Don’t let Google Adsense Ban you!
Written by Jai on June 30, 2008 – 1:11 pm - 8,359 views
Before you start reading this article, let me inform you that my Adsense account was banned recently. Yes, it was banned a while ago due to my sheer negligence 
. A while back, I had put adsense code in some of the free WordPress themes that are available here on Blog Oh! Blog. This was not a problem until some of the free themes got picked up and started getting used by porn blogs and other such XXX sites. Though Google did warn me that my code is being used by XXX sites, I hardly paid attention because I was sure that I don’t own any such sites ( I totally forgot that my code was present in the free themes and neither did I feel the need to open those sites - which could have given me a clue). Anyway, my ass got banned after some time… I will share with all of you how Google let me create a new Adsense account (which is almost rare) at the end of this article, so read on!
Google, being the indisputable leader in search engines from then until now, is placing a high importance on the quality and relevancy of its search engines. Most especially now that the company is public property. In order to keep the shareholders and users of its engines happy, the quality of the returned results are given extreme importance.For this same reason, doing the wrong things in the Adsense and other forms of advertisements, whether intentionally or unintentionally, will result in a severe penalty, may get you banned and even have your account terminated. Nothing like a good action taken to keep wrongdoers from doing the same things over again.
So for those who are thinking of getting a career in Adsense, do not just think of the strategies you will be using to generate more earnings. Consider some things first before you actually get involved.
Hidden texts
Filling your advertisement page with texts to small to read, has the same color as the background and using css for the sole purpose of loading them with rich keywords content and copy will earn you a penalty award that is given to those who are hiding links.
Page cloaking
There is a common practice of using browser or bot sniffers to serve the bots of a different page other than the page your visitors will see. Loading a page with a bot that a human user will never see is a definite no-no. This is tricking them to click on something that you want but they may not want to go to.
Multiple submissions
Submitting multiple copies of your domain and pages is another thing to stay away from. For example, trying to submit a URL of an Adsense as two separate URL’s is the same as inviting trouble and even termination. Likewise, this is a reason to avoid auto submitters for those who are receiving submissions. Better check first if your domain is submitted already an a certain search engine before you try to submit to it again. If you see it there, then move on. No point contemplating whether to try and submit there again.
Link farms
Be wary of who and what are you linking your Adsense to. The search engines know that you cannot control your links in. But you can certainly control what you link to. Link farming has always been a rotten apple in the eyes of search engines, especially Google. That is reason enough to try and avoid them. Having a link higher than 100 on a single page will classify you as a link farm so try and not to make them higher than that.
Page rank for sale
If you have been online for quite some time, you will notice that there are some sites selling their PR links or trading them with other sites. If you are doing this, expect a ban anytime in the future. It is okay to sell ads or gain the link. But doing it on direct advertisement of your page rank is a way to get on search engines bad side.
Doorways
This is similar to cloaking pages. The common practice of a page loaded with choice keyword ads aimed at redirecting visitors to another “user-friendly” page is a big issue among search engines. There are many seo firms offering this kind of services. Now that you know what they actually are, try to avoid them at all costs.
Multiple domains having the same content
In case you are not aware of it, search engines look at domains IP’s, registry dates and many others. Having multiple domains having the same exact content is not something you can hide from them. The same goes with content multiplied many times on separate pages, sub domains and forwarding multiple domains to the same content.
Many of the above techniques apply to most search engines and is not entirely for Google only. By having a mind set that you are building your Adsense together with your pages for the human users and not for bots, you can be assured of the great things for your ads and sites. Not to mention avoiding the wrath of the search engines and getting your Adsense and site account terminated altogether.
Continuing with my story, let me explain how Google let me create a new account. As soon as I got banned, I wrote them an e-mail explaining the situation and how my Adsense code was in the free themes. In their reply, Google told me that those codes need to be removed before they can do anything. The sorry state became sorrier for me because I had no control over these sites that were using my themes. I again mentioned in an e-mail to Google that I could not control these sites and there was no way that code was going to be removed from those websites. Google, being so understanding, asked me to suggest a way as to what they should do.. imagine!.. Google was asking me for a suggestion..
