Just got the following email from Adsense today...
"It has come to our attention that invalid clicks or impressions have
been generated on the Google ads on your site(s) through users of
third-party programs paid or provided with other incentives to visit
your site. Such programs may include, but are not limited to auto-surf,
pay-to-surf, pay-to-read, or pay-to-click sites.
As a reminder, any method of generating invalid clicks or impressions
is strictly prohibited by our Terms & Conditions and program policies:"
What exactly are they talking about? I have never participated in any incentive based or pay-to-click programs for any of my sites. The very WORST thing I have done is I belong to a pop-under share program for one of my sites where each participant uses a pop-under program and promotes a different member's site there.
Could THAT be it? There isn't any incentive to click anything with that... it's just an advertisement for a different website.
Oddly enough, I also use AdWords to promote one of my sites... Could they be considering driving traffic to my site via THEIR OWN program in conflict with their rules?
Although I still don't see how a pop-under is a PAID-TO-CLICK campaign.
The thing that really sucks about Adsense is that they don't have to explain their position on ANYTHING... if they decide you get banned, you do... and they don't have to tell you why. They could make it up... everyone who's name starts with "S" gets banned today. Period. "Why?" you ask... "We don't have to tell you way", they reply. "You just are."
Well i think its that pop under thing too. Adword would never be a problem also they don't mind it at all. well yes AdSense have some kind of monopoly in ppc field. when they ban 100 people there are 1000 waiting to be accepted to the program. nothing much we can do about it.
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Basically pop-unders generate "invalid" impressions on your site, and if you're getting paid by CPM, then that's a problem. If you aren't, I don't think they should mind...but they do...
I pop-under is another window opened when you open a website, but unike a pop up ad that shows up ON TOP of the website your are looking at, a pop-under actually opens BENEATH the current page in a separate window. You won't see it until you close/reduce your current window.
I don't get paid for any of them... they are just the front page of the advertised website.
I was looking at the SOURCE CODE on my GoPC.com website... When you look at the page and then view the source code, the code appears in difference colors for different things.
THERE IT WAS...
A whole bunch of php code that was inserted that registered traffic and clicks on my site!!!
How'd it get there? Well, I wanted a little php coding done on my site so I hired a member of the forum to help me out a bit. Looks as if he helped himself out a bit as well.
Almost cost me my Adsens account!!!
I don't know enough to write php code off the top of my head, but I know what it is when I see it... I should have looked closer, sooner. I didn't and that was my bad.
It's fixed now but I've learned a valuable lesson.
