A Modest Proposal
By Jonathan Swift
A Plea for Humane Treatment and Democracy from The Mighty World Minded-Google
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Help forum > AdSense > Reports and Earnings > I DEMAND ANSWERS!
I DEMAND ANSWERS! Report abuse
Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/22/11
I have recently started using the adsense program only to discover that it doesn't work and according to many people who have been previous users, is a bit of a con! I know from web analysis that people have actually clicked my adverts but my account remains empty, and it also says that there were no clicks! Im also unimpressed by the sheer mess of the whole "help" setup and the fact that adsense has no "contact" option, classic sign of a bad business, do something wrong and hide behind closed doors, also the policies are overstrict as if google runs there own country or something, I am deeply dissatisfied with this whole adsense program and I demand that I receive a response either by e-mail, post or telephone as soon as possible, you have my account details and since that im allowing you to do business on my turf, LAW says you have to be co-operative with your client. If no response is received then I may consider legal action! I didn't want this, neither do you.
Replies 1 - 12 of 12
PeggyK
Top Contributor
3/22/11
Since you aren't Google's client, you can't expect client (or customer)-level support. You are a contractor doing business with Google.
Google support is through contact forms and this forum.
If you explain your issue in more detail we can try to help you here, but without details it's hard to guess what might be the issue with your account.
So it would help to know:
- are you seeing impressions recorded in your AdSense account? If you aren't getting impressions, then your ads likely aren't displaying properly.
- what are you using to measure "clicks"? Note that 3rd party stat trackers often do not report AdSense "clicks" correctly.
- what is the discrepancy in clicks you are seeing? 1 click? 10 clicks? 100 clicks? 1000 clicks?
2 of 2 people found this answer helpful. Did you? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
Well, one reason I know is because my partner found an ad that took his fancy (being a gamer) he clicked it then messaged me telling me that I had a nice ad (until I told him that I didn't make the ad) so I decided to check to see how that would look on my reports, I noticed that no recorded click was there but there are plenty of page impressions and my earning was £0.00, and from reviews and other sources I know that my ad is being used as desired and nothing is recording, I noticed that google were doing maintenance on the system and put it down to errors but still there are no recorded clicks. Other issue is that yes google are doing business on my property as there advertisements are displayed on my property and it's only right that I should receive a sum for allowing google to continue spreading their ad share across the net, so legally I do have certain rights, also google's policies are too strict and I had to consider whether or not I should continue setting up my account with google mainly due to fear of getting "told off" by google and maybe even the law! Also I have seen evidence that google are abusing this system with their "ad hosters" as I am aware that google decided that because an unknown site user decided to click the ads perhaps more than google liked and it was out of control of the site owner and as a result the owner lost revenue therefore putting him into loss and eventually losing his hard owned business, I certainly do not want that to or would let that happen to me. Finally even my small business has a contact option in which I swear to my cutomers and visitors that I will personally contact them back, yes I know google has a lot of customers but I hardly doubt google cannot afford to run such a contact facility, it's very unproffesional to break the direct link between the business and the customer because it shows that google do not want to deal with in effect their investors who keep google running as a business.
3/23/11
Well, one reason I know is because my partner
Your partner. Well if this partner has the same address as you then it would be discounted and can cause problems. Or, if you work in the same building using the same IP address to access your site and the partner uses that IP address also, it's a problem.
I noticed that no recorded click was there but there are plenty of page impressions and my earning was £0.00
IF the above is not the case, then not every ad pays for a click. Some only pay for impressions, and in very tiny amounts - you generally need around 1000 impressions for the ad to earn something. And, different ads display for different people, so you may not be sure which ads are displayed when.
As well if you are using the allowed sites list in your account, you'll need to make sure that your site is included in that list, otherwise no clicks will count.
Other issue is that yes google are doing business on my property as there advertisements are displayed on my property and it's only right that I should receive a sum for allowing google to continue spreading their ad share across the net, so legally I do have certain rights
The rights you have are listed in the terms of service you agreed to when you sign up, and one of the things contained in that is the fact that Adsense is the one who decides which clicks are valid and which are invalid. As well, you requested this service. They didn't hunt you up and ask you to become a publisher, so the rights you have are those of an independent contractor who agreed to the contract they gave you. If you really didn't take the time to read it thoroughly, it's a good idea for you to do that. It's a lot of legal jargon, but it is important to understand what you have gotten into.
also google's policies are too strict and I had to consider wether or not I should continue setting up my account
That is your choice. If you were aware of the policies, then you can't blame someone for the decision you made. The policies are there for a reason - to protect the advertiser's since this entire program is designed around the advertiser. Why? Because it is the advertiser who pays us. Adsense just distributes the funds to us. Without the advertiser there is no program because Google doesn't pay for this out of their own pockets.
Also I have seen evidence that google are abusing this system with their "ad hosters" as I am aware that google decided that because an unknown site user decided to click the ads perhaps more than google liked
This is part of the terms also. It's not much different than most jobs anywhere (though this isn't a job as such). An employer who isn't happy with performance of any worker can simply let them go. Adsense isn't any different.
Mostly the folks who lose their accounts are violating policies no matter how much they swear up and down they are doing everything right. Often all takes is a look at their websites to confirm that adsense was within their right to opt out of having ads on that site. Invalid clicks are a problem, but publishers have options for tracking and reporting those, and publisher's who don't will lose in the end. That too is part of the terms.
