Showing posts with label Google Adsense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google Adsense. Show all posts

Jan 14, 2013

Adsense Click Fraud

Click fraud occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating an improper charge per click. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud whether they like it or not.


Use of a computer to commit this type of internet fraud is a felony in many jurisdictions, for example as covered by Penal code 502 in California and the Computer Misuse Act 1990 in the United Kingdom. There have been arrests relating to click fraud with regard to malicious clicking in order to deplete a competitor's advertising budget.

In 2004, a California man created a software program that he claimed could let spammers defraud Google out of millions of dollars in fraudulent clicks. Authorities said he was arrested while trying to blackmail Google for $150,000 to hand over the program. - Wikipedia

Types of Click Fraud

1. Basic clicker cheat - This is a noob. This guy knows almost nothing about web technology or network architecture. He clicks on his ads every time he has chance. It can be a few clicks to hundreds of clicks daily. Most likely he doesn't even read the AdSense Program Policies and Terms and Conditions.

2. Proxy clicker cheat - She knows a thing or two about cookies and IP address. Or she doesn't know, but somehow guessed that if she use the things called anonymizer, Google will not be able to trace her, because her identity is hidden.

3. Multiple computer clicker cheat - He knows that somehow Google will detect if the clicks are originated from his own computer. So he will try to even out origin of the clicks. He will recruit his friends, family members, relatives, neighbors, his cats, and his dogs on single mission: to click on the ads. He will also click on the AdSense ads when he is using the library computers, or his office workstation.

4. Software clicker cheat Graduate to the next step is buyers of clickbots / click-bots. These are specialized robot software to click on AdSense ads. It will browse around your websites, clicking on the ads every few minutes. The more advanced ones will cloak the IP address too, so the website seems to be very popular worldwide. To cover the track, this clickbots will browse around the advertisers sites too while continuing its "click quest".

5. Paid-clickers cheat - If you don't like automated things, there is always other option for you. Just pay $50 dollars a month to the professional AdSense clickers. These are groups of highly specialized Internet surfers with office in the dark rooms in street corners of India, Pakistan, and China, helping AdSense account owner to earn good amounts of money - before the AdSense account is disabled, that is. They will browse around your websites, clicking on the ads every few minutes. Because they use human eyes, they know which ads worth more. And to be more convincing they can click a link or two, or sign up free offers / newsletters on the advertiser sites.

6. Click-rings cheat - Network is power. So says many business gurus. Instead of taking things into their own hands, these people realize that they can join hands with those with similar goals and distribute AdSense clicks among themselves, the so called AdSense click-rings. Joining this click-ring network means that your website address will be made known to members, who will regularly browse the website and click on your AdSense ads. In exchange, you will also browse other members' sites and click on their AdSense ads. The medium used varies. Some click-ring groups use mail-list for communications. Some are using bulletin boards/forum, Yahoo groups, or Usenet. IRC is another popular way. Slightly more complicated is specialized AdSense exchange software for collecting members website address and displaying others' websites for clicking.

7. Other medium cheat - I have tens of thousands email address on my newsletter subscriber list. If I include AdSense ads on my newsletters, with 5% CTR, I can get a thousand clicks per one email. Not bad. Or I can pay someone to write some useful/nice/funny/cute toolbars or firefox extensions or screensavers that people can download and use for free, and display my AdSense ads there.

8. Visitor cheat - Simply putting "Visit our sponsors" or "Check out the ads above" on your website is cheating. This might not be very clear-cut cheat to some. But Google AdSense program policies has stated clearly, the only text allowed are "Advertisements" or "Sponsored List"

9. Spam cheat - This is the highest level all click-frauds, the Maestro of Fraudsters. She spams millions of emails regularly, offering to "satisfy your inner needs if you can help me check on the links on my website". Of course, email is not the only way. What IRC and instant messaging (IM) are for, after all. She will look for unsuspecting victims, offering something too-good-to-be-true "if only they will visit the website and click on the links".

10. Click-through-rate cheat - Whichever method(s) above used, there is one limiting condition: the CTR(click-though-rate). Any CTR that exceeds certain percentage (probably around 10%) will raise red flag in Google AdSense back room. To lower the CTR, the professional cheaters will create some pages on the same domain that attracts very high traffic. Some interesting freebies will sure do the tricks. AdSense code is pasted there, thus creating a very high page impressions. Whether or not the the ads are clicked does not matter anyway, because they are targeting low paying keyword that does not have much competition. The fake clicks are, of course, on where the big money is, the low traffic pages stuffed with high-paying keywords. 

