in Adwords as invalid clicks...and yes the refunds are large sometimes.

        I recall having a $10,000 refund for one month...and I am sure if I looked there are bigger ones in our accounts.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by retsek View Post

      ^^ err ..they don't "keep the money".

      Did you acquire any sites that could have belonged to someone with an account that was later banned.
      No, but that was the only other thing I didn't mention that MIGHT be relevant (though I doubt it) - I did buy a new DOMAIN for one of the sites a few weeks ago, as it had got Penguinised due to some crappy (but not hard-core BAD) SEO and I just wanted a fresh start for it, so did a 301 until it was indexed and then killed the old site. But the new domain had never been registered before to the best of my knowledge, and even if it had, how the *&^*& would I know whether it had been associated with a banned Adsense account! Not that they care, it seems, as far as I can see from others' experience...

      I did actually mention this possibility in my "appeal", not that I expect any result from that (it's been a good week now).
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by markowe View Post

        No, but that was the only other thing I didn't mention that MIGHT be relevant (though I doubt it) - I did buy a new DOMAIN for one of the sites a few weeks ago, as it had got Penguinised due to some crappy (but not hard-core BAD) SEO and I just wanted a fresh start for it, so did a 301 until it was indexed and then killed the old site. But the new domain had never been registered before to the best of my knowledge, and even if it had, how the *&^*& would I know whether it had been associated with a banned Adsense account! Not that they care, it seems, as far as I can see from others' experience.
        Well I think looking at anything else (as a reason I mean) is kinda pointless. They told you it was because of an association with a banned account. What you can do is do a historical whois search (unlike the regular search you can go back years and look at ownership etc) We had a guy few weeks back who swore his domain was new but when I did a historical whois for him it had indeed been registered before.

        Not saying Google will listen but it might be helpful to know what happened.
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        • Profile picture of the author markowe
          Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

          Well I think looking at anything else (as a reason I mean) is kinda pointless. They told you it was because of an association with a banned account. What you can do is do a historical whois search (unlike the regular search you can go back years and look at ownership etc) We had a guy few weeks back who swore his domain was new but when I did a historical whois for him it had indeed been registered before.

          Not saying Google will listen but it might be helpful to know what happened.
          Yeah, I didn't do a historical Whois - I don't have access to one (I think they are all subscription services). And if they expect that kind of DD from everyone who ever registers a domain to put Adsense on then (or at least everyone who actually earns any serious money from Adsense) then they are really going too far. I don't recall reading that in their TOS, "The Publisher must check the history of every domain they place Adsense on to ensure it has not been associated with a banned account".

          Sure, though, I would like to know what happened, and whether it was that, but Adsense are not known for their loquacity in that respect. I have had no reply in over a week to my appeal. I will consider filing another one and just generally being a pain until they actually notice me, but like I say, I am not sure I am THAT desperate to get back in, especially not with my earnings docked, or whether I want to spend too much time on it.
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          • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
            Originally Posted by markowe View Post

            Yeah, I didn't do a historical Whois - I don't have access to one (I think they are all subscription services). And if they expect that kind of DD from everyone who ever registers a domain to put Adsense on then (or at least everyone who actually earns any serious money from Adsense) then they are really going too far. I don't recall reading that in their TOS, "The Publisher must check the history of every domain they place Adsense on to ensure it has not been associated with a banned account".
            IF you want I can do the historical search for you if you PM me the domain.
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            • Profile picture of the author markowe
              Originally Posted by Ant B View Post

              I agree completely, I was just pointing out something that a lot of people forget (maybe not you) is that there are real people paying real money on the other side of your ads and if your traffic is not converting then you are a 'risk' to googles program by making it look bad...

              Fingers crossed you con sort something out with your appeal.
              Cheers mate, yes, I have been an Adwords advertiser myself, so I am always conscious somebody is paying for leads at the other end, and hoping for an ROI, and I have tried to operate in line with that. However, isn't that what smart pricing was supposed to be about? In which case I don't get why they started paying me double-digit CPCs... Also, I thought they had the option of just blocking a particular site if they didn't like it. Seems there is something more at work there...

              Originally Posted by IM Ash View Post

              Sorry 'bout that man! I feel the pain you trying to hide

              I really think you have a damn good chance of getting your a/c reinstated (judging from the reason given by G). I know you probably hate anything to do with Adsense right now, but try and be as thorough and detailed in your appeal. There are humans who will review your appeal, so pushing the right buttons by being sincere will help.

              On another note: look into "high ticket" aff. programs as an alternative.
              Ha, it's not too painful, thanks, maybe at first, and then you realise maybe it was for the best !

              Yes, I wrote a very detailed and transparent appeal, since I really have nothing to hide - the same as I have successfully done when banned once from EPN (not entirely through my own fault, long and very different story). I mean, I am not going to grovel, and I am certainly not going to accept a reinstatement if it means being docked my previous earnings, since I do not admit any wrongdoing (unless they actually come out and tell me the specifics).

              I have just set up a lead-gen program on my main sites and begun to see some action already, but it's too early to say how that will perform. If it's better than Adsense (even Adsense when CPCs aren't going haywire) then obviously I will have less incentive to go back to Adsense, but it would still be good to have as a fallback.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    Yeah, I really don't think they could mess with their model in that way, they need to keep the operation absolutely squeaky clean, and that means banning any publishers they see as a threat in some way and yes, refunding advertisers. Now, why some people get banned, seemingly for no apparent reason, and others do some pretty borderline stuff and don't get whacked, is the real mystery. I would say there is definitely some truth to the belief that earning over a certain daily or monthly amount is going to get you checked out manually, but beyond that I am stumped...

