I've been doing some research recently on the deficiencies of AdSense Reporting. Pretty much everyone I have talked to agrees that the basic reports that you get from Google don't really help you optimize your placement and use of the ads. There is nothing to tell you which ads are most popular, which formats or colors attract the most clicks, where your visitors came from etc. The channels help but are very labor intensive. If you wanted to get down to the individual ad level you would have to create a channel for each ad unit.
So I did a little more research to see what could be done and I came across a few references to some solutions but very little for the ASP.NET/SQL Server environment. There are a few php based solutions and there was one article from egghead discussed elsewhere in this forum. But none of them really put together the whole solution for you so I decided to take a crack at it myself.
I created a very simplistic solution that gives me the following information;
Which page, unit and individual ad(based on the url) that the user clicked on and what format and colors are used. The visitors IP address and time are logged so that I can compare it to the web log to get additional information. There are currently no reports. I simply query the database for the information I want.
So my queston is if there is anyone in this forum that would care to participate in a development project to help me refine this tool to get it into a format suitable for public consumpton. Participants will not be asked to do any coding. The programming requirements are actually fairly simple. What I am looking for are users of adSense who would find the tool useful and would like to help design it so that they can have some influence in the kind of features and functionality it will provide. Participants would of course receive a copy of the finished product.
I have no idea how popular this might be. If it is very popular we may have to limit the number of participants just to maintain order but for now all are welcome. I have created a forum on my web site at http://summerstreet.com called AdSense Audit Control. You will find an introduction including a project description and brief outline of a project plan.
I'll be posting back to this forum to report on our progress and solicit feedback from anyone who prefers not to participate but would like to be kept informed.
Thanks!
Hi,
I am really pleased to see you talk about this. I agree the reporting is far too limited. The time it takes to set up channels and so on makes it very hard to work out the best way to run ads and tweak them. What surprising to me is that Google has not offered much assistance here, despite tweaking of ads being the main thing that increases revenue. Simple things like blending the ads into the page and using smart positioning can increase the payments by several times.
I'm up for testing the system (as long as it's fairly easy to install and upgrade to successive releases) and giving feedback on it. I believe that there's a market to sell a product such as thing. Really, anything that helps tweak AdSense effectively is a license to print money.
Ollie
Thanks Ollie!
But it looks like if I'm going to make any money from adSense it won't be from Google Ads.
To whit:
Hello Ron Cicotte,
It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.
A publisher's site may not have invalid clicks on any ad(s), including but not limited to clicks generated by:
- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason
Practices such as these are in violation of the Google AdSense Terms and Conditions and program polices, which can be viewed at:
Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected advertisers.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
----------------------------------
My Reply:
Hello!
If there is a real person out there I would be very pleased to discuss this. Since your policy states that you are willing to work with publishers to resolve these issues when they occur I would hope to at least receive a response from someone who has actually read this.
If there were invalid clicks I can assure you that they were inadvertent. I am a software developer and have recently implemented a forum using the the CommunityServer software. While implementing the adsense features on this site I inadvertently clicked on my own ads. The program provides an interface for updating ads where you need to double click on an area where the ad sits in order to open the editor. I had inserted the Google code and then later decided to edit it. When I clicked on the area to open the editor it executed the ad instead. By the time I realized what had happened I had already clicked on the ad two or three times in succession while attempting to open the editor. I would guess that the multiple clicks in a short period of time coming from my own ip address is what triggered your algorithm. I'm aware of your canned reply saying that you cannot reveal the reason for your decision because your algorithm is proprietary.
My site has very low activity at the moment because I am really only just getting started so it is unlikely that anything else could have triggered this. I have less than $5 in adsense revenue this month and only about $25 YTD so it's difficult for me to believe that anything I may have done inadvertently would be injurious to your advertisers. I understand and agree that you have every right to protect them and I want to protect them as well. While my site is small and has very low traffic at the moment I am in the process of upgrading and expanding it's audience. I would hope that you would accept my apologies for this and believe that I am sincere when I say that I will do everything within my power to prevent this from happening in the future.
I know from my research that others have suggested that Google does not actually read these appeals but automatically terminates the account without recourse unless it is generating significant revenues for Google. I hope that you will prove them wrong and at least send me a response from a real person demonstrating that you have actually read this. While I expect only the canned reply I hope that you will prove me wrong as well.
I expect my traffic to improve significantly in the coming months as I have several very interesting projects underway that will attract new visitors. I truly love Google and I will continue to use your API's in my development programs. I hope that if someone actually does read this that you will reconsider.
Thank you!
I have not sent this yet so would like some feedback on it before I do.
Folks using Community Server should be made aware of the potential dangers of using the in-line ad feature. If you already have an ad in there and try to open the editor you could be clickiing on your own ad and thereby trigger this Greetings from Google. My site activity is very low so I'm fairly certain that this must be the reason for it.
