Tag Archives: adsense

YouTube/Google AdSense Still Blocking Me

2016-10-20Digital Marketing, Googleadam at adsense, adam at youtube, adsense, google, google adsense, google sucks, king google, youtubejmacofearth

A month ago I started talking to the YouTube specialists about monetizing my YouTube videos. I thought I had made some progress even though I was being shuffled between different customer service managers for several weeks. Today I got my revised and same answer.

So I hipped Adam to my previous history of “violations.”

AND that did it.

He viewed three of the posts about my past problems with AdSense.

And then sent this response. Um, thanks Adam.

And while I asked Adam, “Why?” I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the last from the YouTube Team.

Thanks Adam.

Read the entire Google AdSense and YouTube saga.

John McElhenney
@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

AdSense and YouTube Continue to BAN ME from Monetization (UPDATED)

2016-09-19Digital Marketing, Googleadsense, all hale google, click fraud, google adsense, google monetization, Monetizationjmacofearth

If you know anything about social media marketing and content marketing, you know that monetization is the key to making the web work. I have been a content creator for years, I’m a verified partner with my very own YouTube channel about social marketing. And for over 200,000 views, YouTube/Google has paid me zero. I’ve been fighting a bogus click fraud case they have used to not pay me on my original content and not allow me to monetize my blogs using Google Adsense.

Today I was looking specifically at my YouTube account

Of course my account is verified and in good standing, so WHAT’S THE FUCKIN DEAL GOOGLE?

And I filed the typical form letter complaint with the YouTube team. Let’s see if I get any better results than I did using the gestapo-ish AdSense team. Onward ho!

For the full story you can visit this thread | Google Adsense Kills My Dreams

Or start here: Google Adsense, Can We Start Over?

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

Read the entire Google AdSense and YouTube saga.

UPDATE 3-24-16 YouTube wants feedback. I gave them the full thumbs down on this one. The specialist’s suggestion. Trying joining Adsense using a different email address. Um, yeah, we tried that already.

GOOGLE ADSENSE: Open Letter, Can We Start Over?

2015-08-21Digital Marketingaccused of click fraud, adsense, can you hear me Google?, click fraud, dear google, dear google adsense, digital marketing, don't ask, google, google adsense, google deathstar, google evil, google evil empire, google police, google rebel alliance, hey Google, king google, leadership, no appeal to google, social media marketing, trust, we don't carejmacofearth

* Today I filed a formal appeal: Google AdSense Appeal 2015

Dear Google AdSense Authorities,

It’s been over two years since you killed my hopes and dreams of making this website a source of mailbox money. I’ve been working hard for six years, doing everything by the book, writing, promoting, and doing social media along with everyone else. Don’t you think it’s time you UNFREEZE my account?

A few things I learned, even from a week of AdSense participation.

It’s not much money.
I started thinking about clicks rather than what was important to write about.
I sort of started whoring myself out.
Maybe I have more authority and credit for NOT selling ads on this site.

Still I think we could do some good work together. I’ve given you all of my stats. (Google Analytics) I’ve shown you my traffic and clicks for the week in question, when I was in MEXICO, btw. I’ve pleaded my case five times so far and gotten only your sad form letter.

Please reconsider our breakup. It makes both of us look bad. You, because you don’t respond as a human but only as a NO-BOT. Me, because as I’m trying to show businesses and individuals how to use social media, I have been timed-out by Google. It just looks bad.

MY PROMISE TO YOU:

I promise I will never click on a link without the Publishers Extension installed and active.
I promise I will never use spammy techniques to try and drive clicks.
I promise I will never use click-bots or overseas spammers to flood my account or your clickstream.

Give me a chance. What do you say? I know I don’t have much traffic, and I know no human will probably read my request for reinstatement, but I’m doing the best I can to get your attention.

Thank You,

John McElhenney

PS: I promise to quit referring to you as King Google and using pictures of the Death Star to represent you.

THE FINAL ANSWER:

Pretty much the same answer I got the last 5 times I appealed their ruling. See Denied By Google. And I guess today, this is the end of this saga. I’ll move along now and keep my integrity.

See ya Google AdSense, we hardly knew ya.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

Read the entire Google AdSense and YouTube saga.

I’m leaving this trail of bread crumb clues for any human that comes along, so they can learn from my mistakes.