It says that each publisher is responsible for everything on their sites, including the visitors actions. By that, they mean that you should be paying attention to what visitors do, and if you get a bunch doing stuff that they shouldn't be (clicking lots of ads) you do something about it - restrict the visitor IP so they can't access your site, remove the ads until you figure out what to do, report the visitors to adsense. There are many things a publisher can do to give themselves some form of protection.
Finally even my small business has a contact option in which I swear to my cutomers
Well, perhaps when the 2 million publishers adsense has pay for this form of support, it will be offered. However, think exactly how much work you'd get done if you had a million publishers a day emailing you or contacting you by phone. None. Particularly when 40% of the questions are really things a person should know before signing up for adsense (what's a URL, how many times can I click my ads, what's my username, etc and yes, those are true support requests) and about 60% or more of what publishers ask in these forums are already answered in the help center files...why would adsense want to answer constant emails about things already answered?
That sort of support costs a lot of money, money that would come out of OUR pockets (all publishers). A lot of us would really not want to pay out so others could ask these questions directly. That's why they have the support forum.
If staff support is required, it can be had through the forums here.
it's very unprofesional to break the direct link between the business and the customer
Yeah, however as Peggy pointed out...we (publishers) aren't considered customers. Independent contractors (independent meaning we work on our own following the guidelines), and there is support, through these forums. Perhaps not the level some people would like, but it gets the job done when it has to.
it shows that google do not want to deal with in effect their investors who keep google running as a business.
The last thing we are is investors. Unless you've actually invested some money directly into the Adsense program? And I certainly hope not, because it's a free service that doesn't require any investment except your time and that investment is to your benefit.
Believe me when I tell you that investors have direct contact with google through other means not available to publishers.
References:
[1] Why do my reports show clicks with no associated earnings ...(Help Articles)
Query used: why do my reports who clicks with no associated...
[2] What is my Allowed Sites list? - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
leQuery used: allowed sites
3 of 2 people found this answer helpful. Did you? YesNoReport abuse Gracey
Top Contributor
3/23/11
Also, "demanding" answers is not a good thing.
Generally that gets you no response of any value.
1 of 1 people found this answer helpful. Did you? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
I think there's a bit of a problem here.
For starters why are google forgetting that it is people like me who do sign up for these programs that makes it all possible or there would be no link to the public eye, secondly my partner is in a totally different adress with a different ISP, thirdly how can anything possibly say that "it is the sole responsibility of the publiser what happens on their site" are we expected to tell people that we don't want them to use our site as desired, that's a good impression on a customer "don't bake the cake if no one's allowed to eat it", if someone wants to click ads as much as they like then it is their choice in a world where human rights allow people to be free, not only that by blocking adsense users for this contradicts the fact that google and the ad developers want people to read the ads, why is it that when someones quite interested in what they see they are not allowed to see it anymore it's completely senseless, thirdly are googles policies set within lawful boundaries or are google making their own laws? there seems to be no control given to a adsense user at all, it's unfair and quite bossy. Google also state when they advertise the adsense program that you earn revenue when someone clicks the ads, legal requirements of Description Of Goods Act states that you must give what you advertise, so I am fully entitled to start seeing numbers appear in my balance, no excuses for "it's free so it don't apply" because law also states that if you wish to give it for free you still have to treat it as if a transaction was involved. No im not a customer but im also someone who posts google products on my domain, yet google seem to be the one telling me that they can do what they like and if you don't like it, lump it, if it wasn't for the fact that google say we'll pay you there would not be a single adsense program on a website, and perhaps I have terms and conditions on my website, did google consider those? I doubt it, finalyy in this reply post I will state that damn right I demand answers, unfortunately for big corporations such as google some people aren't downsized by this and the fact and I am a business man myself I will expect answers from anyone who I think is taking me for a ride just as I will give answers to anyone that wants them, im not trying to be cocky or arrogant or anything negative but whereas most people like to suck up to the big guys to get what they want (which never works) some others prefer to show that they are not under anyones thumb. I want to resolve all this in the best manner and a proffessional manner also.
Thanks
p.s to Gracey are you a representative of google and speak on their behalf or are you employed by google directly? Thanks
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
Oh one more thing, Google's policies are so unreadable that no one will read them because it is written in gobbledygook, I know this because they are written like this so people do not understand everything and get drawn in by the money without realising that you just got suckerpunched in the face, it's a business tactic and I for one don't agree with it, yes my policies are not fully understandable but at least I have a contact me button so that people can ask me questions but with google there is no arguing allowed, another bad sign of bad business.
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Kukana
Top Contributor
3/23/11
I think Google's policies for Adsense are very clear. The terms and conditions are a bit more long-winded, it's true, but they're not difficult to understand. I certainly read them before I signed up. I then checked a box to say that I had read them. If I had not actually read and understood them, I could, of course, have clicked the box anyway, but it would still be my responsibility to ensure that I met all the terms and conditions.
If you don't like the way Google works, or don't agree with their policies, then the best thing to do may be to withdraw your site from Adsense and close your account.
