Traffic exchange

1. 61

   Hollie Thomasposted 13 years ago

   Hi,
   I've had a worrying automated message on one of my hubs which states "warning your hub appears to be receiving traffic from a traffic exchange" I've back linked all my hubs in the same way. I do not understand what this means. Has anyone else received warnings like this?

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2. 0

   Website Examinerposted 13 years ago

   Traffic exchanges are known sites. You could have linked to them or someone else may have done so. You can use Yahoo Site Explorer to see where your backlinks come from, and do some research on known traffic exchange sites.

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   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   A traffic exchange is a site where people literally swap visits to each otherspages.  If you have not been taking part in any such thing the warning will probably go away in a while.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Oops,I realise in all these conversations, we've missed advising the OP.
      
      I don't think it's wise to ignore the warning.  If HubPages has detected a possible violation, Google may have too - it would be worth checking out. 
      
      Perhaps start by emailing team@ to see if they can give you more information.

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4. 61

   Hollie Thomasposted 13 years ago

   Ok, thanks-I'll check it out.

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      Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Welcome to HubPages, and good luck.

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5. 76

   DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years ago

   Ok--I stumbled into this post out of curiosity about its title.
   
   Frankly, I'm not sure I understand the issue.
   
   I've never heard of a "traffic exchange," site, but in any case, what's the problem?  It seems like a huge, "So what?" to me--meaning, if this is against the rules, I don't see why it should be.
   
   I hardly see any difference between swapping visits to people's hubs by promoting them via FaceBook, Twitter, Digg, Stumble Upon, or any other such site, (from whence people may or may not actually visit), and who is to tell whether the people on these so-called 'exchanges' actually follow through either?.
   
   Someone may arrive initially from an "exchange" site, but then they may stop and actually read something, like it, click a link, or who knows, sign up themselves.
   
   The same kind of "I'll visit yours if you visit mine" could just as easily be set up by means of an e-mail tree--it would not then be a public "known" site--and no one would know the diffference!
   
   The point is, both HP and the authors are getting traffic.  Traffic=revenue; traffic=potential for links to be clicked; traffic=someone might or might not--in either case-- buy something from an Amazon or EBay capsule...
   In short, traffic=income for all:  who cares how it gets here?
   
   Added traffic means everyone wins.
   
   Perhaps someone could explain why this is considered a problem.

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      Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      From the Google AdSense support forum:
      
      "Can I use traffic exchange programs?"
      
      "While traffic exchange services may help bring traffic to your site, we don't recommend using them, as they may lead to invalid clicks or impressions and result in your account being disabled."
      
      http://www.google.com/adsense/support/b … swer=81555

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      1. 76

         DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Ok, I have read the material at both links.  "Google says so," but cannot themselves explain how to determine if a click is "invalid."
         
         So, if they can't tell....???? 
         
         However, they have, like many other sites, simply put up a list of "must-not's" with threats of various penalites, without offering a reasonable explanation.
         
         I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I've never outgrown the "why" stage--and "Just because I said so" was the{/b} single most irritating pet peeve answer my parents ever gave me.  "just because" is not a real reason or answer:  it is a cop-out.  It irritates me to this day to hear that. 
         
         I thank you both, Website Examiner and pedrog, for the replies and links.  I'm not saying I'm going to go now, and violate the terms, because I'm not going to:  that would hurt only myself...just when I am at a point where my AdSense revenue is starting to show minimal per-day increases....
         What I am saying, is that I'm dissatisfied with Google's answer and bogus non-explanations.
         
         I can understand the auto-bot thing--those are just plain annoying in any context, and usually only generate spam, or worse, viruses and the like.  And I understand how it is 'cheating' in a way to PAY for some person to come in and make clicks...but for goodness sakes...if you only ASK them to do so??????  Shoot...maybe then they'd actually pay attention to the ads, and "WOW!!"  see something that they like and be glad they did, and maybe even buy the product!  I fail to see how that would "hurt" Google or anyone else. 
         But, as the kids today are fond of saying, "What[b]EVER
         
         
         *** retiring now to my cubbyhole to write more 'quality content'  '***

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            Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            That is akin to saying, "it's OK to steal that person's handbag if they can't tell it was me".
            
            The intent of Google's search engine was to return the best sites at the top of their search results.  A large part of that assessment was based on the number of visitors and the number of links it achieved. 
            
            As we all know, the search results today are a mess - and to a large degree, that's due to the efforts by webmasters to impress Google by attracting fake links and fake readers.
            
            Google keeps trying to improve its algorithm, but it still hasn't found a way to weed the fake links and fake readers out from the genuine ones. 
            
            It's all a matter of degree. 
            
            http://hubpages.com/hub/Black-Hat-SEO-i … fe-for-you

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               DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Right, ok--but I do disagree with your opening statement.  I do not think it falls into the category of theft...it's then more akin to 'stuffing the ballot box.'
               