    Anyway, it's kind of like getting out of a bad relationship, or losing a job you weren't really happy in - kind of a relief in a strange way...
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  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    I have no evidence to say they're just keeping the money. Still, how would anyone know? No third party goes in and audits this. We just have to take their word on it.

    People didn't think Chipotle would 'round up' nickles...but they did
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    • Profile picture of the author Nelapsi
      Originally Posted by mosthost View Post

      I have no evidence to say they're just keeping the money. Still, how would anyone know? No third party goes in and audits this. We just have to take their word on it.
      If Google was a private company I would dare myself to consider this but given they are public and how vocal they are regarding this policy, I just don't buy it without any real evidence.

      But that's just me.
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      • Profile picture of the author mosthost
        Originally Posted by Nelapsi View Post

        If Google was a private company I would dare myself to consider this but given they are public and how vocal they are regarding this policy, I just don't buy it without any real evidence.

        But that's just me.
        Fair enough. But their lack of transparency is troubling.

        They do suck, though, for lots of other reasons. Can anybody argue with that? If you have all your eggs in the Google Adsense basket, you could be wiped out in one shot.

        That's the reason networks of "micro niche websites" using one PUB-ID are really vulnerable.
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    • Profile picture of the author retsek
      Originally Posted by mosthost View Post

      I have no evidence to say they're just keeping the money. Still, how would anyone know? No third party goes in and audits this. We just have to take their word on it.

      People didn't think Chipotle would 'round up' nickles...but they did
      well how it tends to work with publicly traded companies (at least in my country) is that external auditors and internal company auditors work to prevent cooporate malfeasance. Yeah, it doesn't always shape up that way ...but I don't see Google and Ernst & Young risking it for what ultimately will be pocket change in the grand scheme of things.
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  • Profile picture of the author DNAWRealm
    Banned
    Big G adsense can ban for any reason they see fit!
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  • Profile picture of the author MysteryOfSean
    Thanks for sharing this story! I'll be cautious!
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    • Profile picture of the author Marketing Fool
      Yeah that really sucks.

      I've been saying for a long time that Google will ban you for no reason and everyone always replies by saying "You must have been doing SOMETHING Wrong".

      People are finally realizing that NO, you don't necessarily have to do anything wrong. It's crappy.

      But on the other hand, you mentioned that you had discussed CPC...I'm pretty sure that's a violation of their policy and I've heard that they do go after people for that fairly aggressively.

      Don't have the slightest idea if that's what tripped you up...I'm guessing not...but who knows.

      Hang in there!
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      • Profile picture of the author markowe
        Originally Posted by Marketing Fool View Post

        Yeah that really sucks.

        I've been saying for a long time that Google will ban you for no reason and everyone always replies by saying "You must have been doing SOMETHING Wrong".

        People are finally realizing that NO, you don't necessarily have to do anything wrong. It's crappy.

        But on the other hand, you mentioned that you had discussed CPC...I'm pretty sure that's a violation of their policy and I've heard that they do go after people for that fairly aggressively.

        Don't have the slightest idea if that's what tripped you up...I'm guessing not...but who knows.

        Hang in there!
        We-e-e-e-ll, yeah, I don't think you are supposed to talk about parameters like CPC, though the main no-no was always CTR, but if they are hanging around on forums looking for people discussing their CPC then they are really losing it. Anyway, that thread was a good month ago at least, if not more, this action seems to be a direct reaction to me appearing on the radar due to increased earnings. Like you say, who can know - you can try to follow the spirit of their TOS but at the end of the day I do think ANYONE can get banned (short of the real big premium publishers) and no-one should think they can't.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Helphrey
    Sorry to hear that man. It really is bullshit that they suspend you BEFORE they pay you out and not even give you an inkling of a reason why. I mean it's not like people rely on money to live or anything.

    I was thinking the same thing that retsek mentioned... If you used an aged domain or previous banned domain. I've heard about people getting the boot from others logging into their accounts or if they have logged in from a different IP. Who knows

    The good news though is that you get to explore a new and perhaps more profitable route. You can always look to monetize those edu type domains with PPLs. I have used a few that pay out $25 - $50 per lead at a surprisingly high conversion rate.

    Anyway, best of luck to your future endeavors
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  • Profile picture of the author DNAWRealm
    Banned
    Companies always ban you directly before your paycheck. I was owed $3,000 from 2checkout for one month of earnings. Come payday, my account's closed and they say I'll get it in 60days. 60days later I got nothing, not even an e-mail reply.

    No company is trust worthy.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    I got banned on the 26th, but was quite surprised to get my June cheque through the other day, dated 27th August. Still, I still got stung for my July and August earnings. From what I have heard, even if they reinstate you they do not return those "confiscated" funds, and that just wouldn't be acceptable for me.

    The different IP thing MIGHT have some mileage, as I was on holiday in Greece when it happened, and of course I was checking my Adsense stats, but I mean, if that's something they are going to ban you for, and that can't easily be cleared up "on appeal", then that's bordering on the ridiculous. Anyway, they cited the "banned account" explanation...

    Indeed, you mention PPL, I am indeed setting my sites up with a PPL network as we speak, so we shall see. Direct advertising is also a distinct possibility.
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  • Profile picture of the author nik0
    Banned
    That's pretty terrible Mark. Shows how dependent we are on others.

