Long live the King. And with the quick flick of a mouse, this morning, my e-publishing dreams were dashed by the Google AdSense ruling class. (See Part One for the beginning of the tragic saga: All Hale King Google: Google AdSense Account Disabled and the exciting Part Three: Google's AdSense: King Google Phucks Us (Have We Been Phucked?)
Well, with the stroke of the kings pen my dreams of establishing my blogging revenue stream have been dashed. And if I read their terms and conditions right, I have ZERO RECOURSE. Let's look at what happened. (Of course, they won't tell me, but I can guess.) I set up my account about three weeks ago. I established my publishing credentials. Placed three ad spots. As the ads came online, I clicked on a couple. I wanted to see where they went, what they were advertising on my site. When I say "a couple" we're talking about 6 at most. And it's not like all-mighty GOOGLE can't tell where the clicks are coming from. Then I travel to Mexico on a family errand. In Mexico I'm delighted to see the ads have switched contextually to COM.MX sites. I click on about 5 of these. Just to see where they go, what services are being offered on my site. BOOM. Somehow Google has not identified my account with CLICK FRAUD. (WHAT?) I get the notice (covered in King Google post) and make my appeal. During this process I start looking at the HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN DISABLED, WHAT DO I DO pages. And I learn three critical things.
- If you want to click on an ad on your own site you have to use the Google Publisher Toolbar.
- If Google decides you've been scamming AdSense they can and will shut you off. AND once they have made their imperial ruling, they can and will IGNORE further requests.
- They don't have to give you any information about your violation. (They language they use makes it seem like they are protecting their intellectual property from potential scammers.)
BUT, Google KNOWS I'M NOT A SCAMMER. Google has all the click data. Google can see that if anything, my 10 – 15 clicks were accidental, before I knew of the Google Publisher Toolbar. Google has their hands so far up the data of my website, my browsing and search history, my analytics, and even my frackin email, that if I was trying to scam their system they would HAVE HARD EVIDENCE. I'd be a complete dumb ass to try. Here's the overview of my AdSense activity in the last 30 days. Tell me if you can see a pattern of "invalid activity."
Can you see any invalid activity?
They don't have to tell me why. They don't have to show me evidence of my FRAUD. They simply shut me off and let me thrash. This feudal system sucks. I guess I'll wait a few weeks, let the posts settle down, before I register a different AdSense account. Sure, the rules says I can't do this, but hey… I don't have anything to lose.
Meanwhile, I'll ponder if the publishing/advertising model is the best for me. I've done uber.la ad free for over four years. Perhaps the intension there is more clear. I am not trying to make money by publishing good info. I'm trying to help others and demonstrate my experience, so they might hire me to help them in the future. So far, that model has worked out quite well.
@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth) permalink: http://uber.la/2013/01/google-kills/
The Saga Continues: Google's AdSense: King Google Phucks Us (Have We Been Phucked?)
More for your LEARN box of social media:
- Real-world Blogging Stats 2012: When Things Go Dark, SEO-rich Content Rules
- MSFT: Retail Store Redux, How About That Microsoft SURFACE? WOOT!
- >> All Hale KING GOOGLE: Google AdSense Account Disabled
- Seeking the Hit Post – and Repeating the Performance – Metrics and Analysis
- Keurig #FAIL: Perhaps Not THE BEST CHOICE – An 18 Month Assessment
- Social Media Is My TV, Radio and Telephone Combined: Love Me Or Change the Channel
- Getting Your Analytics Right: Gaug.es Earns My Money By Saving Me Time
- Human Capital Over Process Improvement: The Cost of Being a Sweatshop
- Apple vs. Dell: Best Tech Rants of 2012
- The Unsubscribe From This List Game: Dear Guitar Center… WTF?
- Apple's Little Secret (all iOS devices) The Black Screen of Death
- Plenty Conversing, Not Enough Converting(tm) – Social Media ROI – The 2013 Business Challenge
- The Economy of Stolen iPhones: How Apple and ATT Could But Don't Prevent Reactivation
- Twitter Strategies: a: "team follow-back" b: follow everyone c: be a good tweeter
- The Top Social Media Posts of 2012
- The Problem with PC Sales: Dell's Christmas SALE, After Christmas SALE, New Years SALE
Most people don't really enjoy being mean; they do it because they can't help it. (from Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement)
Pingback: uber.la | Google AdSense REDUX: "Google AdSense Account Disabled" & The KING Is Not Taking Messages!