               And in the Hub you referenced, Pcunix points out that "Google just doesn't want us voting for ourselves." 
               
               Well... phooey.. even at the polls, a candidate can cast ONE vote for themselves!

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         2. 87

            Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            No, they won't.  The thing about traffic exchanges is that the members are on a mission to visit as many sites as they can (because they want other people to return the favour).  They don't even look at the page, far less click on anything.

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            1. 76

               DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               ok--then  that smacks of "bots" and not people running around doing nothing all day but clicking into pages....I've got better things to do with my time!

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                  pedrogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  This rule as been in adsense for long time, back in 2006 when i wrote my first website i was promoting it in auto-surfs, traffic enxangers and other related websites, got an email from adsense saying if it doesn't stop my account would be canceled, learned my lesson

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   2. 62

      pedrogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It is not approved because google says so:
      
      "To ensure a positive experience for Internet users and Google advertisers, sites displaying Google ads may not:
      
          * Use third-party services that generate clicks or impressions such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, autosurf and click-exchange programs. "
      
      You can find it here:
      
      http://www.google.com/adsense/support/b … swer=48182
      
      Under Traffic Sources

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   3. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Simple.  It's dishonest.  A traffic exchange is not about getting real readers, it's about artificially inflating the visits to your Hub to impress Google.
      
      That's against Adsense TOS and you risk losing your Adsense account. 
      
      Google assesses the merit of your Hub or website by the number of other people who link to it, and the number of visitors.  They frown on any practices which artificially inflate those numbers.  And that includes everything from "swapping visits" to traffic exchanges.
      
      In practice, people are doing it all the time - because so long as they do it in private, it's difficult for Google to catch them.  In fact, we're so used to it, we've forgotten how dishonest it is, really.
      
      Traffic exchanges can be really blatant, so they're one of the things Google CAN catch - if they detect a surge of traffic all coming from the same address, they will take action and you could lose your Adsense account.

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6. 67

   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   Most people using traffic exchanges don;t even look at the site, let alone click an ad or buy something.  It really is worthless traffic.

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7. 67

   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   I have used three different traffic exchanges myself.  Many thousands of hits, not a single affiliate sale.  The traffic exchange people don't look at the pages, they literally don't look at them.

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8. 76

   DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years ago

   OH--KAAYYYYY!!!
   
   I just wanted to clarify something I did not understand, and did not feel that Google addressed in a clear manner that amounted to much more than "just because."
   
   From my first post on the topic, I already "got" that it was against the rules....and had no plans to follow such practices.
   
   
   
   The tone of moral outrage in the replies, though.....
   
   
   ************  slinking off to crawl in a hole feeling like a scolded schoolgirl wrongly accused of cheating on a test

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      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Oops, sorry MsLizzy, I didn't mean it that way at all!  Just trying to explain it as simply as possible. 
      
      Your analogy of stuffing the ballot box is an excellent one - yes, you're allowed one vote, but only one!

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         DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         S'okay, Marisa--that's one downside of online communictaion; no body language to see to back up the intent.

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      Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I was under the impression that you were unfamiliar with the concept and sought guidance, which is what I tried to provide.

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         DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         you are correct, Website Examiner--I was unfamiliar with the terminology, and upon reading the replies to the OP, I was confused, and sought clarification. It's just that the way I percieved the tone of the replies felt like a tongue-lashing.
         (Did I mention I tend to be thin-skinned???)  Oops.. my bad... If I over-reacted, I apologize.  HP does have a lot of very nice and good people as well as any of those who may be causing the problems responsible for all the recent changes...I meant no offense to anyone with my own reply or questions...and did not mean to sound snarky.

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            Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            DzyMsLizzy, no problem whatsoever. You have contributed to an interesting discussion.

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               Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Sounds like it's sorted, and I'm glad of that.  I too want to say thank you to DzyMsLizzy for asking the questions, because a lot of other people probably have exactly the same question(s).  It's good to read the answers even when we ourselves didn't ask.

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9. 52

   kimbojimposted 13 years ago

   Traffic exchange will give you extra visitors, and that's great. But there's a problem with that.
   
   Since the visitors are being brought to the website from another page, they either won't check the article, or will create invalid clicks, which costs AdWords marketers money and discredits Google. Not only that, but think of it this way.
   
   There's a new store on the block, and it's marketing home improvement products. You go in there and, boom, they only sell Halloween costumes. It's not what the person is looking for so, while they might get more visitors, its traffic that won't really mean anything.

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   1. 61

      Hollie Thomasposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Does traffic adbar and traffic swarm count as traffic exchanges? I read a post on one of the forums a few days ago which listed a number of sites to use as backlinks and these two, amongst others, were on there.

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         psycheskinnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, those are traffic exchanges.

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            Hollie Thomasposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, now I understand the problem.

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               psycheskinnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Hope you can get it sorted out now

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