It was in March 2009 that I started using AdSense, and ever since it has been a huge part of my blog monetization technique.
In the first 5 years I earned about 2.2 million INR just from AdSense, and realized no matter how many AdSense alternatives we talk about, AdSense is by far one of the best and the highest paying ad network for any blogger.
I have already shared some of the working tips to increase your Adsense revenue but as I mentioned, Adsense is very strict about AdSense TOS, which means you have to take care of certain things to make sure you don’t violate AdSense policies. We all know that getting Adsense approval is not easy and we need to do many things to keep our AdSense account active.
Recently, I got an email from Adsense team saying that Adsense serving had been disabled on one of my sites. I realized it was the right time to update this post and make new AdSense publishers aware of Adsense policies and the things to avoid, which may lead to an account ban.
Little out of context but since 2011, when Google launched Google Panda, they also made some major changes in Adsense quality guidelines. Especially, in 2011-2012 we noticed that many Indian and Pakistani Adsense publishers had been banned due to copyright violation and low-quality pages. Another major reason for Adsense ban is an invalid click, which is altogether a big topic, and I will cover it in another post.
Google Adsense is very strict about the policies and that is why I removed the Global Translator plugin to save myself from getting banned from Google Adsense.
These are the simple mistakes you and Adsense publisher should avoid getting themselves banned:
Understand Adsense TOS and Stop Violating Adsense Policies
Invalid Clicks
This is how maximum Adsense accounts get into the danger zone. Most publishers who start with Adsense usually ask their friends to click on ads or click on their ads from different IP addresses. If the Adsense team detects any such activity, they put your account in the ‘disabled mode’ to safeguard their advertisers.
Also, many new publishers ask their readers to click on ads, which is also discouraged by Adsense as stated in their program policies.
Using Adsense on an unsupported language blog
At the time of writing, Google doesn’t support all languages to qualify for Adsense program. If you have an approved AdSense account, and you are using it to show it on a blog, the language of which doesn’t qualify as per Adsense TOS, you need to make changes ASAP. If you use any method to make your blog multi-lingual and serve ads on it, it can be considered a violation.
Here is the list of AdSense supported language.
Sending ads on email
Many publishers started the trend of sending AdSense adverts within the email, and sometimes it goes viral. Google finds it against the program policies.
Advertisement label
Many publishers started using tricks like “Click here”, “Click to see hot babe, etc., which encouraged clicks. Encourage clicks? Oh, time to look at point 4.
You use pop-up scripts to show Adsense in pop-up and readers have to click on it to read the content? Another BIG NO.
Competitive contextual advertisement
Make sure you don’t use any other contextual advertisement program. Let Google Adsense be your one and only favorite advertisement program. Though for monetization, you can use many other ad networks. Here are some which I have used, and they comply with Adsense TOS.
Altering the Adsense code
So you are a programmer? Doesn’t matter. Changing your Adsense code in any way is not permitted by Google.
Shading with Image: Placing Google Adsense Image ad unit with the adjacent image can be a great and smart move, but guess what? Do it and Google AdSense might ban you. Google TOS doesn’t allow the use of shading your AdSense image ads with the adjacent image.
- Read few more from official Google page
- Meanwhile, do you know a guy named Aaron sued Google AdSense for banning his account? Read the interesting Aaron story here.
Hosting Copyright content
If you are running Adsense on a site that distributes copyright content like Movies, songs or any other files, you are most likely to get an instant ban. Adsense doesn’t allow putting Adsense on the site that distributes copyright stuff.
Linking to the site that distributes illegal and copyright content
This is something which I got to know about in 2012. This is also the biggest reason why most sites are getting the Adsense ban. If you are linking to sites like (streaming movie), illegal or pirated software, Keygen sites, your AdSense serving might be disabled for that particular site. Here is the other type of content, which is not allowed for Adsense sites:
- Porn, adult material
- Violent content
- Racial content
- Hacking/Cracking
- Gambling/Casino
- Pages selling Drugs, Alcohol (Beer or hard alcohol)
- Pages selling Weapons and ammunition
- Distribution of course work. Eg: Student Essays
These are just examples. There could be many more. So, you should avoid putting any such content on your blog or at least avoid serving Adsense on those pages.
