p2pnet - rss feed: More Adsense click fraud BS
p2p news / p2pnet: Google’s Adsense unit is still refusing to pay us money it owes us, using the totally false accusation that we somehow created false clicks as the excuse.
In February, without warning, the company took down the Adsense panel we had on the right. The earnings were paltry, but when you’re trying to run a site such as p2pnet, it all counts.
We emailed every one of the names we found on Google’s corporate media and PR list, but not one of them had the common courtesy to respond. Nor would the company state how it had arrived at its erroneous conclusion that we were defrauding it, or what mechanism it had used to reach it.
We know we’re not alone. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other site owners out there who’ve also been falsely labelled as scammers, and p2pnet readers Nate and DaBlade told us about one of them.
Google won’t pay Benjamin Cohen, the former teenaged dot.com millionaire, for ads run on his site, says the Times Online, going on:
“For many sites, AdSense has become the sole source of income, with some small one man band publishing outfits claiming to make in excess of $100,000 through showing the adverts. AdSense also amounts to some 43 per cent of Google’s total revenue.”
$100,000? Wow! The most we ever made in one month was $747.53 and immediately afterwards, our “earnings” plummeted to $353.73, $177.87 and $167.09, despite the fact readership was, and still is, rising steadily. Google wouldn’t explain the sudden discrepancy. And the Adsense income continued at the same low level until it was yanked without discussion or warning.
“From day one, I integrated Google AdSense adverts on to PinkNews.co.uk,” says Cohen in the Times story. “It instantly provided advertising that was both relevant to my readers and that fitted into the context of the website. In addition, I was able to weed out advertisers that I didn’t want my brand to be associated with, such as pornography and dating.”
Before Google blocked the p2pnet ads, we’d attempted to cull misleading ‘product’ which makes up much of the Google Adsense offering. However, there was a limit of 200 removeable ads, and we very quickly reached that point, after which there wasn’t anything we could do.
Meanwhile, “Sure enough, a couple of months later, a cheque for a couple of hundred pounds arrived from Google, which was duly banked and the funds cleared,” Cohen goes on. “So far, so good. But a couple of days later, I was informed by e-mail that my AdSense account had been terminated due to ‘click fraud’, and that I would receive no further payments and be unable to use Google’s advertising products again.”
The Times explains click fraud is where people or programs - automated robots, or bots - click an ad link, “in an attempt to defraud either or both the advertiser and Google. Click fraud experts tend to run up huge levels of traffic, generating thousands of clicks and each may cost a particular advertiser in excess of £10,000.”
However, Cohen’s PinkNews.co.uk, “had received very little traffic and consequently very few clicks on advertisements,” he says. “We’re talking in the region of £100 of advertising, hardly the sort of figure someone seriously engaging in click fraud would bother about.”
Same as p2pnet.
“After a number of e-mails to Google without replies and no response from their press office, I decided to cut my losses and concentrate on selling advertising direct to clients, thereby bypassing Google’s system.”
Same as p2pnet.
“Then a few months ago, I got chatting about my experiences with Google’s AdSense product with some friends in the industry and it became apparent that the false allegations of fraud were not unique to my business.”
Same same.
Then, “In order to test Google out, I signed up to Google AdSense once again. I was accepted, despite the fact that they had previously told me in no uncertain terms to never use their products again. I wrote to them to make sure that my site would meet their admission criteria. Trinh, from the American based AdSense team, checked us out and said that we were approved for the ads.”
Yes, we did : ) We used the same information, but with a different email addie. We’ll see what happens.
Back to Cohen, “A couple of hundred dollars’ worth of revenue later, once again an e-mail from Google appeared in my inbox. It told me: ‘It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.”
He finally decided not to continue and instead, signed PinkNews up to Yahoo!’s pay per click programme, “carefully noting the right to speak to a real human being, 24/7, if we were unhappy with the figures they provided.”
Should we do the same?
We tried. But despite the fact we don’t sell anything and that p2pnet is a straight news and information site, we weren’t acceptable to Yahoo. And come to think of it, the first time we applied to Google we were turned down there, too.
Double-dealings and triple and quadruple standards are alive and doing well at Yahoo and Google. But advocacy sites such as p2pnet don’t reach their high standards.
We’re waiting patiently for the first class-action suit. We’ll be happy to sign up.
Stay tuned.
===============
UPDATE: 10:32 am Pacific
Frequent poster _-Jile-_ says, “You could try sending an email over to Eric and see what happens …”
No sooner suggested that done.