I told them that I could create a new account and that way, I will get a new publisher-ID which I will not use in the free themes anymore. To my surprise, Google agreed and let me sign up for a new Adsense account. The account got approved the very next day after I applied for it. I asked them if the statistics from my old account could be migrated to the new account. The Google Rep told me that it was not possible but going that extra mile, he sent me totals for the last two years’ months. So, you see..all is possible if you are honest and are ready to cooperate with Google. Be calm, communicate and provide all the relevant proof that you can.
I hope everyone learns from this article and of course from my example too. Let me know how you have faired with Adsense so far
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62 Responses
to “Don’t let Google Adsense Ban you!”
7 Trackback(s)
- Jul 3, 2008 : A bagat cineva la cap? - Zilnice
- Jul 10, 2008 : A bagat cineva la cap?
- Jul 14, 2008 : 3 » Google is not bad after all. Here is some hope.
- Jul 14, 2008 : 8 » Google is not bad after all. Here is some hope.
- Aug 23, 2008 : Vote for this article at blogengage.com
- Sep 9, 2008 : Adsense hace excepciones en los ban a cuentas @ Sergio Melzner
- Oct 15, 2008 : Learn How Not to Get Banned from Google AdSense | INFoMM - Information for Making Money
on Jun 30, 2008
they banned my account and I don’t know why… I don’t care anymore….
on Jun 30, 2008
A great honest article there jai!
Things like these really helps us .
Thanx!
on Jul 1, 2008
Thanks dude for the great article .
on Jul 1, 2008
Next time limit your adsense code to only the sites you own, since this could be used by anyone else to harm you.
on Jul 1, 2008
You also get banned if you use the same range of IPs to login to your Adsense account and Google detects that you also get clicks from those same IPs.
on Jul 2, 2008
Nice write-up Jai.
Google been kind enough to me to pay every month on my other blogs and i do not wish to be banned, like your case here. Hope no one gone crazy clicking the ads and i was blamed for that.
the only not kind thing from them is my PR4 been taken out ever since i monetized my post with paid link. Sad but true.
on Jul 2, 2008
Ermmm sound it interesting for me to be careful about adsense code on other free template given to other. Nice info jai
on Jul 2, 2008
google adsense is getting weaker..
on Jul 3, 2008
hi jai,
glad you got back your account. I was surprise that Google quite lenienttowards your case.
All this time, I thiught when you get banned you will never see you money again.
After all, Google is human too hehhe
on Jul 3, 2008
@Marius Muscalu:-
Same is the case with me. I got banned by Google around 10 days back. And, I don’t even know what was my fault.
And, I am a guy who is so very particular to follow all rules.
So, I don’t care anymore as adsense is not a sustainable monetizing model, anyway.
Raj
on Jul 3, 2008
google banned a group of friends who where using an account fraudulently… they clicked the banners indiscriminately…. it was fair from google to close the account…
on Jul 3, 2008
gud info for newbie like me…thanks a lot for this gud info!!!
on Jul 4, 2008
@adsense gempak:- I got banned today, after 3 years - not a clue why, and no explanation from Google other than fraudulent clicks.
I never click on my own ads, so I don’t know what the answer is. I average about $15 a month from Google adsense - if I was trying to defraud them I would be trying to get more than that.
Needless to say, adsense will be removed from all of my sites - to heck with them.
on Jul 5, 2008
Ugh… been there done that… When I first got into websites I got sucked into “traffic equalizer” it’s basically a PHP script that creates pages based upon a text file you upload and every keyword you put in that text file becomes a keyword happy page… yeah, it was dumb and it sucked. Haven’t had to worry about going back to Google thank goodness yet, but may have to here very soon since I’ve been using Yahoo (which pays 1,000 times better than Google who also loves to screw with how much you make per click) but who knows how that’ll go since yahoo sold out to Google with the ads stuff.
on Jul 6, 2008
hi,
thanks for the great article!
i just tried adsense starting from a couple days ago. and i will try not to get banned by google, your article helps me a lot.
how do we know that we get banned? and when usually it, does google always ban at the end of the month or it could be at any date?
thanks
on Jul 6, 2008
@Iwan:- No, Google doesn’t wait for the month to get over to ban you. That’s a myth. They can ban you anytime they want depending on when they find out about your little games
You get to know that you are banned through a nice e-mail from them.
on Jul 7, 2008
hi,
thanks for you answer.
may i use “traffic exchange” to increase the traffic of my site with adsense in it? will google ban because of it?
sorry, if i ask too many questions, i don’t know where esle to ask.
thanks for you answer.
on Jul 7, 2008
Google banned me without any reasons, and without any warning email and i am not doing any thing or click on my adv.