3/23/11
Google also state when they advertise the adsense program that you earn revenue when someone clicks the ads, legal requirements of Description Of Goods Act states that you must give what you advertise, so I am fully entitled to start seeing numbers appear in my balance
Actually this is what Google states:
12.1 You shall be entitled to receive a sum of money representing a share of the advertising revenue earned by Google from third party advertisers from the Ads and Referral Buttons which appear on Your Property(ies). That revenue will be determined by a number of factors, including (a) the number of valid clicks on Ads displayed on Your Property(ies), (b) the number of valid impressions of Ads displayed on Your Property(ies), (c) the number of valid completions of Referral Events initiated through Referral Buttons displayed on Your Property(ies), and/or (d) other events performed in connection with the display of Ads on Your Property(ies). The share of that revenue that You get shall be determined by Google from time to time in its absolute discretion. You acknowledge that Google will not and does not have to tell You how it works out that share or what percentage of the total advertising revenue earned by Google from the Ads and Referral Buttons which appear on Your Property(ies) Your share represents. Payment shall be calculated solely based on records maintained by Google.
Note that Google only promises to pay for valid clicks and impressions.
As Kukana points out, those are the Terms and Conditions you agreed to when you signed up. If you don't agree with those Terms, then it's probably best to not use AdSense.
those statements are from the Terms and Conditions, but if you want plain English the help articles are pretty good. I've linked some relevant ones below.
If there are specific questions you have about the terms we can try to help answer them here on the forum or you can request a Policy Clarification from Google directly:
e.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=policy_clarification
But you should be aware that you are likely to just be directed back to the help articles if your question can be answered there (which it is).
Query used: invalid click
[2] What is an invalid click? - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
le.com
Query used: invalid click
[3] Invalid Clicks Issues and Concerns - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
http://www.google.com/
Query used: invalid click
[4] How does Google detect invalid clicks? - AdWords Help(Help Articles)
adwords.google.com
Query used: invalid click
[5] Newbie Central - Earnings & Expectations - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
www.google.com
Query used: earnings
[6] Why do my reports show clicks with no associated earnings? - AdSense Help(Help Articles)
www.google.com
Query used: clicks no earnings
3/23/11
You specifically mentioned that your partner is a gamer so I assume the website is game related. One of my friend's websites is a website for gamers, and gaming websites are notorious for having low paying advertisers to begin with. He says that if an ad channel has 1000 page views and no clicks by the10am, the the first click is always either 0 or one cent because his CTR is 0% so only the low paying garbage ads that love to advertise on gaming websites show up when the ctr is so low. I would carefully check all the ads on your site because he said that monitoring the ads and blocking certain garbage ads from his ad channels has really helped.
Hope this helps.
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
I don't know how much more I can explain this, I know all my clicks are 100% VALID, if they are nor valid then basically that means no ones clicks will be, I also specifically mention when google advertise the adsense program it states that you will be paid it doesnt mention all the long winded terms and conditions or policies saying anything so what I said there is 100% accurate. I still haven't received the one response I wanted, are google policies and "terms and conditions" within legal parameters? If you are wondering why I am so annoyed is because google gives you the promise of income so you can expand your business but it seems google like to offer fishbones and take all the meat for themselves, mind you it wont be long before google have to help smaller businesses more anyway due to the new statute laws and regulations coming into effect in the UK for new entrepreneurs. Im also dissapointed at the way the whole thing is run and "sold" off to people I feel like im just letting google get some free ads on the go. Lastly although there is help available for making and editing ads it can still be complicated especially when you have to work during the day and then run business until 5 am every day. Im not an idiot but sometimes a dummies guide may be a bit easier and also policies, terms and conditions are very unreadable unless you have an ILEX law degree, so it may be worth noting that there are campaigns around one being called "In plain english please", these are designed to ensure that everyone gets what they want and understand the terms properly before doing business.
Thanks
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Gracey
Top Contributor
3/23/11
p.s to Gracey are you a representative of google and speak on their behalf or are you employed by google directly? Thanks
Neither actually. I'm just a publisher like most of the other volunteers here. We are not paid by Adsense for this. We are paid for ads on our site, like any other publisher. Today (because of bad targeting) I've earned a grand total of zero, which is pretty unusual, but it happens. So I spend my time here for, well, nothing in terms of monetary value.
I don't know how much more I can explain this, I know all my clicks are 100% VALID,
But you don't know that. You can't possibly. Can you define what is a valid click according to Adsense?
None of us can perfectly define a valid or invalid click. That is Adsense's call (even when we don't like it much, and most of us don't like it when that happens). So you really can't know if it's valid or not, no matter how much you say it's valid, or how often you say it. That's proprietary information that they don't give out, for fairly obvious reasons. Adsense already battles a lot of fraudulent activity with respect to clicks. If publishers knew for certain how they audit and decide what is valid/invalid, it would be their ticket (the unscrupulous ones) to million dollar adsense earnings. Simply put, they'd have a wide open door to game the system, which they try (and often lose) to do often enough already.
Most of us have had clicks declared invalid, and most of us can guess (from experience) what some of those reasons are - at least the reasons they already give us in the online information. But 100% surety is not something we as publishers can have.
that means no ones clicks will be
The logic here is flawed. If no clicks were valid, nobody would get paid. And most of us get paid - perhaps not for every click, but usually for most of them.