    Anyway there is always plenty of other opportunities of course but fair is a different thing. Spencer just started over with a new account on an LLC and he just used the same sites and is still running. Perhaps an idea!
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

      That's pretty terrible Mark. Shows how dependent we are on others.

      Anyway there is always plenty of other opportunities of course but fair is a different thing. Spencer just started over with a new account on an LLC and he just used the same sites and is still running. Perhaps an idea!
      That's pretty ridiculous! I mean, if that's not association with a banned account, then I don't know what it! Could be that he is not on the radar in terms of earnings..?

      I do actually have an LLC, but it's registered to my home address - darn! Also, my IP would be the same and all that. But seems that's not a problem then..!

      Thing is, I just don't think I want to mess around with Adsense any more...
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      • Profile picture of the author nik0
        Banned
        Originally Posted by markowe View Post

        That's pretty ridiculous! I mean, if that's not association with a banned account, then I don't know what it! Could be that he is not on the radar in terms of earnings..?

        I do actually have an LLC, but it's registered to my home address - darn! Also, my IP would be the same and all that. But seems that's not a problem then..!

        Thing is, I just don't think I want to mess around with Adsense any more...
        He earned like $10k+/month.

        I can register an LLC and then with some registered office somewhere in the US so I think you can too right? I do pay a bit for it though, $750,- for the setup and then my lawyer in the US takes care of it.

        Not sure about the IP thing though.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Personally I would just move on to selling my own products.
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  • Profile picture of the author IMSince2003
    My account has been open since around the beginning of the Adsense program. I have received warnings when I did some stupid things (like asking people to click on the links so I can get paid) and I fixed all of them and the account remained open. I hate to think that it's just the luck of the draw that it's still open. What a precarious position we all as publishers are in.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    Rather than speculate if google keeps any money, I would simply look at their behavoirs. Its pretty well known they moved money offshore to avoid paying taxes.

    They've been in trouble with the IRS and the FBI.

    They are a private company and who audits them? They post their own records online. But who verifies those records are even correct?

    Doesn't corruption exist in most companies this big?

    I think whenever you have a large, private business, you're going to have corruption. Its near impossible to prevent. I don't think thats grounds to say what they do and don't do. But we do know they've already been in trouble. So lets not assume google can't do no wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oranges
    Ouch! Adsense is almost like Orgasm....Enjoy it while it lasts!
    http://blogs.digitalpoint.com/entry.php?b=192 tells you their horrific account banning spree!
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisMoon
    Interesting and scary thread started with adsense about 12 months ago and think I'm going to start looking at alternatives.
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  • Profile picture of the author Richniche
    That's sad to hear, Mark..

    But if I may quote you, "a drastic increase in CPCs last month" also happen to us (a site with multiple Adsense accounts) early last year and although Adsense did not ban our accounts, we were not allowed to place ads on the site.

    Days later, we received an email from Adsense saying that one of the accounts failed to comply with the rules, but did not specify which one.

    On our part, we deleted posts that we think are not 'Adsense friendly' and made an appeal, which was granted 3 weeks later.

    With that, maybe you can review your site/s and can somehow find any 'Adsense friendly' and 'edit' them.

    Just my 2 cents...
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by Richniche View Post

      That's sad to hear, Mark..

      But if I may quote you, "a drastic increase in CPCs last month" also happen to us (a site with multiple Adsense accounts) early last year and although Adsense did not ban our accounts, we were not allowed to place ads on the site.

      Days later, we received an email from Adsense saying that one of the accounts failed to comply with the rules, but did not specify which one.

      On our part, we deleted posts that we think are not 'Adsense friendly' and made an appeal, which was granted 3 weeks later.

      With that, maybe you can review your site/s and can somehow find any 'Adsense friendly' and 'edit' them.

      Just my 2 cents...
      Thanks for the input, that's interesting. So I wonder, is it large spikes in earnings that they don't like, or is it the fact that big spikes precipitate a manual review ("our specialists have found...") and then they find whatever it is they find, not directly related to the spike, per se.

      So did you a) get your earnings reinstated and b) see a return to those same big earnings, or was that all it was, just a spike?

      Well, I don't have any pages that would be against the spirit or letter of their terms, though, I did find a silly mistake - ads were displaying on my privacy policy and other legal pages. However, I hardly think they were sending any impressions, let alone clicks - it would be rather petty to ban my account just for that reason, especially if you are citing an association with a banned account.

      So I will happily fix any problems with my account/sites, but it's kind of tricky when you don't know what the hell the problem is. But if your appeal took 3 weeks, well, I guess I will hold on for a little longer, but I will still be putting alternative ads on there.
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      • Profile picture of the author Richniche
        Originally Posted by markowe View Post

        Thanks for the input, that's interesting. So I wonder, is it large spikes in earnings that they don't like, or is it the fact that big spikes precipitate a manual review ("our specialists have found...") and then they find whatever it is they find, not directly related to the spike, per se.

        So did you a) get your earnings reinstated and b) see a return to those same big earnings, or was that all it was, just a spike?
        We still got our earnings since our accounts were not really banned, they were only not allowed to have ads in that particular site.

        And is not just a spike, it was a VERY HUGE AND DRASTIC SPIKE. In fact, I was in shock for 3 days since I never imagine that I could earn that much in my entire life

        Since our site was more than 1 year old when that incident happened, our theory was that it was the DRASTIC part that alarmed them . Otherwise, we should be banned earlier for our 'unfriendly posts.' We believe Adsense is doubtful to sites with drastic increase in visitors and earnings. If that increase was gradual, we think things would be different.

