You could easily loose your Google AdSense account through no fault of your own. All it takes is just one person strategically clicking on your Google ads and within just a couple of months Google will terminate your account. A person could access your website and then start clicking on Google ad after Google ad, one right after another. It doesn't have to be many, just a couple of dozen. They could do this just one or two days a week to build up a pattern. Google will see this spike and will assume that you are clicking on the ads to increase your earnings, and they will terminate your account without warning. You can appeal their decision but it probably will not do you any good. Any money that your account earned from the time they terminate your account to your last payout will be forfeited.
Yep. It does depend on the age of your account and how much in "good standing" your account is in the eyes of Google. The amount of successful payments before and all that.
Unless you work for Google who knows how it works? Just stick to the rules don't worry about anyone else getting banned but yourself and you will be fine.
Oh well I have experienced this before. This is not new to me at all. The person is jealous because I am earning twice as much as her so she clicked my ads several times and when I visited my site my ads were gone and I got an email from Google telling me that Adsense account was banned due to invalid clicks.
You can always find alternative methods to make money online. Losing AdSense account is not the end of the world...
How many of us have websites as popular as Digital Point? I dare say that the average website owner that has Google AdSense ads is only making a couple hundred dollars a quarter. Digital Point could probably successfully argue it's position if one day they discovered their Google account terminated. I don't believe the owner of a smaller website would do as well. No one believes anything will happen to the them... until it does. I wouldn't be too quick to pass judgment on anyone who looses their Google account. Some cheat and that's a fact, and they rightfully loose their account. But I think it's a mistake to assume that everyone who has had their Google AdSense account closed is themselves guilty of wrong doing. Al Gore helped to get a phone bill tax passed when he was VP to help put Internet accessible computers into schools. How many computers are located in schools and how many students have access to these computers? What if a college kid were to use a school computer, a computer where s/he works part-time and a friend's computer to consistently go to one particular small website to click on a couple dozen Google ads each time for just one or two days a week? Could this malicious individual cause someone to have their Google AdSense account closed?
its not as easy as it seems. google knows that it can happen. yes, you will get a mail form google and your account might get banned, but once you file an appeal and show that it was not you who clicked on the ads (show your server stat), google will reinstate the account. it happened many times in the past. just a hassle to go thru the ban, appeal, reinstate process but at the end you will get your account back
That's why it is important to view the traffic source, and check the IP. I think for those with closely to 100 clicks per day, it's quite time consuming to check the IP address. for us with just a click or two per day, any click fraud is easily detected.
May be DaveyJ is correct because if the site is having a low traffic, then easy to ban that type of sites its open fact, But i am also agreeing with pimpinkid
Many people's IP address will change each time they go online, so I'm not sure how effective IP tracking is these days. I am in no way an expert on this but, if some people got it into their mind to disrupt Google's AdSense program I think they could do it. Google makes about 27 billion a year from it's AdSense program. I believe there to be people in this world who hate success and seek to punish it however they can. I have no idea how that 27 billion breaks down in so far as how much comes from large and popular websites and how much from smaller "mom and pop" websites. I suspect that there may be more mom and pop websites with Google ads than there are large/popular websites. In America there are more small businesses than large businesses and they employ more people and collectively make more money than large companies. I believe the same could be true of the Internet and websites. Whatever the exact math, I'm sure that Google makes a fair amount of money off of these little websites carrying their ads. If more and more of these small website owners start getting hit by these "malicious clickers" and Google starts shutting down their accounts, Google will effectively be pulling the rug out from under their own feet. This would most certainly be the desired goal of those wishing harm on Google. It is true that one can appeal Google's decision, but there is no guarantee that it will do any good. This much is said on their website concerning account termination. But it pays to keep in mind that you are dealing with more than just a website. Behind every small website is a person who has worked hard to make that website and to keep it up. If the website owner has made a $100 from Google ads, Google has probably made $400, $500 or more off those same ads. Rather than go pleading to the one who has accused them of being dishonest, the website owner may decide to give Amazon ads a try. As far as I know Amazon ads only pay when someone clicks on the ad and buys something. So if someone started maliciously clicking on these ads I doubt it would bring harm to the website owner. I know Google has to protect itself from those with ill intent, but they should not be too quick to call the website owner dishonest and slam the door on him/her. These website owners after all, help to butter their bread.