Adsense account disabled...who's wrong Google or me??

I just got my account disabled 12/24 (Christmas Eve).

I admit I accidentally clicked on 1 ad back in October, but I immediately told Google about this click and told them they can discredit my account for that entire day. They sent me an email with gratitude for informing them and they informed me that clicking of ads is extremely against the rules, but they never stated that my account was being disabled.

Trust me it was an accident...I had a few browser windows open and I was bringing a browser in the back to the forefront. I accidentally clicked an ad thinking I was clicking the scrollbar. Oh well! I immediately emailed Adsense and told them of my mistake. In their response email they didn't state that my account was being disabled or anything, but on 12/24 (Christmas Eve) I got an email from Google stating that my account was disabled for fraudlent clicks.

The email improperly accused of engaging in fraudlent activity, as if I was dishonest, a criminal, a cheat, or unethical. I feel this was a disrespectful approach for Google to take, especially since I've been an strong opponent against fraudlent activity.

I'm not exactly upset that my account was disabled because I do understand that Google must protect their integrity and their advertisers, but I don't like their business-model or approach to this type of situation. First, they do not provide any information in regards to the fradulent activity, so I do NOT know if it was from my accidental click in Oct, or if some other fraudlent activity was detected like someone (rival site owner) clickinig on all my ads just to get me banned and on bad terms with Google, because a few of my sites are on the first page (1-10) of Google SERPs, so by getting me banned puts me in Google's eye and under the microscope which would possibly result in losing my position in the SERPs...I'm not sure how far-fetched that is, but I hope I don't lose my Google ranking. Or it could have been someone (visitor) unknowingly clicking on the Google ads repeatedly, without knowing they were causingn any harm. Again, I am only speculating because I do not know for sure, Google doesn't shed any light on this situation.

Anyway, like I said I do understand their position to disable an account for 1 click, regardless how innocent the click, but I do not think I should endure the disrespect of being treated like a dishonest person, because anyone can make an honest mistake. I think Google should change some things within their Adsense infrastructure. I'm a webmaster who is always doing design, test, and other things on and within my website, so it is almost crazy for me (or Google) to think I will never visit my own website just to avoid clicking an ad. My website is my business...not adsense. Therefore, Adsense needs to look out for the benefit of honest webmasters like myself and implement a solution where webmasters can submit IP addresses to a ignore list, which basically mean that any impressions/clicks generated from an IP address that is on the webmaster ignore list is completely ignored and not credited for the Adsense account. Something such as this would have completely eliminated this problem and would have restored the faith and trust of the webmaster.

Also, Adsense should take more proactive steps to prevent click fraud from click bomb attacks. If they see repeatitive clicks from the same IP occuring in a specified amount of time then they should only credit the first unique click. Something like only credit unique clicks every hour. Or ever 24 hours. By automatically acccusing or suspecting the webmaster of fraudlent clicks is like 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent' instead of 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty'....its wrong and unethical in my opinion, especially when Google know many webmasters rely on their publishing service for online income.

I just feel Google didn't give me the benefit of the doubt nor have given me anyway to proclaim my innocence. I didn't get a warning, I ddin't get a notice, I didn't get a 3 strikes and your out...I simply just got disabled and from my thinking it was for 1 click, that's ruthless and somewhat big-headed. The competition is getting thick, especially with Yahoo! and MSN coming along...Google better start treating their publishers with more respect, because I'm floored that anyone would ever think I was dishonest, unethical, criminal, or a cheat. I have worked hard to build a reputable name online and offline, I do not practice anything illegit or outside the scope of being ethical. In the past years I grew a strong relationship with Google and its products, but now I am thinking of reverting back towards Yahoo! because they may bee able to treat me with the respect I deserved.

For some reason Google think they are the God of the internet and no one can survive without them. I consider myself lucky that my entire online income didn't rely on Google Adsense, so I'm not in a financial rut. I would love to get my account reinstated but I refuse to kiss any butt just to do it, because I do not feel I was in the wrong. Mistakes happen and they can't expect me to be perfect, when they are not. Google even make mistakes.

My tip of the day:

Never have all your eggs in one basket

My motto of the day:

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!


If anyone wish to add their personal thought or have anythihng to say, please feel free! I'm all ears!

 

lol....

Hey, maybe they'll re-enact your account?

Seriously, I doubt a click from back in October would have caught up with you now.

Here's hoping you can contact them and find out exactly what it was. I've heard of others getting put back into service.

 

Very good tip!

I would add that it's especially dangerous when you're relying on a thrid-party revenue generator (such as Adwords). There are just too many things that are beyone your control.

 

Yeah, I don't like the fact that Google doesn't explain to the webmasters what they did wrong. It reminds me of last year when paypal suddenly closed my acocunt for "fraudulent activity" and couldn't explain what the "fraudulent activity" was.

This is at least the third time this month I've seen this happen, and they all say the same thing, that Google doesn't give them an explanation.

I never click on any of my ads and do everything by the book. If google tries that crap on me I'm going to switch to Yahoo or MSN.

Just change all the ads on your sites to MSN or Yahoo. It maybe somewhat of a pain, but you will continue to make money. I agree with you about not putting all your eggs in one basket. As soon as I generate enough income I'm investing in some offline ventures.