Google’s Invalid Click Fraud Problems: My AdSense Nightmare Continues

2015-07-09Google, Leadershipaccused of click fraud, adsense, can you hear me Google?, click fraud, dear google, dear google adsense, digital marketing, don't ask, google, google adsense, google deathstar, google evil, google evil empire, google police, google rebel alliance, hey Google, king google, no appeal to google, social media marketing, we don't carejmacofearth

We know click fraud is a problem for advertisers. So it’s no wonder that Google keeps a firm lock on all that goes in and out of Google AdSense. The problem comes up, when King Google suspects you of click fraud, or suspects your account of benefiting from click fraud. They will put down the hammer on your account.

The bigger problem is trying to convince them that you didn’t to anything wrong. They simply don’t care. I have appealed a ruling two years ago, to no avail. I’ve gotten form letters every time. The letters say, “You can continue to appeal this, but we probably won’t even read your future messages.” Seriously, they tell you your efforts are futile before you even begin. Being the social media guy that I am, I have tried repeatedly to get an answer, to provide proof, Google Analytics data, everything. Same result. NADA.

Today I was combing through my YouTube channel (I’ve got 100+ videos in stream with YouTube) and I noticed the haunting phrase “click fraud again.” Uh oh.

There it is, right there. I am in “Good standing” with regards to copyright, but my Monetization “has been disabled due to invalid click activity. Google’s Click Fraud Learn more Page.” Good luck, learning more. It’s basically “speak to the hand and we’ll get back to you if we want to.” They don’t, they won’t and for two years they have ignored over 10 emails WITH attachements. Nothing but the form letter in return. Today, I get to start over with my YouTube channel, which obviously was disabled due to the earlier “click fraud” charge that has nothing to do with YouTube but with my Adwords account.

Read the entire Google AdSense and YouTube saga.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

Google AdSense Lockout: Year Two Reflections

2014-11-20Digital Marketing, Googleaccused of click fraud, adsense, adsense lockout, can you hear me Google?, click fraud, dear google, dear google adsense, digital marketing, google, google adsense, google adsense lockout, google police, hey Google, king google, no appeal to google, social media marketing, writing/bloggingjmacofearth

Each time I tell this story I get more frustrated. I mean, I probably could’ve made at least $1,ooo by now, two years after Google cancelled my AdSense account and threw my hopes and dreams for advertising glory and the holy grail MONETIZATION. Let’s recap:

About this time last year (maybe a few weeks into December) my brother had a heart attack in Mexico. And days after Google approved my AdSense account I was in the airport heading to Puerto Vallarta to be with my family as we rallied together in and around the local hospital. So, even as I was struggling with a family crisis and trying to keep my consulting practice alive, I was also plugging in the AdSense AD UNITS on this very site for the first time. (My brother’s fine, btw, thanks for asking.)

Some nights we hung out as a family, other nights we all retreated into our hotel rooms to sleep or distract ourselves with work and entertainment. I was often trying to catch up in the evenings so my two main clients didn’t freak out.

In these odd hours I would also update and check on my site, this site. And I guess that’s where my problem with Google AdSense began.

As I was installing and checking my work, I DID (I admit this) click on my ADS about 10 times. This was over the course of two days. And I’m sure this “Mexico” activity showed up as an anomaly to the Google Click-Fraud Police. I understand that. What I didn’t understand is that I was about to be disconnected from the mothership and tossed into the offender penalty box, never to be heard from again. You think I’m being dramatic. But you’ll understand my gripe better in a minute.

When I got back home to the US for a quick client check-in and some family time with my kids I learned that Google had suspended my AdSense account. I believe I had a revenue due amount of about $1.02. I appealed. I shared my clickstream and Google Analytics in a report to the authorities asking for forgiveness. And in this time, I learned there was a Google Chrome Extension for publishers that allows you to click on your ads without triggering the alarm. But I hadn’t discovered this magical tool before my unexpected trip to Mexico. Of course, now it just showed “account disabled,” but I suppose we could’ve avoided this whole unfortunate situation had I read the Fine Print. (I’d give you the link, but to hell with them.)

And thus my struggle began and ended with the form letter from King Google. “We’re sorry…” And two years later I’m still working to “monetize” but it appears that’s going to be through publishing books and not through advertising. I hope Amazon treats me with a bit more compassion and human interaction. I’m not sure who’s up in the Google AdSense Click-Fraud Enforcement Division, but they’ve never given me any kind of human response. Just the form letter.

“Speak to the hand. Try again if you like, but we may ignore your future requests. Thanks. Love, Google.”

John McElhenney
@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

Read the entire Google AdSense and YouTube saga.