I also specifically mention when google advertise the adsense program it states that you will be paid it doesnt mention all the long winded terms and conditions or policies saying anything so what I said there is 100% accurate
Well they do ask you to read, and agree to the terms of service since it's a legal contract that you are bound to. Did you read that? If not, then the fault is on your own side (not meaning that in a snarky way) for not reading a document you agreed to abide by, even if its "long winded". That is part of being a responsible publisher - you don't sign other legal papers without actually reading them I hope?
But you will get paid - not for every click, and the terms DO say that. They say you will get paid for valid clicks provided you follow the policies and guidelines. Nowhere does it guarantee that you will get paid for every click - at least nowhere in the terms. Adsense guarantees no particular amount of earnings, just that you will be paid what you've earned (guidelines followed) 30 days after the end of the month in which you reach $100. And you would be paid as most of us here can attest - all of us have collected our earnings, many of us for some years.
mind you it wont be long before google have to help smaller businesses more anyway due to the new statute laws and regulations coming into effect in the UK for new entrepreneurs
Adsense operates under the laws of the United States - California to be exact. UK laws shouldn't affect Google. If the UK insists google conform to their laws, it wouldn't surprise me to see google cut off UK publishers and refuse to do business in the UK.
I feel like im just letting google get some free ads on the go
Well you are aware that the ads are not paid for by Google, right? The ads are paid for by the advertisers. People like us - lots of Adsense publishers are also the AdWords advertisers. They pay for the advertising. Google collects it, and takes their share and pays the publishers, but the advertisers foot the bill. And Google keeps a smaller share than they pay me, so it isn't quite the way you seem to think.
Lastly although there is help available for making and editing ads it can still be complicated
Creating an ad takes a bare few minutes, I'm really not sure why you think it's so complicated. You walk through setup stages pretty quickly. While your first few ads might take a little longer because you're new, the ad setup shouldn't take that long. At least not on the adsense end if you are generating the codes from your account. Really though, when anything is new and never tried it's a little more difficult. If you stick with it, before long you'd wonder why you thought it was hard.
Im not an idiot but sometimes a dummies guide may be a bit easier and also policies, terms and conditions are very unreadable unless you have an ILEX law degree.
I agree that the wording in legal documents is a little, uh, verbose and less than intelligible to most people. But, well it's written by lawyers to protect Adsense's butt, so you sort of expect it to be wordy and complicated. It isn't "unreadable", but lots of people are not going to understand it, even though they need to. That's why I pay my lawyer. Well, used to. I can usually wade through these things now having had to deal with enough of them, but because it's important to understand what you're getting into (at least if you want it to be a success) you need to spend the money, or find a friend who is a law student or paralegal to help you go through it section by section. Time consuming, yes. But really a responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly, for your own sake.
Adsense isn't perfect (neither is Google) and there's a lot of things we'd like to see changed, but in general I've found them a better choice than some of the other advertising companies I signed up with. I never did employ anyone else's ads for various reasons, but I read all the information before deciding that. All ad companies have terms written by legal eagles, and all have rules and many are similar to those of adsense, so in the end, I stuck with Adsense because it seemed...well maybe a little of "better the devil you know than the devil you don't know".
3/24/11
Ok well i'll stick with it for now due to the fact im still traffic growing my website but I wont be pleased if there are many more issues along the way, and yes google is american but they operate services in the UK they are bound by UK laws whilst their services reside in this country just as you or I have to abide by other laws if we go on holiday, it's business, another thing if google say whats a valid click or not only means that they have total control over it all and the person who holds the ads for google could well be being taken for a ride, I will be pushing for change one way or another and I will expect a result just as another large company had (cannot say names for defamation reasons) but they are a much bigger corp than google without offending google purely because their products are in most homes and schools and colleges and everywhere else. I will go further but not here.
Thanks for your assistance.
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AdSense - Help with other Google products - Getting Started guide
© 2011 Google - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service
A Modest Proposal to the Globalized Aristocrats of Google
By
Jonathan Swift
It is a dismal prospect to survey our land and see so many recently unemployed people seeking longingly to return to the cubicles that housed their brand new Google machines, yearning for questions and answers that can earn huge amounts of gold for their master's treasure chests while depriving their had working vassals the decency of allowing them to climb up the Google ladder of succsses. The fat cats of Google success stories grin and gloat over the lowly orders of those who struggle with cold comands that originate from incomprehehsible warnings aphoristically written in the language of George Orwell's 1984. Sent from room settings which were completely remiscent of the prophet's model torture chambers.
Where and how did this aberration of the human spirit originate. From what distant skies did they, the warriors of evil, throw down their spears to create Google Pride?
Did He who created the Pussy Cat create thee?
The first order of business for the Obama Commerce Department is to throughly investigate all of Google's activities from top to bottom. It is basically an anarchistic business which arrogantly assumes rights and privileges and characteristics of all the Pashas, and dictators of the Middle East who are holding on today for dear life against a wave of disgruntled people.
Google's level of communication is totally autocratic. With a handful of minions who justify its every misdeed, it heedlessly steps on the small people all over the word that it has enthralled with its super index Fickle Finger of Fate and highfalutin satellite spying system and inept programming inexperienced team who try to hire talented programmers away from the elite micrsoft.
[The Middle East Review will continue to Publish Dean Swift's Google Modest Proposal in subsequent issues of the Middle East Report, where it belongs along with Libya, Syria, Yemen, and the rest, that is as long as His Majesty's Government allows].
By Jonathan Swift
A Plea for Humane Treatment and Democracy from The Mighty World Minded-Google
Scroll Down past all the complaints to get to my Proposal!