        Nevertheless, we feet that Adsense is still a good source of online income despite being very risky. But you're right, one should still have Plan B in case worst events shall arrive.
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  • Profile picture of the author YellowGreenMedia
    Funny how people who get banned always scream that it wasn't their fault, when 80% of the time when you digg into their sites it is their own fault... using of thin sites, spin content, clicking on their own ads etc etc etc.... and when they get banned they get to places like this and bitch about it.

    Just saying...
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by YellowGreenMedia View Post

      Funny how people who get banned always scream that it wasn't their fault, when 80% of the time when you digg into their sites it is their own fault... using of thin sites, spin content, clicking on their own ads etc etc etc.... and when they get banned they get to places like this and bitch about it.

      Just saying...
      I knew it was a matter of time before someone said that. Well, I can't prove to you I don't do any of that stuff - all I can say is watch your own back. Maybe you'll be in my position one day, also wondering what hit you.

      I can't say for sure it wasn't "my fault", the problem is that "fault" is an extremely hazy category where Adsense is concerned. All I can say is I was not deliberately or obviously doing anything wrong. If there were problems, they are more subtle than that.

      I might consider letting a trusted member around here have a look at the main "problem" site - I would welcome any input, but spun or thin content they won't find. Put it this way, they will have seen much much worse sites than mine.
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      • Profile picture of the author YellowGreenMedia
        It wasn't an attack on you mate, it was just an observation, a lot of people scream that they got banned for nothing and most of the times it isn't true... i am sorry that your account got banned but it comes with the territory....
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        • Profile picture of the author markowe
          Originally Posted by YellowGreenMedia View Post

          It wasn't an attack on you mate, it was just an observation, a lot of people scream that they got banned for nothing and most of the times it isn't true... i am sorry that your account got banned but it comes with the territory....
          Well, I agree, that's why I didn't come straight on here and whine about it - I got the email more than a week ago.

          But I just thought I would post here to say exactly what you said for the benefit of others - it's the risk you take, if you actually want to make any decent money with Adsense that is.
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  • Profile picture of the author legoog8
    why don't you sue google, most of their rules aren't even legal or they cannot prove you broke any of the rules! It would be good if they did get sued the greedy scammers also i wonder how many people they don't pay who don't even earn enough to cash out... their are probably millions of noob websites with ads on that all add views altogether and google makes huge amounts of money from but has the ban button ready until they hit a set amount, and now it seems they are doing this to pro sites as-well now...GREEDY!
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    • Profile picture of the author Ant B
      Originally Posted by legoog8 View Post

      why don't you sue google
      lol good luck with that...
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    The way I see it is a lot of warriors here are aggressive on keyword selection, ad placement etc. If your account does not convert for advertisers, then you're gonna get banned. I'm an AdWords advertiser, and I was surprised at how many clicks got refunded. I'll also tell you straight up that 30% of the sites my ads were being displayed on were total crap. So many people here are in denial about their site quality.

    What was your traffic quality like? Few AdSense publishers pay attention to the T&C's about traffic quality. If you're getting a lot of social/viral traffic then this is what's worth looking at.

    The better news is that I got AdSense slapped at the end of July (see my .sig post), but I'm now making more from CPA offers than I ever did with AdSense. OP should be experienced enough to do well with CPA. In fact AdSense has been terrible this month, but CPA offers are bringing in the cash.

    Look beyond ClickBank or CJ though, there are far better offers from the more obscure ad networks. I prefer to cut out the middle-men though and deal directly with the merchants.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by brettb View Post

      The way I see it is a lot of warriors here are aggressive on keyword selection, ad placement etc. If your account does not convert for advertisers, then you're gonna get banned. I'm an AdWords advertiser, and I was surprised at how many clicks got refunded. I'll also tell you straight up that 30% of the sites my ads were being displayed on were total crap. So many people here are in denial about their site quality.

      What was your traffic quality like? Few AdSense publishers pay attention to the T&C's about traffic quality. If you're getting a lot of social/viral traffic then this is what's worth looking at.

      The better news is that I got AdSense slapped at the end of July (see my .sig post), but I'm now making more from CPA offers than I ever did with AdSense. OP should be experienced enough to do well with CPA. In fact AdSense has been terrible this month, but CPA offers are bringing in the cash.

      Look beyond ClickBank or CJ though, there are far better offers from the more obscure ad networks. I prefer to cut out the middle-men though and deal directly with the merchants.
      Yeah, I can totally see where you are coming from: "aggressive keyword selection" - that's what MOST of us are doing, right? Although I have long stopped using full EMDs, keyword-stuffed posts etc. and I ensure my content is natural and informative (as I believe the Google algos have long since developed beyond analysing "keywords"), still, there is no getting away from my intentions with my sites, which is true for most proactive Adsense marketers, I would imagine. I would hope mine are a notch above crappy thin keyword-stuffed MNSs though, though I know what you mean, everyone thinks their own site is the bees knees .