I don’t know why, i send to him email but no answer they ignore my email .
on Jul 7, 2008
hmm.. a good lesson for everybody who already read your story..! never…ever… put your Adsense code to your free templates
on Jul 7, 2008
Alternatively, you can log into your Adsense account and click on the tab that allows you to list which sites are allowed to display your Adsense code.
If your code appears in a free theme, Adsense ads will still appear in those “unauthorized” sites, but the impressions and clicks will not be counted.
That’s one way of protecting your Adsense publisher code from being misused by other sites.
on Jul 11, 2008
hrm..i also gone through that hard time..it was pain as hell..
on Jul 11, 2008
Honesty is still the best way in any business.
on Jul 12, 2008
I am using one of your free templates on one of my free porn sites/blogs — hope I’m not one of the people who screwed you (I love the template, fyi). I’ve never used adsense because I’d rather make money on porn. Anyway, I appreciate the template a lot. Hoping to save up some $$ to get some customizations from you. Thanks again for the awesome WP theme!
on Jul 13, 2008
Dear Jai,
Thanks on providing this information in such a collaborative and comprehensive way. It will help me a lot.
on Jul 14, 2008
I normally won’t use free templates because of many of them contain “hidden” links. It is advisable to scrutinise the codes for such links to undesirable sites. Links to the author’s site is alright but not to affiliate programs the guy is trying to get tons of incoming links.
on Jul 15, 2008
Hey Jai, honestly Google isn’t that nice to all their publishers.
I am sure you heard of Google calling up their previous publishers who moved over to Yahoo to come back to them. Google can be bias at times and only reply and give publishers who bring them tons of cash such as you the chance to open a 2nd account.
If you are only a small time publisher who makes only 3k a month from them, they wont even bother. Consider yourself lucky to be found on their goog books
on Jul 16, 2008
Adsense sucks, that’s the truth, they’ve closed my account without explaining anything it all, i asked them why and got no answer, and the more “interesting” part is that they’ve banned my account on payment day, how convenient to them. I had been warned by other bloggers that’s a very usual policy of google, they bann thousands of accounts just because, i think it’s a “legal” way of not paying and keeping thousands of dollars on their pockets, they’re thieves with power, so they use it. From me they will never earn another cent, i will never use adwords, when i want publicity i’ll use other companies. If i’m not good for adsense, then i’m not for adwords. And i’m spreading the word, i know it won’t hurt google much, but if i can take somebody away from them, i’m glad. I was warned that google steals, i didn’t listen. adsense is not worth it, they can’t be trusted
on Jul 20, 2008
Nice tip! I was banned 3 yrs ago, now I’m playing safe with the Big G after being reinstated last year.
Sam
Fix My Personal Finance
http://fixmypersonalfinance.com
on Jul 21, 2008
I can only say that who ever use your code will be the most foolish people out there who even don’t know if they will use your code, they will not get any money instead you will be earning the cash in return.
Any how these foolish people also have hurt you, dont know who told these people to have a BLOG?
on Jul 22, 2008
I have had my account banned for some unknown reason. Is there a way i can get my account back?
on Jul 26, 2008
Really your words are fantastic thanx
http://www.roro44.com
on Jul 29, 2008
I got ban 3-4 day ago. After I read some comment in this site, I see many people got ban and Google not give any confirm / reason why their ban.
I want to search other ads can add to my blog.
http://junshibuya.wordpress.com/
on Aug 7, 2008
something for all you to read
blog.caethaver.com
I think this will help you alot with the research we put in all this.
on Aug 11, 2008
It’s never good to rely on just one income stream and I am now spending quite a bit of time checking out alternatives.
My favourite so far I’ve written about here:
http://homeworker-directory.co.....dvertiser/
I’m also playing around with a couple of other ideas.
Google earnings are good, but I want to reduce them down to about 20% of my earnings just in case. While I am happy with my account so far, I don’t want to risk being caught out in the future if something changes that’s either outside of my control or because they change their T&Cs
on Aug 18, 2008
Hey, it’s my first comment on your blog. Good post, Jai.. I really look forward to learn from you..