Hi Eric:
If this reaches you, I’d appreciate a response to this post.
http://p2pnet.net/story/8481
Cheers! And thanks. And all the best …
Jon
http://www.p2pnet.net
Cheers, _-Jile-_
Watch this space ; )
Also See:
totally false - Google yanks p2pnet ads, February 1, 2006
common courtesy - Google yanks p2pnet ads: II, February 4, 2006
not alone - Adsense, p2pnet and ‘fake clicks’, February 11, 2006
Times Online - The nonsense about AdSense, April 7, 2006
April 11th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Now you know how many indivual ebay sellers feel. People there get suspended, insulted and ripped off with no explanation why. Contact is only thru an email robot with the I.Q. of a pocket calculator. If the beef is with PayPal, its even worse as money is usually seized and never returned or returned only after a lengthly stay in the PP account. Somehow I think that these totally online operations are never going to be very useful to individuals who have no recourse.
April 11th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Something that should be fairly simple for Google - they need to GIVE people the ip address of the ‘offender’ that is causing the problems on these sites…
My thought on where it’s coming from? Search engines, webcache sites, etc… Yep, those are bots and in the case of the webcache bots they could definitely follow the links in your pages but even still that would only be a few times a month and a small amount of clicks..
One other idea - people could have their web browser setup wrong? I’m not sure what impact Google’s adsense as they never say ‘really’ what made them call it clickfraud.. however, on my Mesilla if I go to this page to config it ( about:config ) and filter by ” http “, I can change the number of connections my browser makes to websites - basically, up to a point, it speeds up your internet browsing my multisource connecting to websites (the same reason people use download managers - multiple connections speed up most downloads as the typical http/ftp server has per-connection bandwidth limits in place but allow a few connections per ip to get in)…
By default my browser is set to have 24 max connections, with 8 per server - if adsense is thinking that more than one connection by a single ip is clickfraud then just this simple browser’s default setting would cause problems (I don’t know what the defaults are in ie - I don’t use it). Even if 8 connections per server were ‘ok’ I could set it to 1000 (this would be stupid but just for the point of saying it, well, I’m just sayin it lol) and visit sites I don’t like and wala - they’d all lose their accounts.
I’d like Google/adsense to post a list of the sites and the top 10 ip’s to each one that are getting them listed as taking part in clickfraud - I have a feeling they’d have a few of the ip’s if not most/all of them matching.
The lack of transparency on their allegations makes their own actions questionable.. and the fact that they didn’t reply to your email Jon is saddening but not surprising as I’m sure they’re getting lots of email atm lol - they’re morons.
If you want your question answered - it will cost you $2.50 - no joke. http://answers.google.com/answers/
Ran across another person having adsense problems while looking for Google CEO’s email address (which by the way is ESchmidt@google.com and EricSchmidt1@yahoo.com).. http://anarchangel.mu.nu/archives/159009.php.. Funny but I have a feeling Google will be the next big bust on the net - hope you’re not a stock holder.
You could try sending an email over to Eric and see what happens as well.
Just my 10 cents.
_-Jile-_
April 11th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
That’s wierd about PayPal… I was selling some Rose Bowl tickets earlier this year and got a CALL saying they needed to verify the authenticity of the tickets before they gave me my money… It wasn’t a huge deal but it was human contact…. (And yes, it was them, I missed the call and called them back to get the general PayPal switch board…. )
April 11th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Google is full of shit, don’t use third party ads, hunt down companies on your own.
April 11th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Some time ago, I ran a site on a collection of guides, this was a free service in which I never charged any money. All I had was AdSense which was only my funding. One month, I had an unexpected surge of traffic the highest I ever been, I was also tracking how many clicks were onto links, which was very high. I also suspected AdSense to have a lot of click, but at the end of the month, all my advertisement was pulled, needless to say, I lost everything, I could no longer run my site or even pay for the doman. Google never explained their actions, they only sent me an email saying “click fraud”. I emailed the CEO and made a lot of smoke, but nothing works. I am too waiting for a class action suit to sue Google.
April 12th, 2006 at 11:44 am
I don’t think that multiple connections from a browser have anyting to do with it… there is going to be only 1 connection for 1 add-click
I’d define actions for “click fraud” as multiple (X) clicks on add from same ip (Y) in small time period (Z)
And that makes me think about anonymizers … since regulars of this site think about privacy multiple users are probably connectiong thru same anonymizers - this accounts for X & Y … if many click in small timeframe (Z) you have just commited click-fraud…
Any thoughts on this?
April 12th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Me too!!!
Bastards at Google! screw you larry and brin!
I’m trying Yahoo! I hope it works
May 3rd, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Well I am now a firm believer that GOOGLE adsense is a scam. I signed my site up for it feburary, we made $200 first month (which was paid), following month we jumped up to $487 due to increased traffic from all the bad weather we has seen in the USA. Today recieved my letter from Google telling me I will not be paid. Nobody here clicked any of the ads on the site www.livewxradar.com
It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.
A publisher’s site may not have invalid clicks on any ad(s), including but not limited to clicks generated by:
- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason
Practices such as these are in violation of the Google AdSense Terms and Conditions and program polices, which can be viewed at:
https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_US
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US
Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected advertisers.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
May 3rd, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Well I am now a firm believer that GOOGLE adsense is a scam. I signed my site up for it feburary, we made $200 first month (which was paid), following month we jumped up to $487 due to increased traffic from all the bad weather we has seen in the USA. Today recieved my letter from Google telling me I will not be paid. Nobody here clicked any of the ads on the site www.livewxradar.com
It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.
