I've had an Adsense account in good standing since 2007. What's worrisome for me is that I noticed my account says "invalid activity" on 09/15, and 4 cents was debited from my account. It seems strange, I never have 4 cent clicks to begin with, usually a click is 50 cents to a dollar. I have full access to my account. They never sent me an email. All ads are displaying on my sites. It shows I'm accumulating money today. I know everyone that gets in trouble with Adsense, they always say "I didn't do anything wrong!" In my case, I can honestly say I didn't. At least not anything I'm aware of or intentional. Do they ever see invalid activity, analyze it, and decide to just let it slide OR do you think they are going to wait and ban me at the end of the month? I suppose I could write them, but don't really want to. They may just respond with a form letter anyway. I would be extremely disappointed if it happened, but would just start promoting affiliate programs exclusively. Anyway, so is it their practice to just wait or?
AdSense support unfortunately only replies to those making over $25 per week. (Source) Also, 4 cent clicks are not so uncommon. I don't think a 4 cent click will be too much of a deal for them to ban you over, as long as your ongoing usage of AdSense is valid. To be honest, I wouldn't be worrying too much over this, and just wait. There isn't much you can do, either way.
Thanks, Echo. Right, I guess I'll just try not to be too concerned. Not much I can do about it anyway. I do make a bit over $25 a week, but probably won't write to them anyway. I'll find out for sure by the end of this month.
Hi Rebecca, I'm seeing the same thing with my account. I've also been in good standing since 2006 and also just noticed "invalid activity" during the month of September 2012. Like you, I've also done nothing wrong. I'm as alarmed about it as you are but from what I've gathered so far, it seems like Adsense has always accounted for invalid activity but they're only now just reporting it to the publishers. If you recall, they always used the term "Earnings" vs. "Finalized Earnings" because your finalized earnings might be slightly less (due to invalid activity).
Very strange. But yeah, I didn't get in any type of trouble. They didn't even contact me. My account is still in good standing. I guess they can tell somehow that I'm okay.
Google is Google, Big G has the right to terminate, and close accounts for whatever reason they believe which might danger they're paying advertisers. So, just try and be polite and call they're help line if possible.
Yeah, anyone is prepared to get banned in adsense game. Adsense is a dangerous game, once you get invalid clicks or you violate any rules you can instant ban with notification by google.