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Help forum > AdSense > Reports and Earnings > I DEMAND ANSWERS!
I DEMAND ANSWERS! Report abuse
Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/22/11
I have recently started using the adsense program only to discover that it doesn't work and according to many people who have been previous users, is a bit of a con! I know from web analysis that people have actually clicked my adverts but my account remains empty, and it also says that there were no clicks! Im also unimpressed by the sheer mess of the whole "help" setup and the fact that adsense has no "contact" option, classic sign of a bad business, do something wrong and hide behind closed doors, also the policies are overstrict as if google runs there own country or something, I am deeply dissatisfied with this whole adsense program and I demand that I receive a response either by e-mail, post or telephone as soon as possible, you have my account details and since that im allowing you to do business on my turf, LAW says you have to be co-operative with your client. If no response is received then I may consider legal action! I didn't want this, neither do you.
Replies 1 - 12 of 12
PeggyK
Top Contributor
3/22/11
Since you aren't Google's client, you can't expect client (or customer)-level support. You are a contractor doing business with Google.
Google support is through contact forms and this forum.
If you explain your issue in more detail we can try to help you here, but without details it's hard to guess what might be the issue with your account.
So it would help to know:
- are you seeing impressions recorded in your AdSense account? If you aren't getting impressions, then your ads likely aren't displaying properly.
- what are you using to measure "clicks"? Note that 3rd party stat trackers often do not report AdSense "clicks" correctly.
- what is the discrepancy in clicks you are seeing? 1 click? 10 clicks? 100 clicks? 1000 clicks?
2 of 2 people found this answer helpful. Did you? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
Well, one reason I know is because my partner found an ad that took his fancy (being a gamer) he clicked it then messaged me telling me that I had a nice ad (until I told him that I didn't make the ad) so I decided to check to see how that would look on my reports, I noticed that no recorded click was there but there are plenty of page impressions and my earning was £0.00, and from reviews and other sources I know that my ad is being used as desired and nothing is recording, I noticed that google were doing maintenance on the system and put it down to errors but still there are no recorded clicks. Other issue is that yes google are doing business on my property as there advertisements are displayed on my property and it's only right that I should receive a sum for allowing google to continue spreading their ad share across the net, so legally I do have certain rights, also google's policies are too strict and I had to consider whether or not I should continue setting up my account with google mainly due to fear of getting "told off" by google and maybe even the law! Also I have seen evidence that google are abusing this system with their "ad hosters" as I am aware that google decided that because an unknown site user decided to click the ads perhaps more than google liked and it was out of control of the site owner and as a result the owner lost revenue therefore putting him into loss and eventually losing his hard owned business, I certainly do not want that to or would let that happen to me. Finally even my small business has a contact option in which I swear to my cutomers and visitors that I will personally contact them back, yes I know google has a lot of customers but I hardly doubt google cannot afford to run such a contact facility, it's very unproffesional to break the direct link between the business and the customer because it shows that google do not want to deal with in effect their investors who keep google running as a business.
3/23/11
Well, one reason I know is because my partner
Your partner. Well if this partner has the same address as you then it would be discounted and can cause problems. Or, if you work in the same building using the same IP address to access your site and the partner uses that IP address also, it's a problem.
I noticed that no recorded click was there but there are plenty of page impressions and my earning was £0.00
IF the above is not the case, then not every ad pays for a click. Some only pay for impressions, and in very tiny amounts - you generally need around 1000 impressions for the ad to earn something. And, different ads display for different people, so you may not be sure which ads are displayed when.
As well if you are using the allowed sites list in your account, you'll need to make sure that your site is included in that list, otherwise no clicks will count.
Other issue is that yes google are doing business on my property as there advertisements are displayed on my property and it's only right that I should receive a sum for allowing google to continue spreading their ad share across the net, so legally I do have certain rights
The rights you have are listed in the terms of service you agreed to when you sign up, and one of the things contained in that is the fact that Adsense is the one who decides which clicks are valid and which are invalid. As well, you requested this service. They didn't hunt you up and ask you to become a publisher, so the rights you have are those of an independent contractor who agreed to the contract they gave you. If you really didn't take the time to read it thoroughly, it's a good idea for you to do that. It's a lot of legal jargon, but it is important to understand what you have gotten into.
also google's policies are too strict and I had to consider wether or not I should continue setting up my account
That is your choice. If you were aware of the policies, then you can't blame someone for the decision you made. The policies are there for a reason - to protect the advertiser's since this entire program is designed around the advertiser. Why? Because it is the advertiser who pays us. Adsense just distributes the funds to us. Without the advertiser there is no program because Google doesn't pay for this out of their own pockets.
Also I have seen evidence that google are abusing this system with their "ad hosters" as I am aware that google decided that because an unknown site user decided to click the ads perhaps more than google liked
This is part of the terms also. It's not much different than most jobs anywhere (though this isn't a job as such). An employer who isn't happy with performance of any worker can simply let them go. Adsense isn't any different.
Mostly the folks who lose their accounts are violating policies no matter how much they swear up and down they are doing everything right. Often all takes is a look at their websites to confirm that adsense was within their right to opt out of having ads on that site. Invalid clicks are a problem, but publishers have options for tracking and reporting those, and publisher's who don't will lose in the end. That too is part of the terms.