I've thought about passing this on to my legal advisor but the fact is that under the T&C's Google can terminate the service at any time and for virtually any reason so you really don't have any recourse.
The aggravating part is that they will not help you to understand what you did wrong so that you can correct it. The only thing I think I can do at this point is to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of the problem and of Googles Response.
There is of course another possibilty which I hope is not true. It is possible that they consider my method of collecting information via the web beacon a violation of their policy. I have read their policies and T&C's very carefully and I do not see how it does. I have also requested clarification from them but to date have not received any meaningful response. If they do consider it a violation then they should at least have the courtesy to say so clearly and unambiquously. If true then Google not only does not provide you with the information you need but does not want others to provide it either. After all, If I can write a program to do this surely Google can. Why haven't they done it?
The project is obviously on hold until I can get that clarification. I guess I should have done that first eh?
It would be interesting to know how many AdSense Tracker users have met this fate. The flavor of the site would suggest a sleaze factor as others have suggested so he may not care what happens to them so long as he gets his $100.
Thank you for the kiind words Ollie. I hope that we can still get this going but at the moment I'm not sure how.
Hi Ron,
I'm sorry you got hit by this, though if you clicked on your own ads Google have to act. Click fraud is such a huge issue for them, we have to expect them to come down hard.
I have clicked on ads by mistake on rare occasions, but I always email Google immediately afterwards to explain what has happened, so they have the opportunity to refund their advertiser, and to protect myself.
I hope you managed to get it switched back on.
I think the important thing is not my AdSense account. I have very little to lose here because AdSense is not a major source of income for me and I never intended it to be.
The important thing is that people need to be aware of the in-line ad feature in CS and how it can cause you to inadvertently click on your own ads.
The second issue is still not clear to me because Google doesn't give you enough information to know that in your attempts to improve your ads for the benefit of everyone Google may see it as a violation of their terms and cut you off. Since both of these things occurred in close proximity to each other I can't be sure which one triggered the event. And because Google doesn't respond with emails with real people behind them I can't do anythng about it.
I've given this some thought and my analysis is as follows:
Technically clicking on ones own ad should not illicit this kind of response. Clearly Google can simply eliminate these from their count and in all likelihood they do that for the occassional inadvertent click like mine. If someone is clicking continuously on their own ads their pretty stupid and should have their account closed.. I seriously doubt that this was the reason for my receiving this letter. But of course I cannot know that for sure because they won't tell you.
My best guess is that it was the web beacon that caused them to terminate the account though I can't for the life of me understand the logic behind their thinking. As you noted the more you know about the effectiveness of your ads the better for all concerned.
People should be careful of programs like AdSense Tracker because if my analysis is correct it could cause you to lose your adSense account.
On another topic. I've been up to your site and joined. Good Job!
PS. Don't worry I didn't click on any ads!
Here's my appeal to Google. I'd be interested in knowing your response:
name: Ronald Cicotte
company's name Summer Street Systems
publisher ID number: pub-2260967250207824)
website's URL http:www.summerstreet.com
Date account was disabled: 2/11/2006
website's audience: Microsoft Technology Developers and users, General public
Source of your website's content Personal Articles, User Blogs, Forums
Frequency of content updates: Daily
The primary sources of your website's traffic: Visitors from other forums and blogs, General public
The number of people involved with the administration of the site: 1
Any relevant information that you believe would explain the invalid click activity we detected
It is difficult to say for sure but I believe that there are two possible sources for the activity you detected. While I take full responsivbility I believe that I have taken the steps necessary to assure that it will not happen in the future should you decide to re-instate my account:
The first condition has to do with some new software I have installed to expand my audience and increase traffic to the site. I have recently installed CommunityServer by Telligent to provide a capability to develop a more general audience in such subject areas as photography, biking, travel, and the hospitality industry. The software has a new feature for in-line ad placement that requires you to double click on an area to open the editor for code placement. During setup and testing I had opened the editor and placed the google ads. Later when I returned to update the ad I clicked on the area to open the editor and instead it executed the ad. Before I realized what I was doing I had done this 2 or 3 times. I'm sure you've heard this before but it seems very unfair that one would be banned from the program for inadvertently clicking on your own ad since this is easily detected and Google could simply discard clicks from the site owners ip address.
The second potential source has to do with some development work I have been doing to assist publishers in learning more about their visitors actions in order to improve the effectiveness of their ads. I have written twice now for clarification of Googles policy regarding the use of web beacons for this purpose and as yet have received no helpful response. Being the impatient developer that I am I took the risk and implemented for test purposes thinking that it was clearly within the spirit of the T&C's if not the letter since it does require the additon of an "onfocus" event to the <iframe> tag generated by Googles code.
