Preserving Your AdSense Account

One of the main complaints I hear is from people who have been suspended from the AdSense program. Most of them proclaim to have stuck rigidly to the AdSense terms and conditions and, this being the case, they are aggrieved that they have lost what may have been a significant stream of income.

Once you have been suspended from the AdSense program it is very difficult, although not quite impossible, to get reinstated. You will lose your account balance and any potential future AdSense earnings. Most people who are suspended have actually violated the terms and conditions in some way, although many pretend they haven't in a vain attempt to get their account back. Ultimately, the terms and conditions are written in such a way that Google can suspend any member from the AdSense program for any reason they see fit.

Instead of facing a protracted uphill struggle trying to get your account reinstated, it's best to reduce the risk of suspension in the first instance by following these key rules:
  • Never click on your own ads. Never ask anyone else to click on your ads. It is best to avoid telling your friends and family about your website, in case they have the urge to 'help you out' by clicking on your ads. Google have very good click fraud detection and will spot unusual patterns of click activity on your site.
  • Never use any method of generating false clicks or impressions of your ads.
  • Do not display more ads than permitted. On a single web page you are allowed up to 3 AdSense for content ads, 2 AdSense for search boxes, 1 AdSense link unit and two referral buttons for each referral product (updated Jan 2007).
  • Do not modify the AdSense HTML code in any way.
  • Do not place your code on a page with similar looking ads. Competing ads are now allowed as long as they aren't confused with AdSense ads (updated Jan 2007).
  • Do not place your AdSense code on a page with banned content. Banned content includes pornography, illicit drugs, excessive profanity, incitement of religious or racial hatred, gambling, sale of alcohol or tobacco and sites containing copyrighted material to name but a few.
  • Do not place your AdSense code in a pop up window or email.
  • Do not offer any written incentive or inducement to click an ad.
  • Do not try and disguise your ads by hiding them in pictures or otherwise obscuring the text.
  • Avoid artificial traffic generation to your AdSense serving pages. I am referring to programs like TrafficSwarm where you view a site in return for someone viewing your site. Although these aren't technically false impressions - the surfer genuinely wants to visit your page in order to earn visits to their own - they are not encouraged.
It is a good idea to keep checking your AdSense account and visitor logs for suspicious activity. If you see anything untoward report it to AdSense support immediately - they like being kept informed and are less likely to accuse you of a policy violation. Likewise, if you accidentally click one of your own ads let AdSense support know - they understand that accidents do happen and wont penalise you for it.

If you are unlucky enough to get suspended there is a slight glimmer of hope, but that's for another day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would go with bidvertiser. However, i have never seen them pay me a cent. Google paid me about 50 but the payout was too slow so i left