Thanks for the free themes.. I’m a fan of your free wordpress themes, use it on most of my blogs..
on Aug 18, 2008
its a good story. I think its worth for others member who already get ban from google to read this one.
on Aug 19, 2008
First, I got banned because of clicking my own ads. How foolish of me. I didn’t think Google is wiser than I thought.
Second, I made a new account with my boyfriend’s name and address, with another different URL used to apply in Adsense. After few days of being approved and earning, I got banned. I don’t know why. Their email wasn’t very clear.
So now my site is no longer displaying Google Ads.
on Aug 20, 2008
Your story makes me remember how I was asking to pay around $129 by godaddy just because someone has used one of my short url domain name services in spamming email.
Be honest and explain that i was not the bad guy save me for paying for something that i had not controlled.
In life you should be honest.
on Aug 20, 2008
Hi Jai,
This is really an inspiring article for all those innocent and honest webmasters who get banned due to silly mistakes. It also gives hopes that everything is not over once you are banned by adsense.
That there could still be a ray of hope for getting back into adsense.
Thanks for a great article
on Aug 21, 2008
Got banned By Google? It’s a risk of PPC (Pay Per Click) programs. No One of blogger or web master without the same story at the past
on Aug 22, 2008
great article really enjoyed reading
on Aug 23, 2008
STUMBLED!
I release templates from my blog and have always included my adsense code for placeholding purposes, I will now be removing it as a pre-caution.
Thanks for the heads up.
on Aug 24, 2008
Google adsense will only earn you enough to pay your hosting services! Its better to get affiliates. Like neverbluads.
on Aug 24, 2008
hi jai.
very informative post you got here.i got a doubt.
i recently moved my wordpress blog from free hosting to paid hosting.that is from
techtricks.x10hosting.com to techtricks.co.in.
i have old account intact.should i delete it.
since my free account is already established i dont want to delete it.is ther any other way?
thanks!
on Aug 24, 2008
If you are in the habit of adding your adsense code to templates and themes for place holding purposes, you can change the publisher ID in them to all 0’s.
But even better, if they are wordpress or other php based templates, is to use a php include to insert the adsense code, and use a adsense.php file. In the file you include with the template, use graphics (fake ads) for samples and not live ads. Instruct the user to replace the entire contents of the adsense.php file with his adsense code.
This is just good design principles, making the site modular and easy to maintain by using seperate php files for all the elements.
The problem with putting any live adsense code in a template and giving that template away for free, is that some people misunderstand and think they have to keep your ads on it in order to have the rights to use it.
They mistakenly think if you ever visit their site and they have replaced the ad code with their own or removed ads entirely, that you will sue them for a Terms of Use violation related to your template.
This is why some sites will keep the designer’s ads in their template and not make a dime for ads they are showing on their site. They think they have to.
on Aug 28, 2008
google always care only for a big publisher… for one and some case… i m never heard some people get the account back after get banned in every excuse!
Anyway, congratulation for you… and yes, google is going suck for me
on Aug 28, 2008
@Iwan:-
you’ll get banned when your account reach $100 for the first time. They will check you account when they send your first check.
on Aug 31, 2008
Hey this post is so useful, and I have got a few addition to that.
Others such as Suspiciously high CTR, Clickers’ IP addresses come from the same geographical area, which means you have got your friends helping and etc.
I have got those summarized here. http://www.clarencewang.com/bl.....ur-account
on Aug 31, 2008
You can check if a website is banned by Google here:
http://www.pagerankchecknow.in.....hecker.php
on Sep 1, 2008
I have google adsense account and want a blog on your site. What is the procedure to have a blog with adsense
on Sep 3, 2008
@Feroz Ahmed Bawany:-
Check my post on blogging with AdSense
Blogging With AdSense
on Oct 10, 2008
Well, I must also say that I come across more reports of banned AdSense accounts with every day. For very large and prominent publishers, the chance to reopen an account does really exist, for small ones this is highly unlikely though.
For those that got banned, like junshibuya: Just try some alternatives. There are several other contextual advertisers out there, it doesn’t always have to be Googe AdSense. I can recommend the following provider, for example: Oxado.
on Dec 3, 2008
Nice article for a beginning blogger like me. Nice Advice. I’ll keep it clean and green.
on Dec 8, 2008
Thanks for the article.
Was wondering this very thing myself and stumbled upon your page.
on Dec 29, 2008
This is really Good that your account is back with you