It says that each publisher is responsible for everything on their sites, including the visitors actions. By that, they mean that you should be paying attention to what visitors do, and if you get a bunch doing stuff that they shouldn't be (clicking lots of ads) you do something about it - restrict the visitor IP so they can't access your site, remove the ads until you figure out what to do, report the visitors to adsense. There are many things a publisher can do to give themselves some form of protection.
Finally even my small business has a contact option in which I swear to my cutomers
Well, perhaps when the 2 million publishers adsense has pay for this form of support, it will be offered. However, think exactly how much work you'd get done if you had a million publishers a day emailing you or contacting you by phone. None. Particularly when 40% of the questions are really things a person should know before signing up for adsense (what's a URL, how many times can I click my ads, what's my username, etc and yes, those are true support requests) and about 60% or more of what publishers ask in these forums are already answered in the help center files...why would adsense want to answer constant emails about things already answered?
That sort of support costs a lot of money, money that would come out of OUR pockets (all publishers). A lot of us would really not want to pay out so others could ask these questions directly. That's why they have the support forum.
If staff support is required, it can be had through the forums here.
it's very unprofesional to break the direct link between the business and the customer
Yeah, however as Peggy pointed out...we (publishers) aren't considered customers. Independent contractors (independent meaning we work on our own following the guidelines), and there is support, through these forums. Perhaps not the level some people would like, but it gets the job done when it has to.
it shows that google do not want to deal with in effect their investors who keep google running as a business.
The last thing we are is investors. Unless you've actually invested some money directly into the Adsense program? And I certainly hope not, because it's a free service that doesn't require any investment except your time and that investment is to your benefit.
Believe me when I tell you that investors have direct contact with google through other means not available to publishers.
References:
[1] Why do my reports show clicks with no associated earnings ...(Help Articles)
Query used: why do my reports who clicks with no associated...
[2] What is my Allowed Sites list? - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
leQuery used: allowed sites
3 of 2 people found this answer helpful. Did you? YesNoReport abuse Gracey
Top Contributor
3/23/11
Also, "demanding" answers is not a good thing.
Generally that gets you no response of any value.
1 of 1 people found this answer helpful. Did you? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
I think there's a bit of a problem here.
For starters why are google forgetting that it is people like me who do sign up for these programs that makes it all possible or there would be no link to the public eye, secondly my partner is in a totally different adress with a different ISP, thirdly how can anything possibly say that "it is the sole responsibility of the publiser what happens on their site" are we expected to tell people that we don't want them to use our site as desired, that's a good impression on a customer "don't bake the cake if no one's allowed to eat it", if someone wants to click ads as much as they like then it is their choice in a world where human rights allow people to be free, not only that by blocking adsense users for this contradicts the fact that google and the ad developers want people to read the ads, why is it that when someones quite interested in what they see they are not allowed to see it anymore it's completely senseless, thirdly are googles policies set within lawful boundaries or are google making their own laws? there seems to be no control given to a adsense user at all, it's unfair and quite bossy. Google also state when they advertise the adsense program that you earn revenue when someone clicks the ads, legal requirements of Description Of Goods Act states that you must give what you advertise, so I am fully entitled to start seeing numbers appear in my balance, no excuses for "it's free so it don't apply" because law also states that if you wish to give it for free you still have to treat it as if a transaction was involved. No im not a customer but im also someone who posts google products on my domain, yet google seem to be the one telling me that they can do what they like and if you don't like it, lump it, if it wasn't for the fact that google say we'll pay you there would not be a single adsense program on a website, and perhaps I have terms and conditions on my website, did google consider those? I doubt it, finalyy in this reply post I will state that damn right I demand answers, unfortunately for big corporations such as google some people aren't downsized by this and the fact and I am a business man myself I will expect answers from anyone who I think is taking me for a ride just as I will give answers to anyone that wants them, im not trying to be cocky or arrogant or anything negative but whereas most people like to suck up to the big guys to get what they want (which never works) some others prefer to show that they are not under anyones thumb. I want to resolve all this in the best manner and a proffessional manner also.
Thanks
p.s to Gracey are you a representative of google and speak on their behalf or are you employed by google directly? Thanks
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
Oh one more thing, Google's policies are so unreadable that no one will read them because it is written in gobbledygook, I know this because they are written like this so people do not understand everything and get drawn in by the money without realising that you just got suckerpunched in the face, it's a business tactic and I for one don't agree with it, yes my policies are not fully understandable but at least I have a contact me button so that people can ask me questions but with google there is no arguing allowed, another bad sign of bad business.
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Kukana
Top Contributor
3/23/11
I think Google's policies for Adsense are very clear. The terms and conditions are a bit more long-winded, it's true, but they're not difficult to understand. I certainly read them before I signed up. I then checked a box to say that I had read them. If I had not actually read and understood them, I could, of course, have clicked the box anyway, but it would still be my responsibility to ensure that I met all the terms and conditions.
If you don't like the way Google works, or don't agree with their policies, then the best thing to do may be to withdraw your site from Adsense and close your account.
