22. AdSense Prohibitions, Mistakes And Problems
Google is very protective cf its AdSense program and is a pretty strict ad provider. It has a relatively long page cf Terms and Conditions
(www.google.com/adsense/terms) and monitors sites pretty closely. While YPN usually sends a warning to sites that it believes have broken its terms and conditions, Google has been known to cut people off right away.
And that can be pretty painful.
I do recommend that you read the AdSense Terms and Conditions. I realize that they’re flot much fun and they’re hardly a gripping read, but they are important, especially when you start really pushing your ads to their limits. To make it easier for you though, I ‘ve gone through those terms and pulled out the most important restrictions contained in them.
This Iist is not a replacement for reading the Terms page — you’re still going to have to do that. They just might make it clearer 50 that you’re Iess Iikely to make a very costly mistake.
• One individual or entity cannot hold more than one AdSense account; ail accounts will be closed.
This is important if you have many sites covering different topics and are worried about the effects cf Smart Pricing. You might want to open a separate account in a spouse’s name or open more than one business.
• You cannot modify the JavaScript or other code provided in any way.
Google is pretty strict about this. Cut into the code and you risk the axe.
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• Web pages cannot contain solely ads, a Search Box or a referral button.
Blank pages with nothing more than AdSense ads are pretty rare; pages which contain only ads of different types are much more common. Google is working against these sorts of things and you’ll probably find yourself if flot banned, then almost certainly Smart Priced out.
• Ads cannot appear on pages that are “under construction,” used for registration, chat, contain aduit, objectionable or illegal content. And they can’t be used in emails either.
If you have a site that’s in any way morally objectionable, then AdSense isn’t for you. That’s the bottom une.
More relevant for most people though is the idea that you can’t put AdSense on every page of a website. There are ail sorts of pages on many people’s sites that really don’t contain any content, like password pages or error messages. You can’t use them as places to put ads.
• You cannot generate searches, clicks or impressions by any method other than genuine user interest.
So no automatic bots or clicking your own ads or any of that nonsense. That’sjust fraud and Google will spot it in a second.
• You cannot display anything on your Web page that could be confused as an AdSense ad.
That’s an interesting rule that prevents people from putting up affiliate links that look like ad units to try to cash in on Google’s brand. In theory, this rule could cause a problem for someone who blended the ads into the page by making link lists that looked similar to ad units. As long as those links aren’t ads though, and as long as you don’t write “Ads by G0000gle” on them, I doubt if Google would have a problem with them.
• You cannot put related images right next to an AdSense unit.
The old strategy of using images related to the ads to draws to ad units has gone. Google doesn’t want any picture next to an ad unit that looks like it’s part of the ad. There’s no clear definition of how far the images should be or how it defines ‘confusing’. The best bet is to use common sense, and if you’re going to put an image near ad unit, make it a logo, unrelated to the content of the ad unit or some part of the site.
• If you’re using a Google Search box, you cannot use any other search service on the page.
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Again, Google wants a monopoly of services on your site. You can’t offer your users the option of searching through Google or Yahoo; it’s either-or, flot both-and.
• You cannot put anything between the ad Iink and the ad site.
So if you were thinking of trying to capture your lost traffic by redirecting ad clicks to another of your sites, think again. But who thinks of that?
• You cannot communicate to advertisers directly concerning the ads on your site.
That would have been quite useful. You could have written to an advertiser and suggested ways in which they could make their copy more effective for your users.
0f course, you could also suggest they advertise directly on your site and cut out the Google middleman...
lnterestingly though, you can do ail of this on your “Advertise on this site” landing page.
• You cannot change the order of the information in an ad unit.
This is pretty well covered by the ban on changing the code. But again, it might have been nice to put the ads that are most likely to get the most clicks at the top of the list, even if they pay less. But putting the ones with the highest bid price there though isn’t a bad idea either.
• You cannot reveal your click-through rates or any other information about your site performance.
Which is why I haven’t quoted my own CTR figures in this book. But you can reveal the amount of Google’s gross payments to you, which I have done.
These rules are ail pretty straightforward and for the most part, easy to follow. Usually, if someone has been banned from AdSense it’s because they’ve clicked on their own ads and Google didn’t believe that it was an accident. That’s just rotten luck.