      All my traffic is organic search, with very little backlinking done. It's all searches for info on particular kinds of academic program. I am aware of the possibility of poor lead quality, but if someone is searching on terms like "how much do English major studies cost" or whatever, it is hard to see how much better the lead quality can be. I guess now that I am going to be using CPL, I will get a better idea of that metric.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ant B
        Originally Posted by markowe View Post

        All my traffic is organic search, with very little backlinking done. It's all searches for info on particular kinds of academic program. I am aware of the possibility of poor lead quality, but if someone is searching on terms like "how much do English major studies cost" or whatever, it is hard to see how much better the lead quality can be. I guess now that I am going to be using CPL, I will get a better idea of that metric.
        Is it possible that the leads you were sending over from your clicks were not converting for the advertisers at a good enough rate for google to not class you as a risk?

        Impossible for you to answer I know as they are to cryptic in their warnings and ban notifications for any of us to ever know. A possibility though and they are not obliged to keep you just because you are generating clicks, they look after the advertisers interests first.
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        • Profile picture of the author markowe
          Originally Posted by Ant B View Post

          Is it possible that the leads you were sending over from your clicks were not converting for the advertisers at a good enough rate for google to not class you as a risk?

          Impossible for you to answer I know as they are to cryptic in their warnings and ban notifications for any of us to ever know. A possibility though and they are not obliged to keep you just because you are generating clicks, they look after the advertisers interests first.
          Well, like I say, when most of your search traffic is from pretty specific search terms related to the subject area - terms probably most of the advertisers would like to rank for themselves - then it is hard to see why the lead quality would be low, but I guess at the end of the day you can't really know what kind of visitors/search terms are actually converting for them. I guess it's feasible that even though the traffic seems targetted, it is actually mostly "casual info-seeking" traffic and does not convert well. Then the advertisers obviously gets stressed because he has paid double digits for those clicks and seen no return.

          Couple that with obviously intentional keyword-targetting on my part and you could see where the problem would arise. I am not admitting doing something wrong here, I am just imagining the scenario, one which could affect ANYONE who goes aggressively after Adsense revenue, however ethically in terms of the "letter of the law" (Google's law).

          All that is a trifle unfair, since many advertisers are totally incompetent when it comes to online marketing - poor ad wording, ridiculously poor landing pages, a recipe for poor conversions in a large percentage of cases, but I guess like you say, they are the ones that pay the bills for Google at the end of the day, and Google is usually going to side with them.
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          • Profile picture of the author Ant B
            Originally Posted by markowe View Post

            Well, like I say, when most of your search traffic is from pretty specific search terms related to the subject area - terms probably most of the advertisers would like to rank for themselves - then it is hard to see why the lead quality would be low, but I guess at the end of the day you can't really know what kind of visitors/search terms are actually converting for them. I guess it's feasible that even though the traffic seems targetted, it is actually mostly "casual info-seeking" traffic and does not convert well. Then the advertisers obviously gets stressed because he has paid double digits for those clicks and seen no return.

            Couple that with obviously intentional keyword-targetting on my part and you could see where the problem would arise. I am not admitting doing something wrong here, I am just imagining the scenario, one which could affect ANYONE who goes aggressively after Adsense revenue, however ethically in terms of the "letter of the law" (Google's law).

            All that is a trifle unfair, since many advertisers are totally incompetent when it comes to online marketing - poor ad wording, ridiculously poor landing pages, a recipe for poor conversions in a large percentage of cases, but I guess like you say, they are the ones that pay the bills for Google at the end of the day, and Google is usually going to side with them.
            I agree completely, I was just pointing out something that a lot of people forget (maybe not you) is that there are real people paying real money on the other side of your ads and if your traffic is not converting then you are a 'risk' to googles program by making it look bad...

            Fingers crossed you con sort something out with your appeal.
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  • Profile picture of the author kayfrank
    That is bad. I'm sorry this has happened to you. I agree with the othert comments - it does pay to diversify your income streams.
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  • Profile picture of the author Qadabra
    @Markowe

    Have you tried using any alternatives to Adsense? There are a few great ad platforms that could really help you.
    How is the site doing now? Did you manage to fix the problem with Adsense? are you still running ads?
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by AdsGadget1 View Post

      @Markowe

      Have you tried using any alternatives to Adsense? There are a few great ad platforms that could really help you.
      How is the site doing now? Did you manage to fix the problem with Adsense? are you still running ads?
      I am still open to getting reinstated, but not holding my breath. I have no idea what the problem was with Adsense so it would be hard to fix it.

      I am currently introducing some creatives from a lead-gen/PPL program in the niche - I want to see how that works out, as it was something I had been planning to try before all this even happened. If that doesn't work out then I might be open to other networks, but am sceptical about the earnings potential of most other programs.
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  • Profile picture of the author IM Ash
    Sorry 'bout that man! I feel the pain you trying to hide

    I really think you have a damn good chance of getting your a/c reinstated (judging from the reason given by G). I know you probably hate anything to do with Adsense right now, but try and be as thorough and detailed in your appeal. There are humans who will review your appeal, so pushing the right buttons by being sincere will help.

    On another note: look into "high ticket" aff. programs as an alternative.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    MASSIVE HEADSLAP MOMENT!

    I was just throwing ideas around with Mike A via PM (who looked up my sites and didn't find any shady domain history - thanks for that!) and remembered a rather salient fact that I had COMPLETELY forgotten:

    MY BROTHER WAS BANNED FROM ADSENSE A FEW YEARS AGO for dodgy click activity

    I have no idea how I forgot about that before, but he has no interest in IM these days, God knows what he was doing back then and we do not associate in the business sense in any way, and he does not know about any of my Adsense sites.