Paid Traffic
If you are buying traffic for your AdSense enabled sites, it’s not permitted according to AdSense TOS. Also, consider reading Adsense landing page Quality guidelines, which will give you ample amount of idea as to what Google expects from your pages.
Promoting your post on social media or buying traffic from quality sites is not the violation.
Making ads look like part of the content
You are free to make your ads blend with the content by changing the color or size, but don’t make it look exactly like content. In below image you can see what kind of mimicking is not acceptable:
Quick things to know:
- Don’t make your AdSense ads sticky. Making it sticky is against AdSense implementation policy.
- Using AdSense ads on a site which curates videos from YouTube or other video hosting sites, can put your account in the ban radar. To avoid this, ensure you also have original content on your blog. A good idea is to add 200-300 words content in your words describing the video.
- Don’t place AdSense ads on 404 error page, exit pages, log-in pages and thank you pages.
But if you are a victim of the AdSense ban game, ShoutMeLoud’s earlier post on AdSense alternative program will be very useful for you.
Tip: Use Affiliate marketing to increase your blog income.
This is a detailed article. I also want to share some more sources and the famous one is “From where your traffic come from”.
I do not know why but it is not good if your 100% traffic come from Social Media. I know it is not against Google TOC, but many of my blogger friends discuss this topic.
Do not buy traffic, You will see ads like generic traffic to your site, never fall for them.
Many of us blame Google for banned accounts, but they are No 1 in their field and to remain number 1, you have to be harsh on your users some time.
your post is really useful dear and i am also using https://wordpress.org/plugins/adsense-click-fraud-monitoring this pliugin in order to protect My adsense account My dears all of u install tis plugin and protect your account an earning as well
Hi, Thank you for a detailed article. My website is a commercial website that provides information, it is not a blog site and I am not planning to put up articles there. I am planning to apply for google adsense account. My question is when I check my website for any duplicate content using online tools – it says 20% of internal duplicate content. Should I be worried?
Thanks in Advance
Hi, Thank you so much for your informative article. I have one question, I’m not sure why sites relating to Course work are more likely to be banned? Can I post my own essays, because my website is about self-study, so I think I need to post my essay as an example to provide useful tips to my readers.
Thank you!!
Salam,,,
All i want to know is that a website contains only embedded videos is Eligible for adsense or not?
Thanx in Advance….
@Kaleem
It might get banned. The best way to do is, add some original text like about 200 words with every video..Use your own image that would make it more customised. read a bit about curation
Bundle of Thanx bro…
Hi harsh, I want to ask that Can I use adsense ads code in pop-up window with closing or exit button? I have read TOS of adsense about this but there are unclear written “Google ads are not permitted in any window that is not initiated by a user’s click. Additionally, ads may not be placed in any window which lacks navigational controls, including back and forward browse buttons, and an editable URL field. AdSense ad code may also not be implemented on pages where navigational elements have been removed.” Means If I use (X) button in the pop-up, I can use that code. Please answer my confusion.
Is it allowed to show ads on articles related to online sport betting with a link pointing to their official app in iTunes?
waiting for your response
Thanks
Hi Amar….
I’m also searching for this. I found this from Google says “In this selected group of countries, publishers are allowed to monetize pages with online gambling, information about online gambling content and pages that link to gambling content. Gambling content includes: online casino games, sports betting, bingo, lotteries, tips, odds, handicapping, mahjong, educational/supplemental materials and bonus codes.
If you are from India, you are not aren’t permitted to place ads on content that allows any type of betting or has links to such content.
https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/48182?hl=en
Hope this helps..