A publisher’s site may not have invalid clicks on any ad(s), including but not limited to clicks generated by:
- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason
Practices such as these are in violation of the Google AdSense Terms and Conditions and program polices, which can be viewed at:
https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_US
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US
Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected advertisers.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
June 28th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
How many small websites have gotten the dreaded termination email from Google? AdSense is a very clever scam.
Here’s how it works.
Google never terminates anyone until they cross the threshold for payment. Each month Google targets a predetermined quota of websites for non-payment of funds that have been earned by those websites. They send out the standard termination notice knowing full well that the website owners have no recourse. They tell the website owners that the funds that they have accrued will be returned to the advertisers when, in fact, no such return of funds to the advertisers ever occurs. Google simply pockets the money AND they have enjoyed considerable free advertising on the “offending” websites. Since this is done on a regular monthly basis this is a very lucrative 100% PROFIT CENTER for them.
This is why they only speak in vague generalities about why they have terminated a website. This is why they will never answer a specific request to explain specific reasons for a website termination.
The Google AdSense program is a very slyly cloaked scam. But only for the unfortunate websites that make it onto this month’s quota list. Everyone else thinks the program is great. That is until they make it onto the monthly quota list. Remember, the monthly quota list is a 100% PROFIT CENTER for Google.
I strongly urge all of you to find other more reputable firms to deal with. They’re out there!
June 29th, 2006 at 12:17 am
How many small websites have gotten the dreaded termination email from Google? AdSense is a very clever scam.
Here’s how it works.
Google never terminates anyone until they cross the threshold for payment. Each month Google targets a predetermined quota of websites for non-payment of funds that have been earned by those websites. They send out the standard termination notice knowing full well that the website owners have no recourse. They tell the website owners that the funds that they have accrued will be returned to the advertisers when, in fact, no such return of funds to the advertisers ever occurs. Google simply pockets the money AND they have enjoyed considerable free advertising on the “offending” websites. Since this is done on a regular monthly basis this is a very lucrative 100% PROFIT CENTER for them.
This is why they only speak in vague generalities about why they have terminated a website. This is why they will never answer a specific request to explain specific reasons for a website termination.
The Google AdSense program is a very slyly cloaked scam. But only for the unfortunate websites that make it onto this month’s quota list. Everyone else thinks the program is great. That is until they make it onto the monthly quota list. Remember, the monthly quota list is a 100% PROFIT CENTER for Google.
I strongly urge all of you to find other more reputable firms to deal with. They’re out there!
June 29th, 2006 at 12:48 am
How many small websites have gotten the dreaded termination email from Google? AdSense is a very clever scam.
Here’s how it works.
Google never terminates anyone until they cross the threshold for payment. Each month Google targets a predetermined quota of websites for non-payment of funds that have been earned by those websites. They send out the standard termination notice knowing full well that the website owners have no recourse. They tell the website owners that the funds that they have accrued will be returned to the advertisers when, in fact, no such return of funds to the advertisers ever occurs. Google simply pockets the money AND they have enjoyed considerable free advertising on the “offending” websites. Since this is done on a regular monthly basis this is a very lucrative 100% PROFIT CENTER for them.
This is why they only speak in vague generalities about why they have terminated a website. This is why they will never answer a specific request to explain specific reasons for a website termination.
The Google AdSense program is a very slyly cloaked scam. But only for the unfortunate websites that make it onto this month’s quota list. Everyone else thinks the program is great. That is until they make it onto the monthly quota list. Remember, the monthly quota list is a 100% PROFIT CENTER for Google.
I strongly urge all of you to find other more reputable firms to deal with. They’re out there!
June 29th, 2006 at 11:32 am
How many small websites have gotten the dreaded termination email from Google? AdSense is a very clever scam.
Here’s how it works.
Google never terminates anyone until they cross the threshold for payment. Each month Google targets a predetermined quota of websites for non-payment of funds that have been earned by those websites. They send out the standard termination notice knowing full well that the website owners have no recourse. They tell the website owners that the funds that they have accrued will be returned to the advertisers when, in fact, no such return of funds to the advertisers ever occurs. Google simply pockets the money AND they have enjoyed considerable free advertising on the “offending” websites. Since this is done on a regular monthly basis this is a very lucrative 100% PROFIT CENTER for them.
This is why they only speak in vague generalities about why they have terminated a website. This is why they will never answer a specific request to explain specific reasons for a website termination.
The Google AdSense program is a very slyly cloaked scam. But only for the unfortunate websites that make it onto this month’s quota list. Everyone else thinks the program is great. That is until they make it onto the monthly quota list. Remember, the monthly quota list is a 100% PROFIT CENTER for Google.
I strongly urge all of you to find other more reputable firms to deal with. They’re out there!