It is very clear from my research that one of the biggest issues for publishers is the lack of information available from Google Reports regarding specific information that would help them evaluate the effectiveness of their ads. While channels help they are extremely labor intensive and do not provide the detailed information that can be gathered through the method I have developed. When combined with the web log this information can help an AdWords user and AdSense publisher work together to target the audience in an extremely effective way.
When I developed the code I could see no reason why you would object to this since the information collected could only serve to enhance your AdWord clients results. After receiveing your email however I did further research and realized that the technique can also be used by spammers and others with nefarious intentions. Since Google can have no way of knowing how the information would be used I now understand why you might object to this technique.
I have removed the web beacons from my web sites and have abandoned the project. I hope you will take this into consideration when and if you evaluate my request.
I know from my research that others have suggested that Google does not actually read these appeals but automatically terminates the account without recourse unless it is generating significant revenues for Google. I hope that you will prove them wrong and at least send me a response from a real person demonstrating that you have actually read this.
I expect my traffic to improve significantly in the coming months as I have several very interesting projects underway that will attract new visitors. I truly love Google and I will continue to use your API's in my development programs. I hope that if someone actually does read this that you will reconsider my case..
Respectfully,
____________________________
Ron Cicotte
President
Summer Street Systems
Email: ron.cicotte@summerstreet.com
Click-fraud is said to be the biggest threat to Google's long-term success.
But the issue isn't so much that Google cares about click fraud or accidental clicks, but their advertisers certainly do. Your few accidental and test clicks will have cost advertisers money, so to you what was an accident, to them is a very plain cost.
It's not possible to underestimate how important it is to NEVER click on your own AdSense adverts. If the worst happens and you do, it's necessary to email the Google AdSense team to inform them so they can take action proectively to protect their advertisers.
First of all thank you for your comments. I understand and agree completely that click-fraud is a problem and Google has the responsibiility to prevent it where ever possible. As mentioned in my appeal Google has the ability to filter clicks by ip address so they can clearly identlify and filter clicks coming from the same ip address as the host. In my case my client ip is the same as the host and it would be irresponsible for them not to do that. For those who host their sites on remote servers it would be impossible for them to know if you occasionally clicked on your own ad unless they know your client ip address. They would assume that either you clicked on your own ad or you encouraged others to click on your ads if they detect multiple clicks coming from the same ip address within some arbitrary period of time based on their algorithm.
It's not magic! Your ip address is the only thing that identifies you on the web. I think it's not correct to say that my inadvertent clicks cost the advertisers money. I would be appalled to learn that Google did not filter my clicks. I think it far more likely that the reason for the letter was my code to track clicks.
The click tracking code includes the addition of the "onfocus" event to the <iframe> tag generated by Googles code. This constitutes a violation of their prohibition against modifying their code "for any reason". So my intentions and purpose really doesn't matter to them. They have no way of knowing what th intention and purpose is. It could be for the reasons we both agree would be beneficial for all or it could be for collecting information for spamming, or spreading viruses or any number of reasons that would be detrimental to Googles AdWord clients or the visitor.
In any case I am not going to spend any more time on this. I'll simply change my ads to Yahoo, MSN or others. Google is no longer the sole owner of this space though I still expect them to dominate for at least the next several years.
Thanks again for your feedback Ollie. Too bad this didn't work out.
IP addresses are pretty flawed as a way to identify people. In many scenarios they help, but proxy servers and dynamic (shared, non-static) IP allocation by ISPs means that to make assumptions about identity based purely on IP address would be irresponsible because it would produce false results regularly.
I suppose they could use a cookie as well, but then what if the machine was shared by different people?
I don't think Google has any sure-fire way to track click-fraud and their aggressive policy is probably as a result of them realising they have no easy solution to it, and must put pressure on publishers like us to protect their advertisers.
Ollie,
Just thought you'd like to know that Google actually does have a real person reading those appeals. I just got the following email from Google:
Hello Ron,
As you know, Google treats instances of invalid click activity very seriously. We have reviewed your circumstances and have reinstated your account, effective immediately. However, there will be a delay before ads start running on your website. It may take up to 48 hours before all of our servers are informed of the change.
Thank you for clarifying your situation. We appreciate your patience, and apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, please feel free to respond to this email.
Looks like I'll be getting those Google Ads back on my site after all. I couldn't be more surprised by this.
Guys
You all might know google does not always pays for clicks, they may pay you for ads impression. Just wondering would google penalise your account somehow if you keep loading own website for testing and maintaining and each time ads are loaded (obviously this increases impression).
May be you'll be interesting to use AdSenseASP.NET web controls library.
http://AdSenseASP.NET/2.0-WebControls/
It's a set of free ASP.NET 2.0 web controls to render and display Google AdSense units: AdUnit, LinkUnit, ReferralUnit.
It configurable from web.config so you don't need to setup AdSense publisher ID, AdSense channels, colors and paletts every time for each page and unit.
Also it has live demo - http://AdSenseASP.NET/Sandbox/ so you could play before downloading.
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