Why You Shouldn't Cheat AdSense

If you applied for AdSense account with intention to cheat and earn fast bucks, I hope by now you have understood that you shouldn't.

Why? You say. Google is so rich, losing some pennies won't hurt.

Well. Probably. But when I say you shouldn't, trust me. You really shouldn't. These are just some reasons...

1. You can't cheat Google

Every once in while, someone will comes out with ingenious idea of how to get more money from AdSense in less than honorable ways. He will announce to the whole world, posting in every forum and tell people how smart he is. His idea is always untraceable by Google, it is always original, and it always gives easy money.

What he doesn't know is, few months after that, he will get caught by Google, always. And his AdSense account will be disabled. Always. And he is banned from ever applying for AdSense account again. Always.

Google is a giant, with 2005 revenue of almost US$ 10 billions, and profits of more than US$ 1 billion. A large chunk of this comes from Adwords / AdSense advertisements.

More click fraud means less trust, less advertisers and less money, to the extent that if unsolved it will bring collapse to pay-per-click advertisement business. Now. Do you think Google will let you jeopardize their billion dollar business model?

They have money and ability to bring together many of the the smartest and brightest engineers and scientists on earth, has been doing that and will continue to do so. How smart do you think you are that you can outsmart collaborative effort of the brightest brains?

You might be able to pull through for two or three months, but eventually the fraud detection algorithm will catch up and you are caught. And you get banned from Google AdSense, among other things.

2. Cheating is stealing

No matter how you want to justify, face it, cheating is stealing. You are not only stealing from Google, but also from Adwords publishers. Majority of these are are not big companies, but small webmasters depending on Internet to make a living.

Moreover, even if your morality (or lack thereof) permits stealing from your own fellow, bear in mind that stealing is illegal. Regardless of whether it is done offline or online, a crime is a crime. You might get jailed for that.

In fact, Google has started to bring AdSense fraudsters to court a few months ago. Some were jailed, and some others were fined heavily.

It is just too easy to earn more, legally
Let's say you managed to cheat AdSense undetected. You don't use clickbot or proxy or click-ring or paid clickers. You managed to somehow get the clicks from distributed IP. You don't use pop-ups, spyware, adware. You are careful that your CTR does not exceed 10%. Still, your earning is limited. There is a cap you can't cross, else you will invite unwanted attention to your account.

With so much effort to cover your traces, actually you will get better result if you concentrate your effort to improve the website.

Write more content, submit articles, improve on your search engine optimisation, improve adsense placement, and you can get the same earning or even more. Sure it will take some time, but this is legitimate.

Some of the methods which Google uses to determine and detect cheating Still thinking to cheat AdSense? Stop that. It will never get you anywhere. You might pull it off with smaller ads network, but definitely not with Google. Here are some detection methods they might use. At the very least, they have the resources to do so.
  • IP Address - If the AdSense click is originated from the same IP Address as the one used for accessing your AdSense account, your account is flagged.
  • Cookies - Most home users do not use static IP Address for Internet connection. In most cases just disconnect and reconnect will give you a new IP Address. But don't forget, Google has set cookies on your computer.
  • Other Google Services - Thinking that you are safe just because you do not access your AdSense account? Think again. This time, consider these: GMail, Google Earth, Google Calendar, Google Search, Google Toolbar, Google Talk, Google Sitemap, Google Desktop, Blogger, and so on, and so on. With the wide range of services they provide, Google can trace the originator of most (or probably almost all) clicks.
  • Click Pattern 1 - Oh, why this computer / IP address / person is so trigger-click-happy on this particular website but never click on the ads on other sites?
  • Click Pattern 2 - And why is it that people accessing these sites direct (type-in URL or from bookmark) tend to be very active ad-clickers compared with those referred from search engine or other sites?
  • Click Pattern 3 - And why the ad-clickers like to hit and run, compared with non ad-clickers that surf a few pages before leaving?
  • Click-Through-Rate (CTR)- Your CTR may range from 0.5% to 10%, but if it exceeds a certain point (probably around 10%), you are flagged.
  • Geo-Location - Used Urchin (Google Analytics) before? Then you should know that Google can trace traffics origin down to the small town. Different IP doesn't mean much. Unless you site is really targetted to one small geo-point, a high number of clicks from nearby location will get you banned quickly.
  • Hardware address? - MAC address of the LAN card, modem, and router works almost like a fingerprint. I'm not sure if Google can track this, but probably they do. They have rocket scientist, remember?
  • Advertisers conversion rate - Ad click is one thing. But does it bring value to the advertisers? If none of the clicks on your site translate to conversion to the advertiser, you are in trouble. First the Smart-Pricing hits, then your AdSense account disabled.
  • Search Engine Ranking - Your website is not indexed on any search engine, not linked by any prominent website, but get consistently high traffic? That sounds like something is in play. Regardless of whether it is an adware-embedded software, spam, trojan clickbot, or intentionally installed click-exchange network, it doesn't sound right.
  • Webpage design - How about the "click here" or "support us"? Google has the best search engine in the world. Is it really that hard to find those words?
  • Combo - Each of these detection methods might seem rather weak. But combine them together, and not many click-fraud can pass-through these filters. Even the smartest clickbot will have a hard time.

