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Largest Adsense Finalized Earnings Discrepancy Ever...Help??

Discussion in 'AdSense' started by Dave Goehst, Oct 1, 2013.

  1. #1
    Yeah, so last month I managed $1246.75 in estimated earnings; I just noticed the finalized earnings are $215.40 - so, like $1031.35 difference.

    Two questions (if you can call them that)

    1) Is the finalized earnings continuously updated until the 2nd of the month?
    2) WTF?
     
    Dave Goehst, Oct 1, 2013 IP
  2. Densely

    Densely Well-Known Member

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    #2
    1. Nope, finalized earning updated only once (in the first week of every month).
    2. Normal difference in between estimated earning and finalized earning varies from 3% - 8% (For some publishers upto 10% depending on their site traffic quality and their click behavior).
    It looks like either your account had received fraudulent clicks in the past, which Google recognized last month, and deducted those amount from your your estimated earning.

    And finally, slightly off topic: Do-not try to be over-smart while dealing with people. As you don't know person in the other end may be smarter than you.
     
    Densely, Oct 2, 2013 IP
  3. blogdum

    blogdum Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Thats a huge difference and it rarely happens. As @Densely said you have received high number of fraudulent clicks due to which there was a major change in finalized earnings.
    I would suggest you to monitor your traffic.
     
    blogdum, Oct 2, 2013 IP
  4. Dave Goehst

    Dave Goehst Well-Known Member

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    #4
    ....All that with a 1.03% CTR...lol

    My goal was to test my luck with Adsense. Could honestly care if they banned me or not; it's not even close to my 'bread and butter' earnings.

    I've geo- and non-geo traffic, social traffic, a Bing campaign, organic visitors combining to give me that figure. I've mixed 21% unsafe with 79% safe traffic. Guess the former outdid the latter...

    Yeah, they sent my PIN mailer 3 days ago, too...lol
     
    Dave Goehst, Oct 2, 2013 IP
  5. RKC

    RKC Banned

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    #5
    Better check the clicking activity once in every week, because if you notice any fraudulent clicking activity, you can just report it to the Adsense or Block the particular IP address.
     
    RKC, Oct 2, 2013 IP
  6. Densely

    Densely Well-Known Member

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    #6
    As you said your traffic is not that safe (and BTW: How could you say 79% of your traffic is safe !).
    As I had bad experience with you, I am assuming Google also had similar experience and hence they are penalizing you.
     
    Densely, Oct 3, 2013 IP
  7. Dave Goehst

    Dave Goehst Well-Known Member

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    #7
    Bad experience with me? What are you talking about? Google had a similar experience with me? Your English needs help....none of that makes sense.

    I can say 79% of my traffic is safe because it's coming from safe sources. I watch my Analytics in Real Time about 14-16 hours each day on a second monitor.

    But, again, it doesn't really matter - it's really a huge experiment.
     
    Dave Goehst, Oct 3, 2013 IP
  8. privatefox

    privatefox Member

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    #8
    This is uncommon, but as Google continuously evaluates the quality of clicks on your ads, the numbers will change. I notice slight fluctuations on earnings throughout the day, nearly every day (yes, I'm one of those people that checks earnings from my phone every half hour or so).

    Several years ago I had an amazing day with ads, earning almost $10k in a single day (if you're curious what the article was, after looking at analytics, I found out it was some financial article I published on my blog that a news company linked to).

    Up to that point, I was only earning between $100 and $200 per month. I couldn't believe it (the timing was so perfect, I was in school and *really* needed the money for tuition), and waiting the whole month for that payment to come was torture. I kept checking the account every day, sure it would disappear, and it never did. Everything happens for a reason!

    Google deposited the funds into my account a month later. I paid my tuition and later graduated from school.

    A few weeks after receiving the payment, I received an email that Google reviewed the clicks in my account, and reversed the amount of money earned from that article. This made my account balance around $10k negative. It took me almost two years of writing content and earning money every month to pay off the "debt."

    On the upside, this was a free student loan. I needed that money for tuition, like, I really needed it or would have dropped out. The one downside to this "free" loan was that even though it was reversed, the earnings were reported on my 1099 from Google at the end of the year, so I had to pay taxes on it.

    So in conclusion, the numbers reported from Google can change, even after the money is deposited in your account (or paper check is sent). Of course, the Adsense program (for me at least) has had far more benefits than issues like these, so it's been in my best interest to continue working with them and growing my content and advertising inventory.
     
    privatefox, Oct 3, 2013 IP
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  9. Dave Goehst

    Dave Goehst Well-Known Member

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    #9
    I would've taken that payment, closed the account, and stiffed Google with the bill. Although I don't expect the $1200 to stick (they already reduced payable earnings to $215.00), this has been an experience for me. Again, I learned several long years ago not to trust Adsense and, after reading successful publisher lawsuits, I feel everyone has the right to more 'transparency' on Google's behalf, and here's why:

    1) When clicks are reversed, publishers never know if advertisers are really credited for the errant clicks (having ran several Adwords campaigns myself, I can tell you they took every dime they could from me and never gave back)

    2) We can only assume that Google is honest. Again, they use some 'secretive' formula to track clicks that, again, we'll never see.

    3) Google outsources their 'click review' teams; how do we know someone out there is educated enough to properly view the reports?

    4) Big names aren't always synonymous with 'trust' - Bernie Madoff a prime example.

    All told, if Google sends me $10k by mistake, better believe they'll get stuck with the bill should they 'conveniently' decide they screwed up (which, isn't funny that the person above me did really well THEN Google had their 'a-ha' moment?)
     
    Dave Goehst, Oct 3, 2013 IP
  10. privatefox

    privatefox Member

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    #10
    I can't say I wasn't tempted to do this, too, but that would have ended my relationship with Google Adsense altogether. Through some pretty hard work, this program now supplements my income and makes my entire family more comfortable as a result. Adsense truly improves my quality of life.

    I also believe in something like karma, however gradual it may seem, and that everything happens for a reason. I needed the money for school, and the universe figured out a way for me to pay my tuition through my Adsense account. No reason to steal this money or return the gift with dishonesty. My account continues to grow today.
     
    privatefox, Oct 3, 2013 IP
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  11. Dave Goehst

    Dave Goehst Well-Known Member

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    #11
    Then call my actions a bit of revenge - Adsense robbed me of legitimate income 6 years ago; I owe them. Either way, corporations like Google find ways to screw the general public - call me the 'voice for the voiceless'.
     
    Dave Goehst, Oct 3, 2013 IP
  12. privatefox

    privatefox Member

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    #12
    I'm sorry to hear that you feel robbed. We are all free to make choices; I made mine and I've been happy with the consequences of that decision.

    Different strokes for different folks.
     
    privatefox, Oct 3, 2013 IP
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  13. arsijust17

    arsijust17 Member

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    #13
    I generated around $379.86 from one of my youtube video but Adsense did't include it in my finalized earning and 6th months have been passed now.
    [​IMG]
     
    arsijust17, Apr 11, 2016 IP
  14. pmf123

    pmf123 Notable Member

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    #14
    If you click on Payments, it will tell you specifically how much of income was invalid clicks
     
    pmf123, Apr 11, 2016 IP
  15. Sloth

    Sloth Well-Known Member

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    #15
    I would take a good look at your analytics data to see where traffic has been coming from. Chances are you've got some pretty low quality traffic sources.

    If you bought traffic, that would explain everything. Quality traffic shouldn't be invalidated like that.
     
    Sloth, Apr 11, 2016 IP