22.1 The Biggest Mistakes That AdSense Publishers Make... And How To Avoid Them
Clicking on your own ads isn’t the only bad luck AdSense publishers have run into. There are lots of different ways that you can make a mistake when using AdSense and while some of them Google will be pretty quick to telI you about, others you’ll only feel in your pocket.
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Here are seme of the biggest mistakes yeu can make when using AdSense. Be aware of them...and beware of them!
Big Mistake # 1: Not Being Familiar With Google’s TOS
On the one hand, this is an easy mistake to make. The terms cf service change ail the time and what’s legal one day could be illegal the next — and yeu ceuld know nothing about the change.
On the other hand though, if something you’ve been doing is suddenly made illegal you probably shouldn’t be doing it anyway.
The bettem une is to check the TOS regularly and to make a habit of browsing the AdSense forums. Even if you miss a change, it’s unlikely that other people will.
lt’s a mistake not to stay informed.
Big Mistake #2: Inviting Others To Click Ads
That click ing your own ads is a mistake is pretty clear. There’s no reason to do it and no excuse for deing it.
That aise includes asking other people te click on the ads for yeu.
For site ewners used te asking their users te support their sponsors, this can take some getting used to. Once the ads are up and optimized, there’s nething more that yeu can de te persuade people te click.
If you’ve got a une on your website that asks people to support your sponsors or if you’ve been asking people to click on your ads in any sort of way, you’re making a giant mistake.
That’s the sort of mistake that can get you banned.
Big Mistake #3: Using The Wrong Ad Blocks
These first twe mistakes will get yeu banned. The remaining mistakes will “only” cost you money.
Cheosing the wreng ad blecks is one cf the easiest mistakes te make. Almest any bleck can fit in almest any space but enly ene bleck will give yeu the highest revenues possible.
Use this bock as a guide te which blecks suit which locations best and check eut the case studies te see hew ether people are using a similar spot. Even if you’re happy with your resu Its SO far, it’s always possible that you cou Id do even better.
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Sitting on your laurels with the wrong ad block is certainly a mistake.
Big Mistake #4: Using The Wrong Colors
Exactly the same is true of your choice of colors. Forget about looking for some nice contrast or coming up with some snazzy design, you want the colors in your ads to match the colors on your site.
The background color should be the same as the background of your site and the font colors should match too.
Any other color is usually a mistake.
Big Mistake #5: Poor Page Placement
Some places on your page are much more powerful than others. You want to put your ads where your users are going to be looking, not where they’ll make the page look good.
That might be at the beginning of an article, in the sidebar, at the top of the page, next to an image or any one of several dozen other spots.
Don’t be shy about putting your ads front and forward. As long as they’re blended into the site, they won’t be anything like as obtrusive as you think. They’ll be right in front of your users and attractive enough to click.
Big Mistake #6: Not Using AdLink Units
A common mistake that people make when they first start using AdSense is to assume that only the ad units are worth taking.
That’s a big mistake.
Clicks on AdLink units make up a serious part of my AdSense earnings. When used properly, they should be a serious part of your AdSense earnings too. Don’t overlook AdLink units just because they’re small. Put them in the right place and you’ll find that they can be very, very powerful
Big Mistake #7: Not Checking And Analyzing Stats
One of the biggest differences between AdSense publishers who get the big checks and AdSense publishers who earn pennies is that the big earners are addicted to reading their stats — and they understand what they’re reading.
lt’s very tempting once you’ve set up your site and put on your ads to just kick back and look at the bottom line. But the other lines telI you what’s working and what you should be doing.
Read your stats carefully and regularly.
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Big Mistake # 8: I gnoring Channels
If you’re not sure how to use channels, don’t let it ride. Read the chapter on channels again, build some and play with them.
For some people channels can look a little scary. You have to build them from scratch, you might flot be too sure which channels you should create or what you should do with the data the channels should give you.
None of those is a good excuse. Channels are easy to build and they give you heaps 0f information about the way each 0f your Web pages is operating that you just couldn’t get anywhere else.
If you’re not using channels, you need to start.
Big Mistake #9: Not Keeping An AdSense Journal
When you were at school and your English teacher told you to keep a journal, you probably groaned, ignored her... and made up a month’s worth of entries the day before you were supposed to bring it in to class.
When you’re trying to make a lot of money with AdSense, keeping a journal is vital. lt’s the only way to keep track of your changes and what happened when you implemented those changes.
