Is something weird happening with Adsense?

[Blossom]

I check my Adsense account a LOT, and I've noticed that it's going up and down rather than just up recently. I seem to be getting quite a bit taken off, which I *assume* is supposedly for invalid clicks (I've never clicked an ad or tried to game the system for the record, as that's just stupid).

I've also noticed that clicks which always used to get me a certain amount have now gone down by more than 60% on average. I know there are lots of factors involved with that element of it, but it's peak season for a niche which has been established for decades and this time last year it was hovering around the high end every weekday. From January until the beginning of May (ish) it was averaging its usual clicks. I don't think I've been 'smartpriced' but it's hard to tell. I'm wondering if removing Adsense from my personal site would make a difference as it's not very targeted traffic (although it does get quite a few clicks, mostly on volume, and is my third biggest earner).

That in conjunction with hearing that quite a few big players have had their accounts banned recently (e.g. http://www.nichepursuits.com/i-just-got-banned-from-google-adsense-now-what/) is making me concerned. Admittedly I've been affected only over the last couple of weeks, but I'm wondering if some kind of big Adsense shake up has happened, or if my account is getting closer to the risk of being shut down for something beyond my control.

Anyone else notice anything weird?

 

[foz]

I guess from all the recent talk of negative SEO, you couldn't stop people (a group of them) going onto Adsense sites and clicking away generating invalid click activity in an effort to get the Webmasters account suspended?

 

[scooter]

quite a few big players have had their accounts banned recently (e.g. http://www.nichepursuits.com/i-just-got-banned-from-google-adsense-now-what/) quote]

That's a great link and what a hit to take. £6k a month to £0

7yrs of hard graft, taken away in one email. :shock:




.

 

[Sussexite]

There's one thing I've noticed.

It used to be that the 1st ad in your code got the best ads.

I suspect that G is now able to work out which ads are above the fold and which are not (as was rumoured to be the case with search after Panda - many experts thought Panda had a penalty for too much ad space above the fold).

Still testing, but it sort of looks like the best ads now go to the highest positioned from the reader's point of view, not the order of the source code.

 

[Blossom]

quite a few big players have had their accounts banned recently (e.g. http://www.nichepursuits.com/i-just-got-banned-from-google-adsense-now-what/) quote]

That's a great link and what a hit to take. £6k a month to £0

7yrs of hard graft, taken away in one email. :shock:




.

Read this comment as well - if it's true it's insane: http://www.gauherchaudhry.com/why-google-adsense-is-a-bad-primary-source-of-revenue/#comment-39442

 

[Blossom]

I guess from all the recent talk of negative SEO, you couldn't stop people (a group of them) going onto Adsense sites and clicking away generating invalid click activity in an effort to get the Webmasters account suspended?

It seems like it could happen, sadly. I target long tail terms for these sites, but the biggest one does have a fair few first page rankings, and I've noticed other sites in the niche are getting more aggressive.

You'd think that Google could see the person has an Adsense account that's clearly not related (assuming they are logged into a Google service of some kind) and see that it's a competitor trying to take them down, but maybe they're not bothered. Maybe this kind of thing is outsourced via fiverr gigs or something. I wouldn't be surprised.

There's one thing I've noticed.

It used to be that the 1st ad in your code got the best ads.

I suspect that G is now able to work out which ads are above the fold and which are not (as was rumoured to be the case with search after Panda - many experts thought Panda had a penalty for too much ad space above the fold).

Still testing, but it sort of looks like the best ads now go to the highest positioned from the reader's point of view, not the order of the source code.

I don't think that would affect me, but it's an interesting observation. Maybe more of my visitors are clicking further down for some reason or something.

 

[dazc]

You'd think that Google could see the person has an Adsense account that's clearly not related (assuming they are logged into a Google service of some kind) and see that it's a competitor trying to take them down, but maybe they're not bothered. Maybe this kind of thing is outsourced via fiverr gigs or something. I wouldn't be surprised.

There is a quote somewhere from a googler saying something like they can't investigate invalid clicks on a human level - so if algo says you're cheating it is easier to just let you go then spend many hours investigating every instance - often with no satisfactory resolution.
When you think how many publishers are using adsense and how many will be asking for detailed support everyday it kind of makes sense that you have to live with that.

Your issue is more likely to be just a drop in spend by a few advertisers or something simple like that - I went from £20 a day on one site to about £2 in the space of a week and it never came back.

 

[contentwriting]

Remove any ads that arent bringing you any money. Work out your best ad location, use that one with the best performing block, ditch the rest.

 

[Silverz]

Funny I've just read this, and I have noticed exactly the same myself. Their seems to be an increasing number of clicks now not being paid for, which i'm finding a little strange.

It is worrying as I always make sure I'm doing everything right according to the adsense policy, and I even use an ad block plugin to ensure that I or my children who also use my PC never accidently click on my own ads.

I'll keep my eye on this for sure, and if it continues I'll contact google to just make sure everything is in order.

 

[Blossom]

Funny I've just read this, and I have noticed exactly the same myself. Their seems to be an increasing number of clicks now not being paid for, which i'm finding a little strange.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Because I check pretty frequently, I notice I'll get the money for a click and then some time later some of it disappears :/

I'll keep my eye on this for sure, and if it continues I'll contact google to just make sure everything is in order.

I was thinking about doing that but not sure if it would make any difference. I'm surprised no one seems to have picked up on it - I thought it would be doing the rounds if it were a widespread issue.

 

[Sussexite]

Been seeing a 1% difference between earnings and finalised earnings for the last few months.

No idea why this happens.

 

[vizzo]

Just wondering if they discount what seem to be accidental clicks eg if the person realises they clicked an ad by mistake and then hit the back button before reaching the landing page.. and/or accidental clicks on smartphones where the person intended to scroll but tapped by mistake.

 

[contentwriting]

yep this happens to me a lot and seems to be more recently. It could be that they have changed their algorithms and the way they calculate stuff.


If you look at your stats, you might have notice sometimes that 1 pageview can get 2 or more clicks. which could be someone clicking 2 ads but could also be an accidental double click especially on a slow computer. Maybe they are being more strict about discounting double clicks.