When Google takes action, they really take action.
The forums have been buzzing recently with news that Google is in the middle of a content "quality initiative." There's nothing about it in the AdSense blog, but Jennifer Slegg of Jenstar.com has reported that a number of publishers have received emails telling them that they have "an unsuitable business model" and that their account will be closed within two weeks. They will be allowed to keep everything they've earned so far, but that's it.
Some of those publishers have been earning five-figure monthly incomes, so it seems that no one's exempt.
What did those publishers do wrong?
They had either built their site specifically for AdSense or they'd been practicing AdSense arbitrage (buying traffic cheaply from one place then selling it on to AdWords advertisers through their AdSense units.)
What both those practices have in common is that they put the ads ahead of the content.
That's just wrong. Google is making a good move for advertisers in drawing the line.
I'm certainly fed up clicking search results and finding myself on a page full of ad links instead of the content I want. And advertisers are fed up paying for clicks from people who aren't really interested in their services.
Google's initiative might mean a short dip in our earnings, but if it brings more advertisers back and fewer wasted clicks on the network, then that's good for all our futures.
It also means though that if you want to keep your account open, you need to focus on content.
This has been my message now for three years.
AdSense is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It's an opportunity. To make that opportunity work for you, you have to produce content that people want to read. If you can't do that, you'll need to pay someone to do it for you. If you can't -- or won't -- do either of those (and anyone can produce interesting content if they're prepared to put their mind to it), then publishing isn't for you.
Get the content right and you'll get to keep your AdSense account open. You'll also be making the most of a golden opportunity.
Do you have any questions or comments? Be sure to submit them to me at AskJoelComm.com
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May 23, 2007 08:25 AM
Joel this is a long time comming. There are 100,000's of MFA sites out there, and many people involved with buying click for clicks. This is a good thing overall.
May 23, 2007 08:25 AM
Content is king. Now, if network television had been as strict as Google, 80% of current network TV content would be off the air and many production companies would be barred from the networks. The future belongs to the Internet. Let's make it happen by creating quality, relevant content.
May 23, 2007 09:26 AM
This is a good thing. It's time Google put a stop to these kinds of publishers.
I myself had an AdSense account (albeit a slow one, which I opened on the off-chance I would actually use it) and had the dumb sense to share it with another publisher (a colleague who shall remain nameless but who I thought was a friend, and someone who just wanted to test out its potential and report back to me). In any event, this person wound up getting my AdSense account terminated due to what Google's reason was "unauthorized click-thrus".
Now I can never open a new account because this person not only abused the service by clicking on our own ads, but also because come to find out, the main motivation for their content was to drive up click thrus, vs. actually having good content to go with the ad service.
I am also tired of looking up stuff online and seeing nothing but what I call "throwup" sites... sites that people literally "throw up" and then "throw up" all over them just to make a buck.
May 23, 2007 09:59 AM
I'm not sure about all this Joe ...... you seem to send out loads of mails .... are you just another click through king ......? sorry to state this but I don't really know where to turn now in clickland ..... peace mark
May 23, 2007 10:30 AM
My site has a very specific target and has been around several years longer than Google. I placed Google ads on the site about 2 years ago after buying your AdSense book. I make a few hundred dollars a month, and realize I should have added the AdSense sooner.
I am part of the Google program where someone from Google reviewed my site and offered suggestions on how I might improve click-thrus. The main suggestion was to move the ads from the right-hand column to the left. I made the change but didn't notice any difference in my click-thrus.
Each month I get a report telling me things that may help my click-thru rate. The funny thing to me is the main suggestion each month is that I may be blocking too many ads. If I see an ad show up on my site and it appears suspect, I type in the URL and visit the site to see what it is. If it is a page full of ads with no content, I block it. The ads I block are the garbage sites yet the "suggestion" is to unblock those ads.
Now the people at Google may not know what type of ad I am blocking but it may help them to check the link to see why it may be blocked.
July 13, 2008 07:13 AM
Now I can never open a new account because this person not only abused the service by clicking on our own ads, but also because come to find out, the main motivation for their content was to drive up click thrus, vs. actually having good content to go with the ad service.
July 17, 2008 12:13 PM
Hi Joel...
I was reading your article and then I saw the CAPTCHA.
I was a little curious about it.
Have you ever tried the audio challenge??? I can't
understood anything.
Sorry, it wasn't an opinion about the article :P
Indeed I'm ok with Adsense's terms and the things that
Google does to protect it from spammers.
Thanks.
December 6, 2008 05:38 PM
I would like to add one thing. Outside of daily, fresh, unique INTERESTING content you also need a ton of traffic. You have to get people to see the pages that have your adsense ads on it.
This is the tough part, and if you thought just getting content was tough then try getting qauilty traffic that is Adsense Safe, its tough. Get traffic and make the content those two key things will get you seeing $$$$.