Tag: Google AdSense

Google Adsense Follies, Part V: WHAT THE F@#%?!??

You might be interested to learn that my Google AdSense follies have continued (for previous updates, see here, here, here, and here). I have long ago given up on trying to fix blogposts which are flagged by their automated algorithms, and mistakenly determined to be “adult” content.

Well, I recently received an email from Google AdSense, informing me that because of what they politely call “invalid traffic concerns”, they are pulling advertising from my blog.

In the email I received, they say:

We found potentially invalid traffic being used to generate ad revenue on your account. As a reminder, invalid traffic is strictly prohibited by the AdSense Program policies. Clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user interest. Publishers may not ask others to click their ads. This includes asking users to support your site, offering rewards to users for viewing ads, and promising to raise money for third parties for such behavior. Additionally, clicking your own ads, automated clicking tools or traffic sources, robots, or other deceptive software are also prohibited.

We understand that you may want to know more about the activity we’ve detected. Because this information could be used to circumvent our proprietary detection systems, we’re unable to provide our publishers with information about specific account activity, including users that may have been involved.

So basically:

  • Their algorithms have decided that there is invalid clicking on their ads;
  • And no, they can’t give me any more information (trade secrets, yaknow…)

I hereby give up, and I will be removing Google Adsense from my blog this evening. I have had enough of this bullshit. I will stick with WordPress’s own WordAds program.

Email I received from Google AdSense: Enough is enough…

Google AdSense Follies (Part IV)

Well, it would appear that Google AdSense’s automated checker has flagged yet another couple of blogposts that (gasp!) show partially naked avatars.

The offenders are these two blogposts, which, as you can clearly see, show no “Adult: Sexual Content” at all, which is what they were flagged for:

I find it bemusing that the algorithm flagged these posts now, a full year and a half after they were first published. (What, just catching up now?) Apparently, “some advertisers are choosing not to advertise on your page because of issues relating to some of your content”.

So it would appear that I have to, once again, self-censor pictures that should have passed muster in the first place. I could request a review, but I already know from past experience (here, here, and here) that they’ll just get flagged again by this stupid, overly-sensitive algorithm.

Even worse, I am completely unable to even access the policy violations using my Google AdSense dashboard via any web browser on my desktop computer. I actually have to load them up on my iPad to actually find out which blogposts tripped the censor-bot. (Pain. In. The. Ass.)

*shrugs* WHAT-ever. So I lose a few pennies of ad revenue. I’m sick and tired of playing this ridiculous game of Whac-A-Mole.

Google AdSense Follies (Part III): Success!

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

As you know, I have been having some problems with Google AdSense (here and here).

Today I got another automated email message from Google, informing me:

Four pages were reviewed at your request and no policy violations were found on those pages at the time of the review. Ad serving will be restored on these pages and your monthly review limit will be credited.

Hooray! Success! I still don’t know whether or not an actual human being was involved in this process at all, or whether it was all done automatically using computer algorithms. But at least it’s done.

Google AdSense Follies (Part II): Hitting a Brick Wall

Well, I got back another automated email from Google about my Google AdSense violations. It looks like I got absolutely nowhere in requesting a review, which is what I was expecting:

In the last 24 hours: 

4 page-level review requests were received. You’ll be notified when the reviews are completed.
4 pages were reviewed at your request and found to be non-compliant with our policies at the time of the review. Ad serving continues to be restricted or disabled on those pages.

What I find really annoying is that I cannot access the list of violations using my desktop computer (it gives me an error message), so I have to use either my iPad or my iPhone to check the exact wording of the policy violations to see what’s going on. Pain in the ass!

I also found it amusing that, the past three times I checked the Utherverse blogpost, that Google AdSense did not disable ads on that post. Instead, it simply served advertising for the cheating-on-your-spouse website Ashley Madison! So it would appear that, rather than disable ads outright, AdSense will try to match adult content with adult ads. Interesting!

So, for the most serious offender, the Utherverse blogpost, it looks as though I am going to have to remove a couple of images and the link to Utherverse, then resubmit it to see if it passes muster. Frankly, this automated, terse warning system, with its lack of specifics, is irritating. You don’t get an opportunity to talk with a real person to find out what’s wrong (if there’s a person involved in this system at all). It makes you have to guess at what’s wrong, and you have to keep submitting it for review until it is approved. Again, pain in the ass.

As for the other three blogposts, well, I guess I am going to have to put black boxes over naked avatar boobs and asses to get them cleared. So ridiculous!

Were it not for the fact that my Google AdSense ads are bringing in more money than my WordPress WordAds, I would seriously consider just cancelling my AdSense account altogether. But, for now, I’ll make the changes and resubmit all four blogposts for review—AGAIN.

And I will now be checking my email regularly for any future reports of blogposts that have run afoul of the fickle Google AdSense policies.