Protect Yourself Against the Blackhats
November 6th, 2007 | by admin |
You may have read previously about how black hat techniques can be used to take down competition - you!
If you are one of the tens of thousands of people who own a website and are trying to use the Google Adsense Publishing network to make money, you must be vigilant in order to prevent your Adsense account from being deleted. Make sure you read through the Google Adsense Terms of Service at:
https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms
Beyond this, you must be aware of what sort of activity can and likely will result in the cancellation of your account. Some of these activities can be caused by you inadvertently. Also, there are many ways for other people to get your account cancelled. Here are some important issues to know:
1.) Invalid clicks - This is the number 1 reason that Google Adsense Publisher accounts get deleted. An ‘invalid click’ is defined by Google as ANY type of click on an ad that comes from any source other than a legitimate visitor to your site. This means that you can generate an invalid click by making changes to your site layout and inadvertently clicking on one of your own ads. This can also occur if a friend or family member goes to your site and clicks on a few ads ‘to help you out’. These clicks can also be generated if you sign up for ANY SORT of paid traffic or ‘click exchange’ programs, in which people are directed to your site by illicit means or as part of a ‘pay-to-click’ program. NEVER use any sort of paid traffic on your site. If Google detects multiple clicks coming from the same IP address, or if they detect a sharp rise in your clicks per day, you WILL have your account closed, typically with no questions asked.
More importantly, there is a growing trend amongst so-called ‘blackhat SEO’ practitioners to go and click multiple times on the ads on competitor’s sites. You’d think that this would only help you, but Google isn’t going to try very hard to distinguish whether or not the multiple clicks are coming from paid traffic or your buddy or someone else. All Google needs to see is activity that is out of the ordinary and you will likely be kicked from the program.
To protect yourself from invalid clicks, you must use tools available to any Adsense Publisher to protect yourself. If you have a highspeed internet connection, you can go to your Google Adsense account and enter your own IP address so when you go to your own site you won’t see any ads. No ads equals nothing to inadvertently click. Also, there are third-party scripts that can automatically detect when multiple clicks are occurring from the same IP address, and then block the ads from appearing to that person. You can use Google’s search engine to find these third-party tools to help insulate your site from illicit activity.
2.) Using Google Adsense on inappropriate sites - Did you know that you aren’t supposed to use Google Adsense ads on gambling-related sites, sites with pornographic content, or sites written in Arabic? These are a few restricted uses for the Google Adsense network among others. Be certain you understand what types of sites Google wants their ads to appear on, and make sure you never try to get away with putting Adsense ads on a banned type of site. It isn’t worth losing the ability to use Google Adsense ads on all of your sites for the sake of adding one site with inappropriate content.
3.) Junk sites - This would include any site that only uses ’scraped content’, in other words article directories that 1,000 other sites use. This can also include sites that are simply ugly, or aren’t updated regularly. This can also even include sites that are built with common site-building software that uses variations on only a few templates. Google has the ability to detect widespread templates and will penalize your site if you use them.
To avoid this sort of problem, simply spend some time building your site. Make sure the template is unique to your site or sites by actually creating one yourself or hiring someone to do it for you. Write your own articles for your site, or at least re-write any articles you get from article directories. Update your site on a regular basis by swapping articles or using RSS feeds to make the page content auto-update. It is suspected by many Adsense pros that many of the 1000s of sudden Adsense account deletions are simply to get rid of cookie-cutter site networks, so don’t fall in the habit of being lazy with your site creation and maintenance.
There are other ways to get yourself banned from the Google Adsense network, but these are the main ones to be aware of. Always stay up-to-date on information that Google sends out about their advertising network, and make sure you frequent message boards populated by other Google Adsense Publishers. If you are vigilant and ensure that your back is covered at all times, you won’t have to worry about losing your Adsense privileges.
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