    In fact, it would be hard to connect us at all, since we live 2000 km apart in different countries! Oh, unless you had access to our Gmail or Google+ accounts, I suppose... That's something to think about, isn't it?

    If that is the cause, then I can probably consider my appeal screwed, though I will fess up about it and plead ignorance. And then I will commit fratricide.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by markowe View Post

      In fact, it would be hard to connect us at all, since we live 2000 km apart in different countries! Oh, unless you had access to our Gmail or Google+ accounts, I suppose... That's something to think about, isn't it?
      Plus as I shared by PM I HAVE seen companies do this if your last name is unique enough. If you are named something common like "Brown" "Williams etc then they can;t do it but if your name is unusual I have seen companies extend the ban to a whole pile of family members figuring you are operating under their names.

      Plus if your brother ever gave them an address you now use then that would do it too.

      I am not so sure it means you are dead in the water though. they may reconsider. I am not sure I would tell them directly about your brother though. I would say that neither you nor anyone that lives with you has ever done anything and let them tell you why.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    Oh well, it's not going to help anyway, as oddly enough I just got a canned response saying something to the effect of, yeah whatever, we don't care. I think this is an automated response as they had probably already rejected my appeal and not bothered informing me (that's the kind of treatment lowlife like me deserves).

    Looks like my Adsense days are over, but thanks everyone for the suggestions. Maybe this will turn out to be a positive thing in the medium term as there are much better, if less hands-off ways to earn online. Guess I will have to become a guru now. Just not an Adsense guru.

    There you go kids, guilt by association, another way to get banned from Adsense. Careful who you are siblings with.
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  • Profile picture of the author GlobalTrader
    After reading this thread I began doing a little research just to see how prevalent this banning action is and it does seem to be a growing trend.

    Here is a link to a very interesting blog post by another victim of the big G's seemingly unwarranted action - he was banned early this year, then set up an LLC, set up a new website to apply with and then made some basic changes to all of his sites before placing the new code on them - interesting that his LLC was approved within 24 hours and he has now received two checks - details of how he set the LLC up are very interesting and one that he may regret going public with but as he states in the post, it is his business -

    Welcome Back to Google Adsense! | Niche Pursuits
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  • Profile picture of the author Karen Barr
    If that is to do with your brother, Mark, then that really sucks and I feel for you.

    Years ago I worked in newspaper advertising and we co-operated closely with Trading Standards (who at that time were pretty much the only UK legal enforcement agency who could make traders keep their promises.)

    What I would say is even if you think there is no connection between you and your brother, there may well be a public trail connecting you which big G have gone down and decided you are not worth the risk.

    From my own experience, we were able to connect advertisers to previously banned traders and bankrupts through the most unexpected ways - and this was in the days before the internet.

    Although it may seem unfair on family members of unscrupulous businesspeople, we frequently banned all family members and friends from advertising since so often it was simply the banned person using a front.

    As you've rightly said, Google have a responsibility to their advertisers and will work to reduce risk in the most cost effective way possible.

    I would put my money that it's the sudden spike in earnings which has led to a manual review, and that the connection with your brother's banned account has been discovered - possibly through public G+ circles - and they've just decided to pull the plug.

    From their point of view, after all, advertisers are bringing them money and there is a finite pool, but publishers cost them money and there seems to be an infinite supply.

    I hope you do well monetising with alternatives.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    @Karen, thanks for that input, very interesting, I think you may have thrown some additional light on things there. I AM going to kill my brother though :-) (figure of speech, not an actual death threat)

    @GlobalTrader, yes, I just read Spencer's post as it happens. Very bold, he even put Adsense back on the same sites. I might consider that, I might even TELL THEM I am going to do it just to double-dare them. But that doesn't get my earnings back or change the fact Adsense is a dodgy proposition.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    UPDATE: I am not currently making any moves to get back into Adsense, though I still intend to hassle them a bit. That $1500 would be nice to get back.

    I am running some CPL offers and right now they are underperforming a LITTLE in comparison to Adsense, but with a bit of tweaking I should be more or less back where I was (at least before that huge earnings spike). So it's not the end of the world...
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    • Profile picture of the author internalsoul
      Originally Posted by markowe View Post

      UPDATE: I am not currently making any moves to get back into Adsense, though I still intend to hassle them a bit. That $1500 would be nice to get back.

      I am running some CPL offers and right now they are underperforming a LITTLE in comparison to Adsense, but with a bit of tweaking I should be more or less back where I was (at least before that huge earnings spike). So it's not the end of the world...
      Thats the spirit but dont expect to get the money back from google as they will never give it to you. Thats how they do business. So sorry to hear about your loss.
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  • Profile picture of the author VitalMastering
    u do realize u can just call them up and get an explanation right?
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by VitalMastering View Post

      u do realize u can just call them up and get an explanation right?
      Honestly, I am not sure I have ever heard of anyone doing that, but I might consider it . I know their ways are very mysterious, and mostly automated for reasons of scale, but I don't think it would be a bad idea to get directly in touch with a human being. I imagine most people don't bother and just give up after a while.

      I will be doing that the email route first off, then will see later on about giving Ireland a ring . I am not grovelling to them and I certainly cannot accept a reinstatement that would see my previous earnings withheld (unless they can genuinely point to wrongdoing on my part, i.e. that the earnings are fraudulent in some way).

