Internet marketers who use Google Adsense on their websites share a common fear of being ejected from the program due to click fraud. The common tale is for people to find out just before they expect to receive a check. This probably happens because Google protects their interests and the integrity of the program by looking closest at new program participants and how their account managed to achieve the magical $100 payout level. Many have heard stories of internet entrepreneurs that were waiting for a big fat check from Google only to be told that they were in violation of the Google TOS and then found themselves booted from the program with earnings forfeited.
Tips To Safeguard Your Google Adsense Account
To protect yourself and your online earnings, it’s important that you fully understand the terms of service. Do ensure you actually read the terms instead of simply scrolling and clicking to the “I agree” button. This way you’ll understand which subjects and actions are taboo.
Don’t ask for clicks. This may sound too obvious but really, even if you think you can get away with randomly asking a friend to click it will very likely catch up with you.
Don’t tell your family and friends that you are blogging for money or have a website for money because they might try to ‘help’ you. I once read on a forum that a particularly well-liked schoolteacher had told his students he was blogging and without his knowledge, the entire class tried to help him by clicking his ads. Needless to say Google saw the pattern by IP address and he lost his publisher status. Best to keep it to yourself so that if someone does visit your site and decides to click an ad, they’re doing it out of natural curiosity.
If the unthinkable has happened and something has happened that you think will jeopardize your status, write to Google and explain. Hopefully your efforts will pay off.
About Sean Rasmussen
Hi Sean,
Oh MY!!!!!!! I have told my family what I am doing I had better tell them not to click my adds I don’t want to end up in trouble, I would be upset.
One thing I had done was put my site up on a traffic site and I think that is where most of the clicks have come from but how could I tell?
Hello Sean,
Never occurred to me about family and friends helping out. I guess sometimes, like in life, we try to do what is best but end up doing more harm.
Will try to remember how to Avoid Click Fraud with my website/blog so that I am respecting the rules. If you respect the rules, then you will be given what is rightfully yours
Cheers
Lisa
Hi Sean,
Some really important points to remember here. The poor teacher. I wonder how long he would be banned for. Would it be for life, do you have any idea?
Hi Sean,
It definitely pays to stay on the right side of Google. I’ll be reading their TOS closely before I use Adsense on my blog.
Yes you need to be very careful. I am not using adsense at the moment so it is not an issue but it needs to be kept in mind
Its a bit ironic. If I have friends with similar interests, they read my blog because they know me and they find some ads really interesting – and that might be to my disadvantage …. I wonder where the “pattern” starts for Google. But it’s definitely a good idea to be careful and not to tell someone “oh, can you please click on all the ads on my post?”
Hi Renee,
I was at a seminar where they were talking about black hat stuff and someone asked this question. The guy presenting said something like Google would follow the clicks and depending on how long they stayed on the page and the pattern of their browsing they would decide if it was click fraud. He said that if people do this for you, you need to ask them to go several clicks deep. For instance, the initial click on your page and then the next and the next and try to follow a logical sequence as if you genuinely wanted more information. That’s about all I remember, sorry.
Yikes big brother is watching. Thanks for the great tip i’m sure there would be many people making this mistake. Personally I would much rather my friends and family would be taking much more interest in my content anyway. Ads are just a distraction away even though they do have a purpose.
Well I am learning new stuff every day. I don’t have adsense on my blog yet but I will make sure that I read the TOS, which I sometimes have skipped through in the past because it takes forever to read. Forewarned is forearmed…. don’t toss out the TOS?
I like the tip to contact Google if you think something has happened that might jeopardize your Adsense status. It never hurts to try to head of potential problems.
Google must have some amazing technology to keep a track on all this..mmmmm…what does the CIA or the IRS have? The mind boogles…..
The CIA and IRS contract out to Google. {LOL}
It boils down to: “Just don’t do it!” And from what I’ve heard, getting a favourable resolution from Google is nearly impossible – so just make sure you don’t have to investigate that option.