Can you block traffic coming from a specified URL?

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   Hovalisposted 14 years ago

   I just checked on one of my hubs because it seemed to be getting more traffic than usual, and there was a warning sitting at the top which told me that it appeared that I was getting traffic from a traffic exchange. When I checked out the URL where most of the traffic is coming from it does appear to be the case. I haven't listed my hub there. I've never even seen the site before. I know that the use of traffic exchanges is against the Adsense rules, so I want to nip this in the bud before it becomes and issue. Has anybody had this happen to them? It's a new one for me!

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2. 68

   relacheposted 14 years ago

   You'd have to remove the link to stop traffic coming from it.

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      Hovalisposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thought as much. In the meantime I've sent sent the Hubpages team a message to see if they can block it at their end. I think you can set up something via the server to do that, but I have no idea how.
      
      I'm just off to unpublish the hub in the meantime so it doesn't damage my Adsense account. Tomorrow I'll check if there are any clicks from that hub, and if so, send Adsense a message to disregard them if so. That's all I can think of doing for now. :-(

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      DzyMsLizzyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      How would her hub have gotten to that site since she's never been there, heard of it, nor listed her hub there? 
      
      That is 3rd party non-consensual activity, for which she should not be penalized or have to jump through hoops to rectify.

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         Hovalisposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I just edited my reply to Sunforged. It looks like I'm going to wait and see what the Hubpages team come back with.
         
         The problem is, as I see it, that there is no proof that I did not participate in putting the link there. I can't even get into the site without joining to find out, and I don't want to join it (for obvious reasons).
         
         The other bad thing is that Google looks at where you are getting referrals from and if they see you associated with a 'bad neighbourhood' and link exchanges are seen that way, they can push you back in the rankings so you get no traffic at all. It's a dilemma. Keep it published and take the risk or unpublish it and hope something can be done. For now, it's most probably better to take the second option.

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   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   If you have a limited of number of places your Adsense Id is used, you can easily fix the issue.
   
   https://www.google.com/adsense/publisher-whitelist-view
   
   Just create a whitelist
   
   Adsense will believeyou are not involved in the shenanigans if you intentionally remove the ability to earn from the sites traffic.
   
   just remember as you create new sites or join new revshare services that you will need to add to your whitelist

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      Hovalisposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Sunforged! I had no idea you could do that. I've only just really started to get earnings from Adsense, and I don't really know the ins and outs of it. Will go and do that right now.
      
      EDIT: I just checked the criteria for the whitelist and it seems, from what I'm reading, that the whitelist is for letting Adsense know which sites you wish to receive payment for clicks from. If I enter that I want to receive clicks from www.hubpages.com then I am going to end up with the same problem again. The referrer will still be able to get to my hub and click on the ads.
      
      Relache is right, I either have to find a way to get the hub link removed from the other site, or try to find a way of getting it blocked via the site here. There are a few threads over at Adsense where people have advised on coding to be used on your website which can block referrers from places like this. I guess I will have to wait and see what the Hubpages team can come back with.

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         sunforgedposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         oops! , sorry to waste your time, I dont sleep much anymore.
         
         It would require an .htaccess command from Hubpages end then...or maybe a polite email to the originating sites admin contact

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   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   A lot of spam sites add random pages to their directories to make them seem popular.
   
   They could be using your RSS feed for content for a spam site as well, this means that by using your RSS they are getting a little content, but if they use a traffic exchange they may be passsing bad traffic back to you through the RSS feed.
   
   In a bit of a rush now but I will explain more coherently when I get back!
   
   You can get placed in a bad neighborhood, but I doubt you will be because of this.

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   1. 0

      Hovalisposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      The team at Hubpages basically agree with what you've said, Oli. :-) They couldn't actually find a referrer link back to the site, so I've republished it with the ads off for the moment. If all goes well I will turn them back on in a week or so. The odd thing is that this hub is old, I published it back in 2008 (or thereabouts) and it has languished ever since. I did it way before I knew anything about keyword research, and it shows in the traffic figures. Getting that much traffic was enough for it to gain my attention.
      
      *crosses fingers that I've seen the last of that site*

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