Last week or so, I got a very depressing email that my Google Adsense account has been banned.
Everything linked to the account was completely shut down, even my business accounts. This means I won’t be able to that access the account anymore. To be honest, the news hurts, and till now I have not been able to understand why I was banned, still digesting the news. Anyway, I will try to share my experience with you, just in case you think you are alone if your account has been banned.
For the one last year or so, I have been earning over $10,000 every month. It was just a few years back I published my full Google Adsense income report on several of my sites and my earning by then was around $20k. My income since then has increased to six figures annually, well until last week. You can’t imagine all that effort and no my account is now currently at $0. The worst part, the outstanding balances as well as Google shares of the revenue, will be refunded FULLY to ‘affected advertisers’. I don’t know what to call this; ‘kindness’ to ‘affected advertisers’ or what?
So what happened? And if it happens to you what will you do?
Google usually send you a standard message stating that they have determined that your account poses a risk of invalid activity or generating some invalid activities. That’s the best you will get from them, no details or further specifics, which is why I got confused and angry at the same time. They suggested that I send a letter of appeal, which I already have, but to be honest I do not have positive expectations.
What I do not understand is what invalid activities my account is about to generate. I have been using Google Adsense since the year 2000, I have never clicked my own ads or asked someone else to do it; I get all my traffic from search engines, so all I can think of is that the shutdown has nothing to do with me, it definitely has something to do with them.
I have heard other people complain about similar unfair closure, and they all seem to follow the rules set. I get that Google is trying to maintain the effectiveness of their advertising system, but I think they are too aggressive and unfair.
What Now?
I am really frustrated that my primary source of income is gone, but at least I haven’t lost everything, my source of traffic is still intact. Nothing has been affected, and I am sure I will find other advertising networks to get me where I was, or close to it. I know this won’t be that easy, but if there is one thing I have come to realize is through constant effort from these other networks, I will be where I was with Google adSense. It could have been worse, that’s why I will be a little careful next time I get an account with any adverting network. There are plenty of options to go for, but the problem is, they don’t pay a lot like google Adsense, but I know I will be close to the mark. I just hope am not wrong.
Resources:
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-adsense-penalties-seo-rank-22277.html
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/19-year-old-lost-46000-in-google-adsense-rules-ban-2014-8