Every time you use a different ad block, push a different keyword or try a new location on the page, write it down, wait a week and write down the effect. If you’re doing the same thing time and time again because you forgot what happened when you did it last time, you’re wasting your time and your money.
Big Mistake # 10: Building Huge Sites Overnight
lt’s possible to go from no site to AdSense site in just a few minutes (plus the time it takes to get the confirmation letter). But it will take a little while longer to build the sort of massive site that keeps users coming back and builds a loyal base.
Sure, you can use free books to filI dozens of pages and you can use already prepared content, but neither of these methods are as good as creating a huge site filled with original material.
That takes time.
Rush it and it’s more likely you’ll end up with a lot of trash that kills your clicks and ruins your Smart Pricing than a quality site that makes you money. lt’s better to be small and good than big and bad.
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Big Mistake # 11: Building Throwaway Sites
And if it’s a bad idea to build large trashy sites, it’s a terrible idea to build small, trashy sites.
Check out the AdSense forums long enough and there’s a good chance that you’ll come across plenty of publishers who believe not in creating good quality sites but in building small garbage-y ones and trying to squeeze as much revenue out of them as possible.
The advantage is that you can throw up a lot of them in a small amount of time and for little cost.
The disadvantage is that the returns are small too — and most important, they’re just no fun to do.
I thoroughly enjoy managing every one of the sites Ive created. lt’s because
I enjoy them that my users enjoy them. That keeps them coming back and it
keeps them clicking. And it keeps me coming back too.
If you’re building throwaway sites just to make a quick buck, you’re working too hard... and that’s a giant mistake.
Big Mistake # 12: Doing AdSense Halfway
This was the big mistake that I made for a long time. lt’s also the big mistake that about 95 percent of AdSense publishers are making.
They create their site, put up an AdSense, maybe they’ll optimize it a little (and maybe not), and then they’ll wait for the checks to come in.
Making a lot of money with AdSense will take a lot of work. It can make you more money than most people will make in most fulI-time jobs but it’s not the sort of thing you can throw up in a morning and then spend the afternoon shopping for your beach house in Cancun.
You can start earning in the morning. But if you want to make real money, you’re going to have to go ail the way.
Anything less is a big mistake.
Big Mistake # 13: OnIy Using AdSense
Don’t get me wrong, I still think that AdSense is the greatest way to earn money from a website short of buying Google.com. But ever since Google changed it TOS to allow other kinds of advertising systems on AdSense pages
— even other kinds of contextualized advertising systems — Ive been happily mixing, matching and earning even more.
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You shouid certainiy use one of the text iink services like Kontera. You can use Chitika’s eMiniMails if you have a good product-related site. You can recommend affiliate products. You can mix different payment systems so that your pages are earning by impression, by click and by sale.
You shouid have every base covered and every income stream up and ru nn in g.
22.2 What To Do If Your AdSense Account Gets Closed
Most of the mistake peopie make at AdSense hit them in the waiiet. Some mistakes though can hit where it reaiiy hurts and get your account ciosed. So what shouid you do if you get that dreaded email from AdSense informing you that your account has been shut down?
Weii, the first thing to remember is that you’ve pretty much got no power at ail. Googie’s Terms make it very clear that they have the right to kick someone out of their program whenever they feei like it and there’s no court of appeai.
But the peopie at Googie aren’t a nasty bunch and they wiii listen to you if you feei you’ve been hard done by. Your first step then shouid be to send them an email asking why you’ve been banned and expiaining that your click was accidentai.
Usuaiiy, as long as you’re telling the truth and there weren’t too many clicks, you shouid be fine. Simiiariy, if you know you’ve ciicked on your own ads — or if you know that someone else has been ciicking on your ads (that can happen too sometimes) — you shouid drop Googie a une immediately. You’ii iose the value of those clicks, but at least you’ii keep your account open.
And if ail else fails and you find yourseif cut off, there’s aiways Yahoo! Pubiisher Network combined with Chitika and Kontera ads.
it’s uniikeiy you’ii make as much as you did with AdSense, but you wiii stiil make something.
At the risk of sou nding like a commercial, one of the best ways to prove that you didn’t click your own ads if you receive the dreaded “invaiid clicks” email from Googie, is to use AdSense Detective. By tracking ail clicks and their origination, your AdSense Detective 10g couid come in handy to prove your innocence if needed.
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