3/23/11
Google also state when they advertise the adsense program that you earn revenue when someone clicks the ads, legal requirements of Description Of Goods Act states that you must give what you advertise, so I am fully entitled to start seeing numbers appear in my balance
Actually this is what Google states:
12.1 You shall be entitled to receive a sum of money representing a share of the advertising revenue earned by Google from third party advertisers from the Ads and Referral Buttons which appear on Your Property(ies). That revenue will be determined by a number of factors, including (a) the number of valid clicks on Ads displayed on Your Property(ies), (b) the number of valid impressions of Ads displayed on Your Property(ies), (c) the number of valid completions of Referral Events initiated through Referral Buttons displayed on Your Property(ies), and/or (d) other events performed in connection with the display of Ads on Your Property(ies). The share of that revenue that You get shall be determined by Google from time to time in its absolute discretion. You acknowledge that Google will not and does not have to tell You how it works out that share or what percentage of the total advertising revenue earned by Google from the Ads and Referral Buttons which appear on Your Property(ies) Your share represents. Payment shall be calculated solely based on records maintained by Google.
Note that Google only promises to pay for valid clicks and impressions.
As Kukana points out, those are the Terms and Conditions you agreed to when you signed up. If you don't agree with those Terms, then it's probably best to not use AdSense.
those statements are from the Terms and Conditions, but if you want plain English the help articles are pretty good. I've linked some relevant ones below.
If there are specific questions you have about the terms we can try to help answer them here on the forum or you can request a Policy Clarification from Google directly:
e.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=policy_clarification
But you should be aware that you are likely to just be directed back to the help articles if your question can be answered there (which it is).
Query used: invalid click
[2] What is an invalid click? - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
le.com
Query used: invalid click
[3] Invalid Clicks Issues and Concerns - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
http://www.google.com/
Query used: invalid click
[4] How does Google detect invalid clicks? - AdWords Help(Help Articles)
adwords.google.com
Query used: invalid click
[5] Newbie Central - Earnings & Expectations - AdSense Help - Google(Help Articles)
www.google.com
Query used: earnings
[6] Why do my reports show clicks with no associated earnings? - AdSense Help(Help Articles)
www.google.com
Query used: clicks no earnings
3/23/11
You specifically mentioned that your partner is a gamer so I assume the website is game related. One of my friend's websites is a website for gamers, and gaming websites are notorious for having low paying advertisers to begin with. He says that if an ad channel has 1000 page views and no clicks by the10am, the the first click is always either 0 or one cent because his CTR is 0% so only the low paying garbage ads that love to advertise on gaming websites show up when the ctr is so low. I would carefully check all the ads on your site because he said that monitoring the ads and blocking certain garbage ads from his ad channels has really helped.
Hope this helps.
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Gareth Gardner
Level 1
3/23/11
I don't know how much more I can explain this, I know all my clicks are 100% VALID, if they are nor valid then basically that means no ones clicks will be, I also specifically mention when google advertise the adsense program it states that you will be paid it doesnt mention all the long winded terms and conditions or policies saying anything so what I said there is 100% accurate. I still haven't received the one response I wanted, are google policies and "terms and conditions" within legal parameters? If you are wondering why I am so annoyed is because google gives you the promise of income so you can expand your business but it seems google like to offer fishbones and take all the meat for themselves, mind you it wont be long before google have to help smaller businesses more anyway due to the new statute laws and regulations coming into effect in the UK for new entrepreneurs. Im also dissapointed at the way the whole thing is run and "sold" off to people I feel like im just letting google get some free ads on the go. Lastly although there is help available for making and editing ads it can still be complicated especially when you have to work during the day and then run business until 5 am every day. Im not an idiot but sometimes a dummies guide may be a bit easier and also policies, terms and conditions are very unreadable unless you have an ILEX law degree, so it may be worth noting that there are campaigns around one being called "In plain english please", these are designed to ensure that everyone gets what they want and understand the terms properly before doing business.
Thanks
Did you find this answer helpful? YesNoReport abuse Gracey
Top Contributor
3/23/11
p.s to Gracey are you a representative of google and speak on their behalf or are you employed by google directly? Thanks
Neither actually. I'm just a publisher like most of the other volunteers here. We are not paid by Adsense for this. We are paid for ads on our site, like any other publisher. Today (because of bad targeting) I've earned a grand total of zero, which is pretty unusual, but it happens. So I spend my time here for, well, nothing in terms of monetary value.
I don't know how much more I can explain this, I know all my clicks are 100% VALID,
But you don't know that. You can't possibly. Can you define what is a valid click according to Adsense?
None of us can perfectly define a valid or invalid click. That is Adsense's call (even when we don't like it much, and most of us don't like it when that happens). So you really can't know if it's valid or not, no matter how much you say it's valid, or how often you say it. That's proprietary information that they don't give out, for fairly obvious reasons. Adsense already battles a lot of fraudulent activity with respect to clicks. If publishers knew for certain how they audit and decide what is valid/invalid, it would be their ticket (the unscrupulous ones) to million dollar adsense earnings. Simply put, they'd have a wide open door to game the system, which they try (and often lose) to do often enough already.
Most of us have had clicks declared invalid, and most of us can guess (from experience) what some of those reasons are - at least the reasons they already give us in the online information. But 100% surety is not something we as publishers can have.
that means no ones clicks will be
The logic here is flawed. If no clicks were valid, nobody would get paid. And most of us get paid - perhaps not for every click, but usually for most of them.
