"It has come to our attention that invalid clicks" email...

I recieved an email from google about invalid clicks (which i have no idea about because i never clicked my own ads/asked people to click/etc)...so far this month I have earned $1,500+ and I really need this money..should I take down my ads so i get my money?

The email:
"Hello _____,

It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on
the Google ads on your site(s). In the future, we may adjust your
payment for any days during which invalid clicks occurred in order to
properly credit advertisers for any invalid activity.

As a reminder, any method of generating invalid clicks is strictly
prohibited. Invalid clicks include but are not limited to any clicks
that are generated through the use of robots, automated clicking tools,
manual clicks by a publisher on the publisher's own web pages, or a
publisher encouraging others to click on his ads.

Publishers may not provide incentives of any kind to encourage or
require users to click on the ads, due to the potential for inflation
of advertiser costs. If we find your account to be in violation again,
action may be taken against your account and payment may be withheld.
Please be sure to review and remain in compliance with our Terms and
Conditions and program policies:

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

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team"

 

At least you weren't banned straight up like others are.
I'd try and find out where the clicks were coming from, to stop it from happening again.

 

How would I go about that? (my site is on blogspot)

 

Wow. A warning?
You should consider yourself very lucky.

This is great to see that google actually looks into false clicks and will warn if necessary.

 

yeah i do consider myself lucky..i only wish i could prevent this from happening again

 

If your really worried about getting that money this month and could live without earning anymore, than I would take them down for a couple days until you can track down the invalid clicks and prevent them from reoccuring

 

yes i had that last week as well - i did take adsense down to ensure that i wasnt banned - but i also responded to G right away telling them what i was doing and also that i had been careful not to click my ads or break there TOS - i think its worthwhile letting them know you are trying to do the right thing

 

Ask them at what location the invalid clicks are being generated? Can they give you IP addresses so you can ban them? Do you have a channel set up for individual websites or is it just one? Ask them what sort of "invalid clicks" they are? Maybe too much foreign traffic?

 

thanks for the help everyone. i am going to take down my ads (for a few days at least) and email them back

 

Donna,

What is the URL to your blog? I've seen you post about it a lot, but I've never seen a URL. I would like to take a look at it

 

i will send you a pm with the link now

 

I'd try to get more details out of them, offer to show them all your log files, whatever it takes. Too scary.

 

When it comes to invalid clicks a warning is very few and far between.

I think because of the amount of money you have earned was the only reason why you got the warning and not an outright ban. Seems that the High Money makers get special treatment.

 

How many Myspace bulletins have you sent out for your blog?

I wonder if that might be the source of the problem?

 

In the future, we may adjust your
payment for any days during which invalid clicks occurred in order to
properly credit advertisers for any invalid activity.

I got this email when I report a sudden increase on my CTR and earnings. I guess they're planning to not include invalid clicks to your earnings and not ban publishers anymore.

 

I would recommend:

1) Removed AS from all your sites for a few days (just in case...)
2) Install adlogger ( www.adlogger.org )
3) After 3-5 days re-insert your AS codes and monitor closely your adlogger reports for a few days

And if you find an IP clicking a lot just ban in from your site and maybe it would not be a bad ideia to email google the IP.

Yesterday i got 10 clicks from same IP result: Banned in from my site (just in case...) lol
Good luck

 

Yet another Myspace site targeted for Adsense banning? I'm telling you guys, I'm seeing a pattern here. There is something about Myspace sites that make them prime candidates for being accused of invalid clicks...

 

I'm not disagreeing..
G probably knows it's too easy to send a bulliten that says "go to my site and click on a few ads" - all G sees is a sudden increase in traffic and CTR. Not to mention that the majority of Myspacer'z have no job, no money, and no intention of buying anything from any advertisers.

 

Advertisers aren't always selling stuff though, lots of myspace advertisers are just using adsense arbitrage to attract more traffic (as noted by their rediculously low CPC).

 

My suggestion is adlogger as well. Has worked great for a number of my sites.