      Again, I said before, I am not THAT desperate to get back in, I certainly haven't been relying on Adsense to feed my family, but I have a certain persistent streak that tells me not to just let it drop like probably a large majority of people do.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizzie73
    the same thing happened to me as well. I lost $700. the reason? still not clear. I hate AdSense!
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  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    I would say appeal first and politely offer any assistance. There are Adsense staff hanging out at Google forums and also at WebMasterWorld. I successfully appealed after contacting "AdsenseAdvisor" by pm at WebMasterWorld.

    I got banned eventually for a different reason but that was another story.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by derekwong28 View Post

      I would say appeal first and politely offer any assistance. There are Adsense staff hanging out at Google forums and also at WebMasterWorld. I successfully appealed after contacting "AdsenseAdvisor" by pm at WebMasterWorld.

      I got banned eventually for a different reason but that was another story.
      Yeah, I may go the Google forums route, but obviously that's not great because you have to out your sites. I have certainly tried to maintain a civil email conversation with them. I know they do not normally communicate manually via email, and the last reply I got was a canned response, but it was still a manual canned response I believe (there was a delay in my getting it - of about half an hour), so SOMEONE may be reading those
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  • Profile picture of the author Iamcap
    Interesting thread, and sorry to hear about your ban.

    But how do you know it was your brothers fault if you don't even share a house? It seems a bit far fetched to me. If he was banned many years ago and you've been using adsense for a while, then if there was some sort of obvious connection, surely action would've been taken long ago. Which means that something has happened "recently" (past few months) that merited a manual checkup. I have run into so many adsense sites that are breaking the TOS, but I can tell the owner didn't do it intentionally.

    For instance:

    - Did any of your sites have aggressive ad placement? I.e above the fold?
    - Did you ever put ads directly until a header (any type of header, h1,h2,h3)?
    - Did you put the word "advertisement" over every single ad you ever had?
    - Did you ever recommend websites at the end of an article? Maybe say "visit these recommended sites" and then list a couple of sources. If you have ads to automatically appear at the end of posts, this could be seen as promoting to click.
    - Were any of your ads near any other clickable objects (site navigation, etc)

    Etc, etc.

    If you did have a massive spike in income, how did that really come about? I do feel for you as it is worrying to know this can happen, even if it's a geniune mistake or even for something of no fault of your own! But there have been people who claim they have been banned for no reason and when I looked at their sites, I found potential problems such as those listed above.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by Iamcap View Post

      Interesting thread, and sorry to hear about your ban.

      But how do you know it was your brothers fault if you don't even share a house? It seems a bit far fetched to me. If he was banned many years ago and you've been using adsense for a while, then if there was some sort of obvious connection, surely action would've been taken long ago. Which means that something has happened "recently" (past few months) that merited a manual checkup. I have run into so many adsense sites that are breaking the TOS, but I can tell the owner didn't do it intentionally.

      For instance:

      - Did any of your sites have aggressive ad placement? I.e above the fold?
      - Did you ever put ads directly until a header (any type of header, h1,h2,h3)?
      - Did you put the word "advertisement" over every single ad you ever had?
      - Did you ever recommend websites at the end of an article? Maybe say "visit these recommended sites" and then list a couple of sources. If you have ads to automatically appear at the end of posts, this could be seen as promoting to click.
      - Were any of your ads near any other clickable objects (site navigation, etc)

      Etc, etc.

      If you did have a massive spike in income, how did that really come about? I do feel for you as it is worrying to know this can happen, even if it's a geniune mistake or even for something of no fault of your own! But there have been people who claim they have been banned for no reason and when I looked at their sites, I found potential problems such as those listed above.
      Thanks for the checklist, I know what you mean, I still can't exclude a problem similar to one of those you mention, but no, in short, I did not do any of the things you mention. The last year or so I definitely stopped any aggressive ad placements, they were all below the fold, no encouragement to click, none of the other stuff you mention.

      Also, you know, why cite "related to a disabled account" as the reason if it's got NOTHING to do with that..? I know they probably like to obfuscate, but that's just a bit much... Especially as my account, as it turns out, is INDEED "related" to a banned account, at least in terms of familial relationship..! However unfair and unwarranted that seems...

      As for the spike in earnings, well, that's more than likely what got me the manual review - many other people have voiced suspicions that a certain earnings threshold gets you a manual checkover. But I have no idea of the reason for the spike other than that it was due to a big increase in CPC, not so much CTR. How could I possibly manipulate CPC, or how could a malicious competitor do so..? The thing I can't tell is if the advertisers or the ad inventory changed in any way in that period as I do not live in the US and don't have an easy way of previewing ads on my site as if I were in the US.

      Well, I will try to be persistent in getting reinstated, not because I will die if I don't have access to Adsense, just because I don't think the ban was warranted (unless they clearly explain to me otherwise) and because it would be good to get those unpaid earnings, TBH.
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      • Profile picture of the author Iamcap
        Ah okay. I missed the "related to a disabled account" quote from Google. It's very worrying that this happens though, even if I understand the reasoning behind it.

        What is your suspicion over how they discovered it all? Did your brother ever use your same ip? Both of you on google plus and linked some how? Very scary thought if they go this deep for cross-checking their users.
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        • Profile picture of the author markowe
          Originally Posted by Iamcap View Post

          Ah okay. I missed the "related to a disabled account" quote from Google. It's very worrying that this happens though, even if I understand the reasoning behind it.