I also specifically mention when google advertise the adsense program it states that you will be paid it doesnt mention all the long winded terms and conditions or policies saying anything so what I said there is 100% accurate
Well they do ask you to read, and agree to the terms of service since it's a legal contract that you are bound to. Did you read that? If not, then the fault is on your own side (not meaning that in a snarky way) for not reading a document you agreed to abide by, even if its "long winded". That is part of being a responsible publisher - you don't sign other legal papers without actually reading them I hope?
But you will get paid - not for every click, and the terms DO say that. They say you will get paid for valid clicks provided you follow the policies and guidelines. Nowhere does it guarantee that you will get paid for every click - at least nowhere in the terms. Adsense guarantees no particular amount of earnings, just that you will be paid what you've earned (guidelines followed) 30 days after the end of the month in which you reach $100. And you would be paid as most of us here can attest - all of us have collected our earnings, many of us for some years.
mind you it wont be long before google have to help smaller businesses more anyway due to the new statute laws and regulations coming into effect in the UK for new entrepreneurs
Adsense operates under the laws of the United States - California to be exact. UK laws shouldn't affect Google. If the UK insists google conform to their laws, it wouldn't surprise me to see google cut off UK publishers and refuse to do business in the UK.
I feel like im just letting google get some free ads on the go
Well you are aware that the ads are not paid for by Google, right? The ads are paid for by the advertisers. People like us - lots of Adsense publishers are also the AdWords advertisers. They pay for the advertising. Google collects it, and takes their share and pays the publishers, but the advertisers foot the bill. And Google keeps a smaller share than they pay me, so it isn't quite the way you seem to think.
Lastly although there is help available for making and editing ads it can still be complicated
Creating an ad takes a bare few minutes, I'm really not sure why you think it's so complicated. You walk through setup stages pretty quickly. While your first few ads might take a little longer because you're new, the ad setup shouldn't take that long. At least not on the adsense end if you are generating the codes from your account. Really though, when anything is new and never tried it's a little more difficult. If you stick with it, before long you'd wonder why you thought it was hard.
Im not an idiot but sometimes a dummies guide may be a bit easier and also policies, terms and conditions are very unreadable unless you have an ILEX law degree.
I agree that the wording in legal documents is a little, uh, verbose and less than intelligible to most people. But, well it's written by lawyers to protect Adsense's butt, so you sort of expect it to be wordy and complicated. It isn't "unreadable", but lots of people are not going to understand it, even though they need to. That's why I pay my lawyer. Well, used to. I can usually wade through these things now having had to deal with enough of them, but because it's important to understand what you're getting into (at least if you want it to be a success) you need to spend the money, or find a friend who is a law student or paralegal to help you go through it section by section. Time consuming, yes. But really a responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly, for your own sake.
Adsense isn't perfect (neither is Google) and there's a lot of things we'd like to see changed, but in general I've found them a better choice than some of the other advertising companies I signed up with. I never did employ anyone else's ads for various reasons, but I read all the information before deciding that. All ad companies have terms written by legal eagles, and all have rules and many are similar to those of adsense, so in the end, I stuck with Adsense because it seemed...well maybe a little of "better the devil you know than the devil you don't know".
3/24/11
Ok well i'll stick with it for now due to the fact im still traffic growing my website but I wont be pleased if there are many more issues along the way, and yes google is american but they operate services in the UK they are bound by UK laws whilst their services reside in this country just as you or I have to abide by other laws if we go on holiday, it's business, another thing if google say whats a valid click or not only means that they have total control over it all and the person who holds the ads for google could well be being taken for a ride, I will be pushing for change one way or another and I will expect a result just as another large company had (cannot say names for defamation reasons) but they are a much bigger corp than google without offending google purely because their products are in most homes and schools and colleges and everywhere else. I will go further but not here.
Thanks for your assistance.
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AdSense - Help with other Google products - Getting Started guide
© 2011 Google - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service
A Modest Proposal to the Globalized Aristocrats of Google
By
Jonathan Swift
It is a dismal prospect to survey our land and see so many recently unemployed people seeking longingly to return to the cubicles that housed their brand new Google machines, yearning for questions and answers that can earn huge amounts of gold for their master's treasure chests while depriving their had working vassals the decency of allowing them to climb up the Google ladder of succsses. The fat cats of Google success stories grin and gloat over the lowly orders of those who struggle with cold comands that originate from incomprehehsible warnings aphoristically written in the language of George Orwell's 1984. Sent from room settings which were completely remiscent of the prophet's model torture chambers.
Where and how did this aberration of the human spirit originate. From what distant skies did they, the warriors of evil, throw down their spears to create Google Pride?
Did He who created the Pussy Cat create thee?
The first order of business for the Obama Commerce Department is to throughly investigate all of Google's activities from top to bottom. It is basically an anarchistic business which arrogantly assumes rights and privileges and characteristics of all the Pashas, and dictators of the Middle East who are holding on today for dear life against a wave of disgruntled people.
Google's level of communication is totally autocratic. With a handful of minions who justify its every misdeed, it heedlessly steps on the small people all over the word that it has enthralled with its super index Fickle Finger of Fate and highfalutin satellite spying system and inept programming inexperienced team who try to hire talented programmers away from the elite micrsoft.
[The Middle East Review will continue to Publish Dean Swift's Google Modest Proposal in subsequent issues of the Middle East Report, where it belongs along with Libya, Syria, Yemen, and the rest, that is as long as His Majesty's Government allows].