 

fryman,
that's hillarious!

yirmumah,
I already appealed the disabling of my account, as of yet, they haven't responded...that's the furthest I am going to take it...it would be nice if they reinstate me, but I'm not going to Google ass-kiss (beg and plead) just to get their ads back! I'm using Chitika and considering Yahoo Ads right now.

 

Let me guess, you were due $2,300 right before you got booted.

Google took the $$$....???

Move on to YPN.
They actually have a phone number you can call and talk to people and they dont send out nasty dumb emails like google.

Google is an arrogant piece of ----!!!

 

Who is wrong and who is right is irrelevant outside of the academic exercise.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to work on your own sites without clicking an ad by accident once every week or two. Those clicks will not, in my experience, cause your AdSense account to be disabled.

Most likely, this error has been caused by someone else clicking on your ads. This could be a competitor who is trying to get you kicked out of the program or a friend who is trying to "help" you.

I have never been kicked out of AdSense, but I did have one of my web sites kicked out. I waited a couple of years to let my temper cool and then asked that the site be re-instated into the program. It was re-instated immediately.

 

did they ever tell you "why" they kicked that site out?

 

I clicked by mistake on my own ad yesterday. Interesting that it shows in the report as 1 click at 0 value - it seems Google already recognised it as an invalid click?

 

I can't imagine how this would happen really, just don't click your ads.
Does someone forget how the google ads look like every once week or two

Some time ago (not that long) i noticed a post how you could make some alteration to your computer so that you can't click your own ads or in that effect.

To the OP, you got an automated email i suspect because of some sort of trigger in a filter that is set up to detect fraud, my guess is you will be reinstated very soon since you haven't done anything wrong as you said.

 

Will_Spencer,

Most of my friends and co-workers don't know anything about my sites. Those that do have no idea how Adsense work and rarely use the internet except to check email or get gossip.

Why would a competitor get me banned? I've heard of this happening before, but how does a competitor benefit from this? Unless, it ties into my ranking in the SERPs. Please help me understand this evil methodology!

Hopefully, within a few years I'll be rich b*tch! No, but seriously, hopefully I will have built a solid relationship with YPN or MSN...or maybe another upcoming contextual ad competitor. But if not, then maybe I'll ask to be reinstated.

 

It works like this...

1. I have a web site on widgets and fryman has a web site on widgets.

2. I think "fryman woudn't work on his widgets site if he wasn't making any money at it. If I could kill fryman's revenue, he would stop improving his site and I would win."

3. I drive around until I find an open 802.11 wireless access point and I connect to the Internet anonymously. I then go to fryman's web site and click hundreds and hundreds of PPC ads.

4. fryman gets an automated grumpy note from Google. He then loses revenue until he manages to get himself re-instated -- if he gets re-instated at all.

5. The next month, I do it again.

 

It's difficult to avoid the ads, especially when you work with multiple browsers (like myself)...mine was an honest mistake and a one-time ordeal, I got so use to avoiding my own ads that I didn't even click on ads that were not on my site(s). I avoided ads on all sites because I wanted to play it safe...I guess playing it safe didn't work for me. It would be nice if Google gave me a reason for disabling my account so I would know if it was from the single click back in Oct. or if someone was out to get me. I think they should reveal the IP addresses of any fraudlent activity to the webmaster, so he can investigate and have a chance to defend himself. Right now, I don't have a leg to stand, because its unclear why exactly my acccount was disabled.

Maybe, I didn't produce enough clicks for the advertisers, since I didn't solely rely on Google ads on all my sites.

 

That's interesting! I'm glad I always thought outside of the box and tried to create sites which I could get direct sales and not rely only on third-party ads. Though, I do have a few sites which rely solely on third-party ads, but overall I have income from other sources.

Thanks for sharing the inner thougts of a madman . With that reasoning and that easy approach it could have been a number of competitors who would attempt something like that. Google really needs to step their game up and find better ways to prevent fraud or what could fall under 'Google Bowling', otherwise the true god's of the internet are the scammers and Google is just a small fish playing in their pond.

 

Here are few suggestions for BigBad Google.
1)Ignore webmaster clicks limited (15/year)
2)Give webmaster some special program in which all browser should be enabled so that any click from that browser should not be counted.

 

It was more like $23.00...

Contextual advertising is gettinig so old. I hope someone comes along with a different innovative way of online advertising. I know Chitika and Clicksor tried to do something a little different, but that's just a good alternative. I was counting on YPN or MSN to do someting completely different but it seems these days no one has innovative ideas anymore they just go with the flow. Maybe during Tech Boom the Sequel (I predict 2008/2009 after elections) someone will come along and blow everyone out of the water with a new online advertising technique! Maybe interactive holograms or something unique.

 

I was lying in bed with laptop in front of me. I just wanted to put can of cola on some flat space, then I accidentally taped on my ad becouse laptop sliped from stable position.

See, easy like fingers snap.

 

That could be called a freak accident or a Universel Miracle for the worst.

Oh well if you got banned you could always sue Coca Cola for negligence

 

I was staring at _vlada_'s avatar and my finger slipped.

But seriously, your claims of super-human dexterity are humorous.