Account Disabled Today

Out of the blue, I get an email from Google saying that there were invalid clicks against my account, and was disabled.

I do not participate in anything fraudulent, nor do I design my site(s) any differently than the countless ones I see on this and other forums. I also don't [purposely] click on my own ads.

I emailed Google for an explanation; I hope I can get reinstated.

If it is a site design issue, would someone look at my sites and tell me where I was in the wrong?

http://www.joelfan.com
http://www.ratemyjeep.com
http://mob.orlowski.com

Or, could someone have repeatedly clicked my ads to purposely get me terminated? Isn't there some sort of "fail safe" in place on Google's end to prevent such an incident?

I recently put some effort into my site(s) over the past month or so. Because of this, I went from earning about $15/month to getting $90 last month. Could this jump be a trigger?

Looks like I may be applying at Yahoo...

Here's my recent activity:

 

I still see Google Adsense on the sites....?

 

They're there, but I don't think I get any credit for clicks. (This JUST happened).

And, when I log into my account, it says it's disabled.

 

Hmmm.... from a quick glance, everything looks fine from what I can tell... you got the invalid clicks email?

 

Over $90 you got banned....jeez...I really can't believe goog...something has to change over there.

 

Yeah, with sites like these.. what reason would anybody have to generate fraudulent clicks? Competitor maybe? Sabotage?

 

"I also don't [purposely] click on my own ads"

Hmmmmm?

Pete

 

He would have reported seeing an unusual increase in page impressions and CTR wouldn't he though? If it was competitor sabotage.

Wow, it seems like there is an account being banned every day, this is no good

 

Hmm, on the rate my jeep site I found that I accidently click on the ad unit that is close to the vertical scroll bar, because it is so... close, maybe he had a similar thing happen to him.

 

Well I don't purposely click on my own ads either, but a couple times I have accidentally due to firefox and my middle button or a slip. Although I've made sure to be even more careful due to all the banning, so hopefully they'll lighten up. Surely they'll mark the IP's you're logging in from, and disable those.. why just flat out ban someone? (And here we go again with the debate, let the games begin.)

 

I doubt it, I'm in 1280x1024 and I've got the window sized relatively small, even for a 1152x864 resolution, and I'm still not close to the ad on the scroll bar.

There has to be a logical explanation for all the bans.

 

Well the jeep site and the billy joel site both have pictures right above the ads. In another thread, google said that's a no-no. They are misleading to visitors and probably do cause invalid clicks.

The third one has ads in an irritating spot (first thing on the page) but I dont think thats against TOS - probably got banned with the other 2 sites.

 

Where does Google say the "image above ads" is a no-no?

 

I still see ads, if you are banned they remove the ads. Can you log into your account?

 

Check out critters post about improving CTR. Google emailed him (or her, not sure) that there should be some space between the pictures and the google ads (like a border, a line or something). Its in there, but its 54 pages of posts, so I don't wanna hunt for it.

Edit:
Here is one post that has it
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=247246&postcount=420

May be others too.

 

What does the amount have to do with this? People should get banned even if it is 1 dollar if they are cheating

 

Thanks... I had read that thread in its entirety the other day... must have skimmed through that one... lol. It is 54 pages afterall.

 

There have been times (and I know others on this forum do it), I clicked on my own ad by mistake.

 

Yes, and I can view my numbers. But there's a pink bar saying that my payments are on hold.

Here's the email I got from Google:

It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on
the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google
AdSense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an
effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.

A publisher's site may not have invalid clicks on any ad(s), including
but not limited to clicks generated by a publisher on his own web
pages, clicks generated through the use of robots, automated clicking
tools, or any other deceptive software.

Practices such as these are in violation of the Google AdSense Terms
and Conditions and program polices, which can be viewed at:

https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_US
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US

Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further
participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The
earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected
advertisers.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

 

Well, I got the idea from others on this site who do the same thing.