          What is your suspicion over how they discovered it all? Did your brother ever use your same ip? Both of you on google plus and linked some how? Very scary thought if they go this deep for cross-checking their users.
          Well, this is it, we live a long long way from each other, but we are in each other's Google+ Circles, have the same surname and also have communicated via GMail (though he hasn't used that address in ages).

          I guess big companies like that have other ways of doing due diligence of this kind too, but it's a scary thought that they might have used their own "assets"... That would sort of explain why they are so secretive about why they have banned you...
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  • Profile picture of the author afroedo
    how is it possible to open two or more account with adsense.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mantasmo
    Haven't read the thread, but sorry to hear about your ban Mark. Good luck getting your money back (however unlikely that is).
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  • Profile picture of the author Iamcap
    Indeed a scary thought, i can imagine they can make a connection between you guys if he has a flag on his email or g+ account (maybe used the banned email to register?) and he emailed you (they can probably see the connection, not the contents of emails) and if you are marked as siblings somewhere public like google plus, then maybe... But even just typing all that here sounds like a lot of effort for them to go through to potentially discover something.... Definitely a big turn off adsense.
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  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    Google is kicking out small publishers in favor of big ones. They'll use any excuse they can think of to weed out the little guys.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by Iamcap View Post

      Indeed a scary thought, i can imagine they can make a connection between you guys if he has a flag on his email or g+ account (maybe used the banned email to register?) and he emailed you (they can probably see the connection, not the contents of emails) and if you are marked as siblings somewhere public like google plus, then maybe... But even just typing all that here sounds like a lot of effort for them to go through to potentially discover something.... Definitely a big turn off adsense.
      Well, yeah - I suppose that's where the earnings threshold comes in. They can't manually review EVERYONE, but if someone starts earning $100+ a day then that trips a flag and they take a closer look. If they have access to those connections then this one would be fairly obvious...

      Originally Posted by mosthost View Post

      Google is kicking out small publishers in favor of big ones. They'll use any excuse they can think of to weed out the little guys.
      I dunno, I mean that MIGHT make sense from a business point of view because small publishers are a lot of maintenance, but if you think what proportion of the web's content is in the hands of small publishers, I really don't think they can just discard them - we must account for a huge proportin of their revenue. But I think probably they terminate small publishers with much more prejudice since a few lost web sites is better for them than the potential for fraud. *shrug* All guesswork...
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  • Profile picture of the author Iamcap
    But are you marked as siblings anywhere? I fail to believe that google would ban someone for having someone on google + that was banned, some people have hundreds of friends in their circles, many must have friends that were banned!
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by Iamcap View Post

      But are you marked as siblings anywhere? I fail to believe that google would ban someone for having someone on google + that was banned, some people have hundreds of friends in their circles, many must have friends that were banned!
      Well, yeah, he is in my Family circle, and he has the same surname. And we have communicated via the same Gmail account that his Adsense account was on. Remember, this is a manual review, it wouldn't take a minute to make a strong connection, even if it doesn't actually say "brother" anywhere... Sigh... I dunno, it's all just guessing, but there is a strong possibility it was that...
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    Have you been aggressive with ad placement? Is your traffic poor quality? I would think that unless you've broken the rules, you're probably not making any money for your advertisers. AdSense people forget that if they're not making money for their advertisers, then they're gonna get thrown out of the program.

    Put CPA offers on your site, and if you don't make any money from them, then you know your site is worthless for the same advertisers paying for AdWords placements.

    Also do some soul searching and ask yourself if your sites really are good. All I know is that I advertised on AdWords over the Summer, and a lot of the sites my ads ended up on were just total junk. So I'm not surprised Google is upping the quality.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by brettb View Post

      Have you been aggressive with ad placement? Is your traffic poor quality? I would think that unless you've broken the rules, you're probably not making any money for your advertisers. AdSense people forget that if they're not making money for their advertisers, then they're gonna get thrown out of the program.

      Put CPA offers on your site, and if you don't make any money from them, then you know your site is worthless for the same advertisers paying for AdWords placements.

      Also do some soul searching and ask yourself if your sites really are good. All I know is that I advertised on AdWords over the Summer, and a lot of the sites my ads ended up on were just total junk. So I'm not surprised Google is upping the quality.
      I agree with all these sentiments, I have often wondered how well ANY Adsense ads convert for advertisers - at the end of the day I can't really know that, and although I have put CPL ads on there from the same industry, and yes, conversions are perhaps a little lacklustre (I was hoping for better), I don't know WHAT the Adsense inventory was on my site when I was getting those big clicks, and whether the comparison is apples and oranges. At the end of the day, if my visitors are searching for "name of particular education service", then I don't know how much more targetted it needs to be to convert for the advertiser. And it's kind of their job to convert the visitor as well - a lot of advertisers are terrible at that, just sending the visitor to their homepage, that sort of thing.

      I can quite understand though that there are a lot of crap sites around, sure it's hard to be objective about your own sites, but I think mine are certainly a notch above the usual MNS crap. Still, surely it's the search terms that are bringing users there that matter at the end of the day?
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    P.S. No, I mentioned in an earlier post, I was not at all aggressive with ad placements, to the detriment of my CTR.
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  • Profile picture of the author arielparconjr
    Well they gained what you've earned...too bad for you though.
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  • Profile picture of the author Isaiah Coe
    That sucks, 1.5 k down the drain. Happened to me as well but I didn't have anything close to what you had. Google does a horrible job explaining why it happened. You could have been clicked bombed. I recommend that you sell monthly ad space if your receiving lots of traffic for now on.
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