I’m a newbie to Adsense beyond the point of signing up for an account and adding ads to my blog, so I appreciate anyone’s help that they can provide. I opened a Google Adsense account just over a year ago so that I could begin monetizing my blog on Blogger. I am now up to around $60 in my account. Yeah, I know...slow going. Here's my concern. I recently surfed onto the policy page and came across the following item in the current Adsense content guidelines: Publishers may not place AdSense code on pages with content that violates any of our content guidelines. Sites with Google ads may not include or link to: Content regarding programs which compensate users for clicking ads or offers, performing searches, surfing websites or reading emails I give it a 99% chance that I'm violating this policy. When I first enrolled in Adsense I don't recall it saying this. I read the requirements carefully. I did NOT want to waste my time or clutter my blog with Adsense ads if it was not going to result in income received. My blog had already been created at this point and I would have known that I didn’t comply and would have moved on. So a few questions: 1) Wouldn't Adsense have banned my account by now if I were violating this policy? Or do they not bother until it comes time to actually hand over cash to the publisher? 2) My blog has not changed since the time I submitted my application to Adsense. If I remember correctly, they had to personally review my blog before I could proceed. Wouldn't they have disapproved me at that time? 3) If the answer to #1 and #2 is "YES", then maybe I'm not violating the policy? Even though I do have links to Pay to Click Sites, I spent a lot of time adding content to educate a visitor rather than something that looked like a spam blog with a bunch of links and little information (like 90% of the other PTC blogs). If it's helpful in answering my questions, my blog is at blogspot and it's name is nocostcashfromhome. Let me know what your opinion is as far as content possibly overriding some policy, although I think I’m reaching for straws here 4) Can Google deny payment if my blog doesn't have frequent updates? 5) What if I changed my blog to eliminate any policy violations and insured that my blog was compliant now, long before I’ll be requesting a payout. Is Google "big brother" enough to know better and still deny my payment when I request it? Bottom line, I’ll delete all Adsense ads from my blog if it’s highly likely I’ll never see a penny. I wish Adsense would tell people this long before they reach the payout so people can move on and switch to another form of monetization method that's less picky. If any one has any recommendations for a replacement to Adsense that isn’t so stringent on site content, please post them here. If you get referral credit, then message me with a little info about the program and your referral link and I’ll sign up that way. It’s always a shame to give away referral earnings just because I don’t know anyone who’s using that company Thanks so much!! Debbie twinendeavors
Well the policy has been updated several times over the years, so it's possible that requirement is relatively new (but I believe it's been there for at least a year). The bottom line is that you are responsible to make sure your site meets the policy requirements and to follow any changes. It seems that many accounts aren't reviewed until just before payout at the $100 mark, so it is possible that your site could get closed at that point. You have a few options right now: - leave the ads on and change the content of your site so that it meets the Program Policies (content, updated privacy policy, etc). If your site is in full compliance when you hit $100 you'll probably be OK. - take the ads off your current site and put them on a new site that meets the Program Policies. Monitize your current site in some other way that makes you more than $60 per year . You can make a new site - maybe about a hobby or other topic that interests you - that meets all the program policies and put your Adsense code there for residual income. - remove the ads from your site and close your Adsense account. They should pay you the money you've accumulated. (And Google doesn't care whether you have frequent updates or not. Some sites that haven't changed in years have Adsense on them. More frequent updates will probably let you rank higher in the SERPS and get you more traffic, though.)
As Nonny said, but personnally what I would do is take the ads of your site, create another site on another topic, put the adsense on, and work on developping traffic on it. As for the old site, monetize it with whatever you've find already, I'm sure you don't do it for the pleasure of talking about pay-to-click programs.. Because adsense can be a real earner, your main source of income, you simply have to crack the code, to understand how it works, but the bottom line is "traffic + good ad placement".
Thanks for the replies Senserely and Nonny ~ Your reply was better than I was expecting. At least I have a good chance, with a little effort, to retain my measely $60 As it is, I've got a ton of miscellaneous stuff written, so maybe I'll rob from there and see what I can come up with. Thanks again! Debbie
Nonny ~ Just to clarify, even though my account is only $60, if I close it they'll pay me that amount even though I'm below the minimum payout? Does my content violation affect that happening at all? Or since I'll be removing the ads PRIOR to closing my account that somehow bypasses that issue? Thanks Debbie
as long as you didn't get traffic from pay to click sites and your clicks are valid,the money is yours even though you violated the TOS for linking to such sites. if you wish to quit and close your account,you'll get the $60.
I believe the minimum payout for closed accounts is $10, so you'd get your check. I don't know if they would double check your site and account or not before doing that. But if it were me, I'd do what wwwSENSERELYcom suggested: keep your account and just put the ads on a different site.