Google Makes Better Adsense Banning and Appeal Process

The Google Adsense is no doubt one of the great source of revenue for the Bloggers/Publishers. In last years Google has paid 6.5 Billion Dollars to the Adsense Publishers. It always frustrates a Publisher whenever he gets hit by Adsense Ban. Now here is a good news for all the Publishers that Google has softens it’s rules to Ban the Adsense account and the appealing process by the Publishers.


I am going to highlight the points, which Google has announced in their recent Blog Post.

  • Age/Tenure of Adsense Account: Now Google will consider the Account of Adsense Age. Google will only suspend the account instead of terminating, and will ask Publisher to fix the highlighted issue. Once the Issue is Fixed – Adsense will be back.
  • Google has given publishers tools to submit more informative appeals via a new form, which may help resolve issues more quickly.
  • Google will provide more transparency with more details on invalid activity’s causes via email and the AdSense console. If Googlle detects a violation of their policies Publsihers will receive an email and a notification to your account with further information and instructions. And Publishers can read all about the causes of invalid activity at Google’s Ad Traffic Quality Resource Center.
  • Google has expended their AdSense Academy.
Google launched a new series of videos for this specific topic. This is something very good from the Google – In fact the Publishers have taken a deep breath. Lets Hope for the best in future as well.

Via pakzindabad

Track Invalid Clicks to Safeguard Adsense Account

Lately, many blogs (including us) are facing this issue of being bombarded with invalid clicks on adsense ads – with an aim to get their adsense accounts blocked.


This activity is usually carried out by your rivals or those who are not happy with your existence, call it professional jealousy, personal grudge or any other possible thing.

So here are tips to track invalid adsense clicks, to make sure you are on safe side.

Frequently Monitor of your Adsense Account
  • Make sure that you are monitoring your adsense account at least once a day, 3-4 times a day is even better.
  • Keep a watch on CTR (Click through rate) – to make sure it’s around your daily average
  • If your CTR goes significantly high, then it’s time to start worrying and to do the necessary to make sure you are safe.
Tracking Invalid Adsense Clicks:.

If there’s an invalid click activity in your adsense account – there are chances that Google will suspend your account without asking you anything. You will be given only one chance to prove that the clicks were invalid, and didn’t originate from your computer or your friends’ computer.

Google may ask you for IP details or other logs that you may provide them in order to get your account reinstated.

We know that you have Google analytics installed but unfortunately Google Analytics doesn’t provide much details about the visitors, such as their IP addresses, exit links and so on.

So what to do in this situation?
  • Register an account on statcounter.com (I am assuming you are familiar with basic setup, hence not going deep into details)
  • Follow the wizard to add new project (i.e. is your website)
  • Install the code on your website provided by statcounter.com – there’s an option to deploy invisible code (meaning that no counter button will be displayed)
  • You are good to go…

Statcounter will instantly start tracking your website for each single incoming visitor, outgoing links, or you can call them exit links, downloads and much more.

You need to focus on exit link activity to make sure that clicks on ads are valid – and there’s nothing suspicious going on. For this, go to your statcounter account, open the project you just created and check for stats, exit link activity being most crucial of them:


As you can see, there are two google adsense clicks – that ProPakistani has got in last few minutes. We can click on magnifier to see more details, such as IP address, referrer, and more.

