Why Has Google Disabled My Adsense Account?
Two of the common questions I have gotten since I started from bloggers has been:
- Why has Google closed my Adsense Account?
- Can I get my Google Adsense account reactivated?
I never really had a good answer for people, so I decided to ask the source.
About 2 years ago I crossed some sort of threshold with Adsense that I got my own Adsense account representative that I could actually email and call with questions. I wish they offered this to more Adsense users, but for now it seems to be a relatively small group who get this service.
So I decided to ask my Adsense Rep some of these questions that I commonly get from readers. We spent some time discussing the questions and below are my summaries of what I learned.
Why was I kicked out of Adsense?
So, why was your Google Adsense account disabled? You probably won’t get a perfectly solid answer for this one, but most likely it was because you violated their terms of service. If you have an active Adsense account I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading their terms and conditions to make sure you understand them (particularly #5).
These are a few of the common reasons that people get their Adsense account disabled:
- They clicked their own Adsense ads
- They encouraged or told others to click their ads
- They created pages full of adsense ads with no content
- They displayed ads in a way that confused readers and caused accidental clicks
My Adsense rep made it clear that no one wins when an account is disabled. Google wants to make money and each account they disable just cuts back on their potential earnings. But when they feel that the account is going to compromise the quality of the Adsense/Adwords program they make the tough decision that needs to be made.
Google will catch the rule-breakers
You have to remember that the thing that put Google on the map was their crazy and complex algorythym they created for the search engine. You can bet that they have just as good of an algorhythm that they use to track user click patterns as well as all the location and IP data they have about many people who click the ads.
Bottom line: if you break the rules (knowingly or not) Google will catch you.
Notification of cancellation
He also mentioned that Google sends a notification that the account has been cancelled (I have no idea as I haven’t experienced this). Within this email he said there is an “Appeal Link” that you can follow to file an appeal if you think your account has been cancelled unfairly.
Getting admitted to Adsense again is a long shot
In my experience (and he confirmed this) the vast majority of people kicked out of the Adsense program do not get re-admitted. But if it were me I would still try – I still make money with Adsense – about 50% of my earnings in fact. And it really is one of the best things that ever happened to small online publishers to help us make money with our blogs.
File an appeal
Like I mentioned before you should have a link to the appeal form in the email they sent you, but if not you can fill it out here.
Be honest
The best thing you can do is be blatantly honest. Tell them anything and everything that you think could have contributed to your account closure. Bite the bullet, put your tail between your legs, and ask for forgiveness. Of the people who I have seen get back into the Adsense program this was a common theme – and my Adsense rep confirmed this as well.
Will they approve a new account under a different name or website?
Like I mentioned before they have a lot of information about us and so if they don’t allow you back into the program, I can’t imagine you would be able to “trick” them by opening up a new Adsense account under a new name or website.
So what if I don’t get back in?
It isn’t the end of the world. Blogging is full of challenges and the best bloggers I have seen are ones that find ways to overcome the challenges rather than just back down or quit when the run into difficulties.
There are plenty of ways to make money with a website and there are even a bunch of Adsense alternatives that you can use as well.