Blogger World

I have come to say that Google Adsense has scammed many people. If you go on webmaster forums these days, you will find thousands of accounts from decent, honest people who say that Google Adsense scammed them.

First off, let me explain what Adsense is. Adsense is a third-party ad network for publishers. Advertisers buy advertisements on Google Adwords. Website owners can enroll in Adsense to enable text, image, and video advertisements on their websites. Google puts those Adwords advertisements on websites that use Google Adsense.

Every time a user clicks on a Google Adsense advertisement, the advertiser pays money. That money gets divided amongst Google and the website owner who's Adsense advertisement was clicked on. Before acceptance, the webmaster who's applying for an Adsense account must agree that he/she will not click on his own Adsense advertisements, nor will he provide an incentive for users to click on advertisements. Google Adsense does this to prevent website owners from clicking on their own advertisements. This is good, because Google is trying to prevent website owners from defrauding advertisers.

The following is how webmasters who use Google Adsense get paid. Adsense will only pay you when your Adsense account reaches above $100. Then, on the month when you're account reaches $100, you will get paid in 30 days. For example, I have an account, and my account reached $50 on Febuary 28, 2011. Google will not pay me, because I haven't reached the $100 payment threshold yet. Then, by the end of March (which is March 31, 2011), my Adsense account has $120. Google will pay me that $120 30 days after March 31, 2011, which is April 30, 2011.

Now this is where the story gets interesting. Google sometimes deletes Adsense accounts whose webmasters are clicking on their own advertisements. This is the right thing to do, because they are trying to prevent people from scamming Adsense and the advertisers. But thing is, Google has deleted thousands of accounts, and the website owners who own those accounts DIDN'T click on their own advertisements. Is this not a scam or what?

Let me explain how this works. I've recently been scammed by them, and no, I absolutely did not click on my own advertisements.

As you might know if you've been following my articles, I have my own website. I started putting Google Adsense advertisements on my website since Febuary 16, 2011. My total Adsense earnings at the end of Febuary 28, 2011 was $67. By the end of yesterday (March 14, 2011), my earnings had reached $190. so, that meant, by the end of March, my Adsense earnings will have been above the $100 payment threshold. That also means, that Google Adsense would have to pay me soon.

And for some reason, Google banned my account today (March 15, 2011). Just like that. I didn't click on any of my own advertisements. I didn't give my website viewers any incentives to click on my own advertisements. Since they banned my account (pub-3089811986405667), I don't get paid a single cent of that $190 I had in my Adsense account. Now I'm currently trying to appeal to Google, but I know that it will be useless. Thousands of other honest people have had their accounts banned, and they've also tried to appeal to Google. But maybe, MAYBE, 1 in 10,000 banned accounts get unbanned.

Problem is, I have no proof that I didn't click on my own Adsense advertisements. Google does not share any data or analytics about who clicked on my ads, and where these clickers' IP addresses are from. All I know is how much money I made from Adsense, and how many people viewed my Adsense Ads. In other words, there is no way for me to prove to Google that I did not click on my own ads.

And about that $190 I had in my Adsense account. What happens to that money? I don't get that money. Google "says" that they will return the money to advertisers. But I doubt it. They probably just keep the money themselves. And isn't it coincidental that Google banned my account, just when I had reached the payment threshold? I don't think it's coincidental at all.

I am not trying to bemoan my own misfortune. I am just trying to warn the general public, and other website owners who use Adsense. Google can choose to delete your Adsense account at any time. All they need to do is say that you've clicked on your own Adsense ads (even if you haven't), and they can ban your account. Just like that. After all, how are you going to collect the proof showing that you didn't click on your own ads?

A case like mine has happened to thousands of people who haven't clicked on their own advertisements. Think about it. Google might ban around 5000 accounts a day (there are approximately 3 million Adsense accounts ). Of that 5000 banned accounts on any particular day, 4000 are banned because those accounts clicked on their own ads. The other 1000 were banned because Google had "evidence" saying the account owner clicked on his own ads, when in fact they actually didn't do anything wrong.

There are two types of people(s) who have Adsense accounts. One type: the website owner makes probably a few dollars every day. The second type: the website has millions of pageviews, and makes hundreds of thousands every day from Adsense. Funny thing is, it's always the small accounts that don't make much money who get their accounts banned.