Check below screen for one of visitor who clicked on adsense:


If you feel that Ad clicks are suspicious, and are coming from same IP with-in short interval of time – then note down the details, taking screenshots is even better and notify Google Adsense by clicking this link: http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=invalid_clicks_contact&rd=1

Via propakistani

Jan 13, 2013

Earning Hands Free Income with AdSense

Google Adsense is the most tried, true and sturdy form of website monetization on the internet. Even if your website is already monetized through other methods like affiliate programs, PPS, banner and text ads, there is still room for Adsense. There are some internet entrepreneurs who have figured out how to use Adsense as their sole source of full time income.


If you approach it correctly, anybody can realize that goal. Here are a few ways that you can utilize Adsense to help you achieve your financial goals as well as gaining a real understanding of the ins and outs of the program.

In order for relevant ads to appear on your site you must take a few things into consideration. So how do you get relevant ads. All you have to do is write tightly themed content that relates to your keywords. When you think about how AdSense works you’ll understand how easy it is to get relevant ads to appear; Google uses a sophisticated program to read your content and they place ads on your page that is relevant to your content.

When you have the right content with the appropriate keywords, you’ll obviously start getting ads that are more targeted. If your content is good then your readers will want to read other pages of your site. So everything connects and falls in place when your site has content that is good not only for the search engines, but also for your human visitors.

Keep adding fresh, relevant content to your website so that you can have more pages where you can add AdSense. Google likes to see fresh and unique content on sites when it crawls them for page ranking purposes as well, so use this as just another reason to keep your site consistently updated. You can add this content based on a new keyword variation or an extension of the main keyword. So you can have the content based on your main keyword on the homepage and all the other pages can have content based on related keywords. The more content you have on your site, the higher will be the number of ads being displayed on your site. And the more ads you run, the higher will be your income. It is all about using your existing knowledge and some common sense to build your income every day.

Also, never just concentrate on Adsense as your only means of income. This is important because you never know when Google could ban you or your ads quit showing on your page. If you have other ways to make money, instances like that won’t matter very much. Just keep in mind that Adsense isn’t the only way to monetize your site, as you can sell affiliate products, put text link ads up or even banner ads for extra income streams. You must take some calculated risks, but you need to make sure your income remains the same.

In conclusion, before you jump into Google AdSense, keep in mind that it will take some time before you see results. But keep your motivation high and don’t think like that. Just do a little bit at a time and once you start seeing income, keep doing what you’re doing so that the money flow will only increase. Eventually, what matters is how much you’re making at the end of the day, and with AdSense this figure will only increase with time.

Safeguarding Your Adsense Account

Google AdSense is one of the easiest and the most effective ways to monetize your website or blog. One reason so many people go with Adsense is simply because of they know the source and feel confident about using it. As you know, you simply must have a decent to great amount of traffic visiting your site.


Do be aware that Google is probably the strictest company on the planet, and you will suffer account deletion if you try to game their system. It is understandable that you should be interested to know the landscape and rules so your account stays open.

The Internet is filled with sites that have one sole purpose – get clicks on the AdSense ads. Made for Adsense sites can be smartly made so they do not really look like MFA sites; however, many of them do look pretty crappy. So if Google finds out about an MFA site, then it is de-indexed rather quickly because they tend to provide no real value. Making a serious go at Adsense will require you to be willing to be patient and put in a lot of effort to see it through. Really, the only way you will be successful is if you treat it like a real business.

Keep things relevant at all times and not just with Google because when you think about this it really is all about being targeted. They want your website to be updated with the most relevant content that is not deceiving in the least and provides highly valuable information to the visitors. This will ensure that the ads that are displayed are relevant, which will automatically increase your ad’s click through rate and give you high returns. You really do need to take care that you do not overdo it with ad blocks. Simply create your site with a reasonable amount of content before you try to run Adsense ads.

The one particular metric you always need to track is your click through rate, or CTR. There is an average CTR which is between one and five percent, and if it exceeds that then you need to investigate. We mention this because if all of a sudden it is very high, then that means someone, somewhere, is clicking too much on your ads. You simply just want to protect your business, and that is why this is a concern you need to address. If you want to succeed with Google AdSense, then, it’s important to pay attention to many different issues to protect your account.

Marketers who achieve the best results with AdSense are those who have figured out that the best strategy is to work with Google and not against it, and who learn how to get the most lucrative ads on their sites rather than trying to cheat in some way. As long as you’re aware of Google’s rules and policies, you shouldn’t have any problems keeping your AdSense account in good standing.