AROUND $2 get deducted from my adsense account for invalid traffic on 15 july 2015. i don’t understand where it comes from.
my adsense account is associated with my 5 YouTube accounts,
and is it legal to share YouTube videos on facebook groups, will it violate adsense TOS ?
one of my YouTube channel shows high traffic sources from Facebook, is it the reason behind deduction from adsense?
Hello,
If i edit pixel in ads code then my account get ban??
For ex: I will edit width px to 100%px in ads code for adjusting width according to space..
Is it illegal????
Kindly reply me..
No Dear , you can Manage the Px according to own Place area.
Hi there, Thanks a lot for ur article, it really helpful to all users. But i have one doubt though, can i use images from google images for my Adsense youtube video or website.. Clear my doubt.. For example if i posting video about Facebook Security can i use Google images..
This post has erased all my doubts but I have to ask you ,google AdSense will ban me for using google iamges ?
I have Infolinks and Chitika on my site. Wondering if adding Adsense could get me a ban on this lucrative ad service.
Cheers!
You can use Adsense along with infolinks and chitika. No problem at all
Good luck
You will have to disable them prior to applying for adsense, once you are approved for adsense before you can re-enable them
Can an Adsense ad be displayed in a slideshow?
For example, if I have article called “Top 10 iPhone Apps”, and you have to click next to see each app, can I put an Adsense ad on each slide?
Its Upto you, but Content should be genuine and use maximum 3 Ads in 20 images
Hey Harsh,
First of all thanks for sharing those tips on how to prevent ourselves from having our google account banned.
I have a few blogs that I run and I do everything by the books – only three google ads used, nothing shady, no black hat SEO – just doing everything in accordance with the TOS. Even installed that google-fraud-monitor plugin just to make sure nobody bombards me with illegal clicks. I’ve been hearing that some people that just like me are doing everything right, and still get banned – is there really a guarantee that if you are a decent blogger you won’t be hit hard?? I mean what if you spent 2 years, put up 200 great articles, achieve 40-50 k of legit traffic from organic search per month….and eventually start making good income, and they “slash” your hard work with that? I mean I know that there are other alternatives, but can we appeal such a mean decision and do you know cases where people indeed get their accounts back, and google to recognize that it made a big mistake?
I am looking forward to hear you opinion based on your experience regarding my question.
Thanks Harsh and keep up the good work with your blog – it’s really very informative!
Cheers
Adam
Thanks for this clarification.
In my blog, I have a popup signup form that asks visitors to signup to download one book or the other.
I also have a page for plr ebook downloads.
Please, I want to know if these two issues are part of violation to adsense guidelines.
Thank you.
Harsh, Where did you get the topic of “Competitive contextual advertisement”. I also heard about it but looking at the adsense policy page, there’s no such thing there. So if you can post a link to your source of this info pls.
Thanks!
Hey harsh, I have many doubts regarding google adsense.
Suppose I have a gmail account and I sign up for adsense through that gmail account. Now I open that gmail account ony college wifi and my college friends also use same wifi, open my website and click on my ads then will google block my account ? I just want to know that whether I can access my gmail account or adsense account on public wifi etc or not ?
Your wi-fi router will assign IP Addresses to all of your devices eg. 102.146.xxx.xxx and visits will considered from the same network. means you are encouraging your friends for click.
Very well explained but simple and easy understand than reading the whole TOS from google (well i admit that im a lazy asshole haha)
thanks for this post dude.. keep up the good work
Hey harsh,
once i was happened with an adsense banned.. now i came to know why,what and how,, to get away from adsense banning.. thanks for sharing.. 🙂
is boosting the post through facebook ads with targeted region violates adsense policy…
Hello
Harsh what you think then about this plugin for adsense?
https://wordpress.org/plugins/adsense-click-fraud-monitoring/
As i can see this plugin start to make good revolution how to protect your ads. Is this plugin against Google TOS,what you think?
@Friv
I haven’t used the plugin, but lookinga= at features it seems useful. Use it if you are afraid of being click-bombed.
So Harsh,
Is there any safe way to translate or provide users with read in Hindi option without violating google adsense. TOS ?