How did THIS happen??

1. 92

   habeeposted 12 years ago

   I checked my Adsense earnings a little while ago, and I just checked them again. My earnings for the day for Google Adsense dropped more than $8 in a few minutes. Never seen that before! How the heck did that happen??

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   1. 87

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Seems a high figure to drop, but I have seen Adsense removing the value of ad clicks quite a lot over the past few months.
      
      You notice it more when you're only getting 1 or 2 clicks a day.

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2. 92

   habeeposted 12 years ago

   Izzy, this is the first time I've ever noticed it! How/why would they take away $8 in 15 minutes?? I haven't clicked my own ads.
   
   I don't usually check my earnings that frequently, but something just told me to check again, even though I had just checked.

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   1. 87

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Was it a single $8 click?
      
      Or several clicks? Your stats will still show the clicks, and where they came from.
      
      They are not accusing you, apparently, they just don't believe those clicks are genuine.
      
      We cannot see anything apart from the site or page the clicks came from.
      
      I don't know what they see, but I went through a stage this summer where they rejected any click over .50cents.
      
      I didn't have that many obviously, or I might not have noticed.
      
      But you know how it is, you log on, you check your stats, you check your adsense, and there is a really nice click or two.
      
      An hour or two later you refresh the page only to find that your earnings are less than previously stated.
      
      I actually messaged Google about this because it was happening with nearly every click, and no my stats on those hubs/sites weren't so low as to look false.
      
      I have never clicked my own ads, but I do not have their ability to see the IP of those who do.
      
      if its a one-off, let it be, but if it becomes a pattern, contact Google.

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3. 56

   TerryGlposted 12 years ago

   I don't want to be a foresayer of doom or anything, but something BIG is going on at the moment with Adsense. I have noticed across my account a huge drop in ecpm and other forums are reporting the same thing.
   
   Clicks are being refunded big time at the moment. I would suspect there is some sort of quality control going on at the moment that the click was in some way a productive click and if non-productive - refunded.
   
   I went through my whole account and cleaned up my Adsense sites and made sure each unit was compliant. I would strongly suggest anyone else with their own sites to do the same.

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   1. 87

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Well, I've been noticing a huge drop in ECPM all summer long, to the point of almost zero earnings.
      And as I've said before, I've been getting many clicks disallowed, including one yesterday which nearly had me in tears because it could have bought me a coffee.
      
      So, other people are only seeing now what I've been seeing for months. Then again, Google hates me.

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      1. 56

         TerryGlposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think the worst is yet to come. It started in Pakistan and now into Asia. Each time the accounts were suspended they were accompanied with an email citing terms of service. The main one was disguising ad units or too many ad units.
         
         I find that strange as I often get G emails telling me to put more units on my pages and to have them image and text.
         
         We all know G starts somewhere first and then rolls out worldwide. Just like Adwords accounts being suspended - for life.
         
         Like I said, something is going on right now. You are right though, you are seeing it and have seen it for some time. Just wait for others now to come in screaming the place down.

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         1. 60

            SiddSinghposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It certainly appears that way - something like a purge.
            
            Though I cannot imagine someone being banned for putting too many ad units - until they are putting more ad units/blocks than are allowed - the most common reason cited have been "risk of generating invalid activity"  (check this)and "disguising ad units/blocks and putting them close to flash games etc'.

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            1. 56

               TerryGlposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Yes Sid, that was what I should have written, you are correct. The email also alluded to hiding ad units in navigation areas as well. Scary stuff.

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               1. 92

                  habeeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  OMG - I wouldn't be tech savvy enough to do that stuff, even if I wanted to!

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                  1. 60

                     SiddSinghposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     It can happen unintentionally too -
                     
                     
                     
                     Though the call is to click the green button, the word "click" is too close to an ad unit, with the figure even pointing where to click. IMO, this is too risky.
                     
                     Then there is this case -
                     
                     
                     
                     The drop down menu is just over the 728x90 ad block, and actually cascades over the block when the mouse is hovered on it. Again, risky IMO.

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      2. 78

         Mighty Momposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It's a well known fact Google hates you.
         They hate you almost as much as they hate Starbucks, so of course they want to deprive you of your coffee fix, Izzy

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4. 56

   TerryGlposted 12 years ago

   Just found this great article on if your domain has received a manual +50 penalty. About half way down he describes the search term to use to see if the +50 penalty has been applied.
   
   http://www.internetmarketingwizard.com/ … hat-got-me
   
   I particularly liked this paragraph As for how I got the manual review, there is quite a bit of speculation as to how this happens.  Many people believe that once your adsense earnings reach a certain point you are put in a pool for random checks.  Kind of like an audit from the IRS.  Others believe if you have adsense and google analytics on your site and your traffic increases quickly and dramatically, as did with my site in question, again it is put into a pool for manual review.

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5. 78

   Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

   Well, it gets curiouser and curiouser.
   
   Got the following email from Adsense:
   Please note that we've recently issued a payment to you for your AdSense earnings. Your payment represents the total of your finalized earnings accumulated through the end of last month.
   
   For more information, please log into your account and visit your Payments page. Depending on your form of payment, you may also be able to find a reference number there to track or pick up your payment.
   
   Remember, if Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is available in your country, we recommend it as a faster and more reliable form of payment. For more information, please visit the following link: "How do I sign up for Electronic Funds Transfer?"
   
   Congratulations! We hope you receive your payment soon.
   
   Sincerely,
   The Google AdSense Team
   
   So of course I click on the "log in" link to see what my payment is.
   And this is what came up:
   
   "Account Not Active
   An AdSense account does not exist for this login, as it is associated with an unapproved application. For more information about your application, please review the message we sent to the email address you provided with your application."
   
   So I decided to check it through my HubPages earnings page.
   Imagine my consternation to get the same "Account Not Active" message.
   HELLO? My Google AdSense account has been active since -- IDK, how long have I been on HP? Three years now?
   
   Is this some kind of Halloween trick????
   
   
   Maybe I will log off my computer and *poof* it will all be fixed by morning.
   
   So IzzyM. If you thought Google hated you, I think they hate me just as much. MM

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   1. 56

      TerryGlposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wow. What does that mean. An unapproved application could be anything and I would not know where to start guessing what it could be.

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      1. 78

         Mighty Momposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I know, hunh?
         The account has been approved and active for a long time!

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   2. 68

      waynetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Have you created a few Google accounts with different email addresses....as that's the message I got because I did this years ago.....

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      1. 78

         Mighty Momposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Nope.
         I'm not smart enough to go through the Google account setup without step-by-step instructions from Hub Pages.
         Only once.
         And it was when I first started with HP.
         Im thinking that payment email may be a scam, tho.

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         1. 87

            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Are you still shut out of your account, Mighty Mom?
            
            I suppose there is an outside chance that HP have closed access because of a hacking attempt or something.

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6. 59

   MPG Narrativesposted 12 years ago

   Hey just thought I'd let you know google hates me too. I get emails telling me I have a payment and then guess what, no payment. Things have been slow for me since the panda thing but I just keep writing, just keep writing...

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7. 70

   sunforgedposted 12 years ago

   Sometimes clicks get refunded. If something seems invalid,a flurry of clicks from one user, for example, they get refunded.
   
   Its probably happened before and you just didnt notice it.
   
   Probably not something to be concerned about if its not a common occurrence for you.

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8. 92

   habeeposted 12 years ago

   Thanks, all. Sunforged, your comment makes me feel a little better!

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