Hello all, since about 28th of December my CPC (cost per click) on my all sites with AdSense ads on it dropped miserably from about 20c/click to 3c/click. This change make the whole business senseless, so I went to find out what's the problem. The thing was that I still had the same amount of clicks as always, but many clicks were paid with just 1cent. Seldom I got something above 10cents per click. So I checked who is advertising on my sites. I was shocked when discovered than 50% or even more of the advertisers were spammers who was bidding for cheap (1c/click) keywords, their landing page were different PARKED domains with domain names like "BestFreeSoftware.net" (non-existing example) or something like that. Yesterday I, using the AdSense's competitive Ad filter, blocked most of such MFA (made for ads/adsense) sites, and today the CPC increased to 10c/click. It's a real SHAME for bitching Google to let such advertisers to use the adwords program. Imagine disappointed visitors who click their ads and visit their spam sites. I'm sure they will be careful next time when they click AdSense ads. Thus Adwords/Google's policy to allow spammers WILL KILL THIS PROGRAM in a long run. Interestingly, most/much of such MFA domains belong to one guy. All domains of this guy are forwarded to the main domain "meanwhile.com", in such a way: "http://meanwhile.com/?domain=parkeddomain.com" where "parkeddomain.com" is a domain which appears in the ads. The domain "meanwhile.com" belong to the Parced.com parking service. Here is the list from my block-list of the shitty advertisers who rip webmasters: 1wantmore.com aboutgame.info absolutelyfreesoftware.net ajoobaa.com all-about-pocket-pcs.com all-about-puzzle.com all-gps-tracking.info all-new-technology.com all-pdas-for-sale.com allaboutdownloadablegames.info allaboutfreepdasoftware.info allaboutfreesoftware.info alldigitalforu.com allentertainmentforkids.com allforsalegps.com allfreemobilesoftwares.info allfreesoftware.net allgame4you.com allnewfreesoftware.com alltheweba-z.com antiviruses-software.info antiviruszz.info awesomepcgames.com bigfreesoftware.com blogspot.com bluetrade.eu business.com cjb.net cluedupsearch.net download-hub.com download-hub.info download369.com downlodmp3s.com easymarketingmethod.com emailsoftwareguide.com ezquickinfo.com forsaleallpdas.com free-games-for-you.com free-gpsmaps.info free-pocket-pc-software.com freesoftwarelink.com freesoftwareservice.com freeware-info.net freewarearea.info freewaressoftwares.com gathermore.com googlepages.com gpsmapsonline.info gpswidescreen.com healthwiseweb.com ladyneed.com logmein.com mapseeking.com mobile-phones-in.com mobilecomputingguide.net newfreesoftware.net newsoftwarelist.com pc-pocket.info pcperformancetools.com pda-discount24.com phatware.com phones-smart.info poketpcs.com prarth.com ptshome.com showthetop.com signalup.net smartiephone.com software-enterprise.info software-paradise.info softwarebeyond.com softwaredownload4you.com softwareonlineweb.com syware.com the-pocket-pc.com titanfacts.com truepda.com usefulfreesoftware.net www-freepcgames.com your-vehicletracking.info Shame on you damn Google!
the thing is that there are many shitty spam sites who host on free services like blogspot, googlepages and so on. The sites would look like e.g. spamsite.blogspot.com, spamsite.googlepages.com and spamsite.cjb.net and so on... So, by blocking 2nd level domains like blogspot.com, googlepages.com and cjb.net you will get all those loosers blocked at once.
Yes, but you would also block legit advertisers from those sites too. Not that anyone using such a free site would pay for ads.
comon, I'm talking from practice after I checked most of the free-hosting-advertisers I couldn't find anyone worth a visit. Simply as Google is not accepting shitty AdSense site candidates (however you'll find that some "spamvertisers" from my list are USING AdSense) they also have to filter those who is willing to advertise. Despite, it's not anly the problem of AdWords but many other ad networks as well. Spammers call this "business model" arbitrage. Such dudes as ShoMoney are proudly speaking of using such a scheme. The scheme IMHO is unmoral and counts on DUMB visitors who clicks first time to be forwarded to a parked spam site and then clicks second time already on a link of the parked site. The spammers are just profiting from the difference of the CPC of the low-cost clicks which they are buying and higher CPC of the ads they are displaying.
Arbitrage when done well can provide useful content without being spammy. For example I advertise my sites on adwords. The visitor to my site reads my blog, finds some interesting stuff then clicks on a adsense ad. This, while still a form of arbitrage, provides users with useful content. Anyway, your goal is to get maximum revenue and a better environment for your users. By blocking spammy and low paying ads you are doing exactly that, so full steam ahead.
Seriously this MFA crap has been going around for a while. In june google cracked down on arbitrage but this MFA crap just continued. Wonder when google will kick this BS out of adsense. We not only lack quality of ads but we are simply making people go away from clicking ads.
anteclimax, this what you are calling is not Arbitrage. This is a normal scheme most of the webmasters use. I'm completely OK with that. Arbitrage is targeted mainly on clicks rotation, it has an input stream (bought by low CPC campaigns) and multiple outputs with mainly ONLY affiliated links. Such "webmaster" spend nearly zero efforts to build any content (mainly they park), their sites are pure MFA.
this is COMPLETELY right! People will simply stop clicking "Ads by Google" blocks simply because they were fooled and lost in the forest of affiliated links few times before.
this list is compiled from my sites, which are mainly about mobile/smartphone software. It's useless if someone with another topic will paste the list into their block list as these ads which always used to appear on my sites may never appear on their sites. The only right strategy is to check the ads which appear on your sites and see if they are MFA. Then put them into block list. Here is an article of one guy about the same technique: AdSense: Blocking out unwanted and miserable CPC sites to improve your earnings with same CTR Regarding the adsblacklist.com site, there is something good in this idea about collaborative collection of MFA and SPAM sites, but I personally doubt that it's these effective. I thing the week part there is deduction which MFA ads may appear on your site. This are maybe by keyword analysis of your site by adsblacklist.com and I think it's a joke and completely unreliable.
Crap spammy sites sometimes can be easily spotted. I keep an eye on AdSense ads displayed on my hupbages, and I believe the use of Competitive Filter helped me to get eCPM well over $100. Examples of shitty domains are: antivirusessoftware.info - though I can't check which ads are least paying, this one was certainly of the cheapest. clickbank.net - this was an interesting one, but now redirects to clickbank.com - probably CB filed the scammers.