Google’s AdSense Police and the Folly of Appeal

2014-08-07Digital Marketingadsense, adsense kills my account, adsense police, appeal denied by google adsense, blocked by google, click fraud, denied by google, digital marketing, google, google adsense, over a year later, social media marketing, writing/bloggingjmacofearth

Once again my appeal to Google to reinstate my AdSense account, now 1.5 years later, is still denied. Why? And why is there little or no transparency into what they said I did that caused them to lower the hammer on me. I can assure you, I was considering AdSense as a potential monetization strategy for this blog. And let’s see, I’ve been blogging about social media, adsense/adwords, and all the other strategies of digital marketing for over 5 years. Do you think I would try making money through click fraud? Um, no.

“Further participation in the AdSense program by publishers whose accounts have been disabled is not permitted.” Um duh.

Let’s trace the path of my transgression.

I had just decided to check out adding AdSense to these very pages. And in that same week my brother had a heart attack in Mexico. So my whole family was off to Mexico, just as my AdSense account was turned on. And I did violate the Google Terms and Conditions at that time. But I didn’t know there was a Chrome Publishers Extension that would allow me to test my ads without appearing to be a fraudulent account. And that’s just what it appeared like to Google’s AdSense police. These random clicks (probably 20 in total) from Mexico must’ve looked like fraud.

And without any notice my account was suspended. I had been an AdSense publisher for about 5 days. I had amassed $1.50 in referral fees. And obviously I was gearing up to get my clickbots working on my digital marketing site so I could put my kids through college. Right? No.

But even after showing them my analytics. Proving to them that I did not buy traffic. And showing them the reports of my 20-or-so clicks, there was the same brick wall canned email response you see above.

And taking it one step further I asked a friend, who’s a Marketing Director for Google Earth and he said, “They won’t even talk to me. They act like they are some sort of secret police. There’s no response even when I send in questions.”

Today I thought, hey, maybe they’d look into my case and give me a second chance. NO. There is no appealing the king.

Once the king has made his decision there is nothing you can do. Even their appeal denied email let’s you know you’re working a fruitless task.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

Google AdSense REDUX: “Google AdSense Account Disabled” & The KING Is Not Taking Messages!

2013-01-22Blogging, Digital Marketing, Leadershipadsense, adsense account, adsense cancelled, back to adsense, content publishing, digital marketing, fighting Google AdSense, google, Google AdSense Account Disabled, hating google, in through the out door, king google, king google's adsense, loving google, making money, monetizing, monetizing your blog, my adsense account, My AdSense Account Was Disabled, playing with google, posed a significant risk, posed a significant risk to our advertisers, publisher, restarting adsense, scaling Google's wall, social media marketing, the black box of Google, The KING Is Not Taking Messages, tricking google, what google does, what google says, what google wants, writing/blogging, yes from a nojmacofearth

UPDATE 1-23-13: Wow, my AdSense account has posed a SIGNIFICANT RISK to our AdWords advertisers. Amazing. Really? What did I do? Oh right, the KING ain’t talkin, and he ain’t taking messages.

This time I did NOTHING. I put the ads up on the site. They displayed solid color blocks, as they do during the verification process. And suddenly I’m posing a significant risk. Am.Maz.Ing. Thanks Google. I guess that post on alternative ad systems is more critical than ever.

Note from Google: “This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.”

Again, Google’s message is “You are toast. Don’t bother trying to contact us about it. The KING isn’t listening.”

Is it just me, or does the “If your account was disabled for invalid click activity” line seem a little strange. Because they DON’T EVERY TELL YOU WHY THEY DISABLED YOUR ACCOUNT. They just disable it. I guess if you KNOW your a spammer or a “dangerous” marketing rogue, you will know that this doesn’t apply to you. Smirk. “Oh they got me fair and square, on this, ONE of my 2 million click fraud accounts! Muwahaha!”

+++

It seems like only yesterday 1-22-13, I began the process to the AdSense program again. A cycle of defeat chronicled here: Google’s AdSense: King Google Does Not Want to Be Bothered So, starting with another account and another email address, I have re-entered the system as a law-abiding AdSense citizen. This time I will make no mistakes. I learn.

And conditionally they have said yes. I now get to put dummy ads on my site (not uber.la – for now) and wait for final approval.

So, here’s what I’m thinking. Get a few weeks under my belt as a good citizen on this alt site. And if all goes well, I’ll add uber.la.

Hmmm.

Stay tuned. I’ll keep chronicling my progress to get back inside the hallowed walls of Google’s AdSense. Message me if you want to see the other site.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)