I am no newbie when it come to the guidelines and rules of Google Adsense. Don't get my post count confused with the credibility of what I am about to say. I have been a Google Adsense member for a very long time, I have followed just everything there is to know about it since the mainstream use of it years ago. I understand all the rules of not clicking on your own ads, proxies, botnets, invalid impressions... You name it I have either heard or read about it. I know among every possible item or event that can get you banned, even if its not enforced on most sites. What I am about to tell you, I have yet to hear about because I believe its a new problem with Google indexing. As you may have guessed by the title, I too am now numbered in a group among webmasters world wide who are currently 'unapproved'. (I am banned, hopefully not forever.) I like a majority of webmasters believe that a lot of the "I didn't do anything." claims are marauders simply refusing to accept the fact the got banned for clicking on their own ads. They are stuck in a self-deceptive belief. I do acknowledge some webmaster likely 5% or less are wrongfully banned. I use the same adsense account on all of my domains, I do not have multiple apps or accounts. I have been on the front page of digg for new domains and sites multiple times. (Going from literally 10 uniques to 8k+ in a day.) Never being banned for that. Enough story, basically this is what occurred: I have been on Google's page two and three for a very competitive keyword, this was consistent for a long time. Then a few days ago multiple competitors were bumped back and some above in rank. I have no clue what was going on, maybe Google's back-end algorithm was modified. (I know a lot of people are seeing rank changes without change in PR. Don't ask me.) Short story goes, I made it on the first page for one day. My traffic shot up 200%. (I have the Google analytics logs to prove that traffic was all organic.) Later that night, I was banned for invalid clicks. The CTR seem consistent with the increase in traffic, but they still claimed the clicks were invalid. Short story goes, I appealed with a very long, detailed letter explaining the events the occured and I provided them with Analytics logs, and my accounts login. Seemingly later, the next night at 0:10 I received a email saying the account was re-reviewed and they were indeed 'invalid clicks'. (I don't know about you, but I don't think many people have these type of business hours, the response appeared automated, coming at midnight.) Nonetheless, I have strived for some sort of contact sending new letters and more detailed information. I have tried contacting support with no response. Google has the unprofessional appeal to setup the bot to automatically request "How was our service?" even when no response, not even an automated one was sent to acknowledge anything was done. If you ask me the response to your service would be obvious, if nothing is received or acknowleged. This type of conduct is very unprofessional. Seemingly when very long, detailed explanations are sent out with actual thought put into it. Not to mention Google could easily have the resources to handle this type of situation. So basically as a warning to other webmaster out there, if you see a massive increase in traffic DO NOT hesitate to contact Google, despite what their FAQ says. (Which state it is unnecessary and will not be reviewed.) I know for a fact that each division of Adsense has their own representatives that handle special cases with high demand website to prevent TOS violations, giving multiple warning without ban. (Rather unequal service if you ask me.) I am looking for someone who can put me in contact with one of these Adsense representatives, or if you know some inside information that I could take into account to personally contact a "human body". Your service with not go unrewarded, contact me and we'll see what we can work out. This is a last resort, but I hear it is necessary for extreme cases.
I was curious, has this happened to anyone else recently? I think I might write about this on a webmaster blog of mine. I'm looking for further evidence to prove this. Also, I received a few PMs but no google contact information. (so if you have this PM me)
I agree that you should always contact Google if you have large traffic, and with it, click increases. I always do, and they always say thank you for letting us know. I have had Google do many things for my accounts, and never had an issue. I do always get the automated 'Thanks for your inquiry,' but I also always get a human response to larger issues.
It might be bad business but google probably has thousands of emails like yours everyday from people that have been banned and they're trying to prove that it wasn't their fault. I'm sure they dont read all of them. They make so much money from other adsense users that they really don't care about losing a person that makes even $100 per day in adsense.
I couldn't agree with you more on this one. They really don't "need" us. They can stay in business fine without the mistakenly or incorrectly banned publishers. I was making way more than 100 per day, I have alternatives, but adsense is still the best. I won't get specific, but in the end its just not good practice. I have had third parties draft me some letters and I am getting advice right now. The chances are slim to none, but since adsense is a great service aside from the robot that bans its publishers. I am going to fight this to the end, or at least until I get some sort of human response. I will keep this thread updated with what happens, if anything happens. I'd say adsense has a significant value to sites making high end amounts each day, the users of my site are numerous enough have an impact on businesses and their sales; therefore, making it a priority for Google as the traffic its advertisers receive is much appreciated by them. I know for a fact I never click on my ads, not even by mistake. I am still analyzing my raw logs, I have yet to see anything out of the ordinary.
Amazing, recently I received a non-human response from Google. They are dealing with the situation in a very professional and mature manner now. Communication is going great. I am currently in the process of providing them with the responses and detail to hopefully get my account reinstated. It looks like things are improving, so I retract my statement thus far. It appears Google does deal with all the situations professionally. It seems it can take up to a week or so to receive a response. (So be patient with support.) I will keep this thread updated.