Did Ya See?

Google is rightfully concerned with maintaining the integrity of its advertising system. To this end, they dedicate a lot of effort to identifying and eliminating fraudulent and abusive users (both advertisers and affiliates). The unfortunate side effect of this is that sometimes innocent and well-intending people are often caught up in this effort.

Below, we try to outline some of Google’s policies in easy to understand language, with examples, as well as come common misconceptions. It is NOT the intent of this page to address intentional, automated or organized practices. If you’re performing those, you know what you are doing and that it’s wrong.

Click Fraud

In the broadest sense, Click Fraud is a click on any advertisement which is not motivated by a sincere interest in the advertisement in question. This also includes clicks made by anyone (affiliate, competitor or advertiser) with a vested interested in the specific advertisement in question.

Why do people perform click fraud?

Some people think a few clicks here and there won’t hurt. In truth, most advertising companies treat any fraudulent clicks very seriously, working from the assumption that because some frauds do slip through the cracks, that they need to react very seriously to the ones they do discover.

Other people think they are showing support for a site by clicking on ads on that site frequently. In truth, doing this frequently is viewed as suspicious by companies like Google and can result in more harm than good to you and the site. Limit yourself and be a responsible guest; in the long run your readership and your advertising clicks as well as those of others will legitimately help support your favorite sites as well as encourage the internet economy.

How Much is to Much?

A good rule of thumb is to consider the ads on sites you visit and click on them when you are legitimately interested in the advertisement content and intend on visiting the page on the other end of that ad. Resist the urge to click multiple ads on a single page or several ads each time you visit sites you support.

If you find yourself tempted out of any motivation, seemingly beneficial or not, stop and consider visiting the site later.

AdSense Affiliates

Member of the AdSense program have an even greater level of policies to observe. The Google Help forums are literally filled with people who misunderstood or did not take Google’s Adsense Policies seriously. Once banned for any reason, it is very hard (nearly impossible) to get a ban reversed and simply setting up a new Google AdSense account won’t necessarily circumvent a ban, so tread carefully.

If you are a contributing author at Did Ya See, you are an AdSense Affiliate and need to understand Google’s “Commandments” to avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings. Because the advertising placement on Did Ya See is built into the site, you are already protected from many of the accidental missteps that occur to AdSense users, but here are some of the important ones you will have to observe on a personal level:

• Thou Shall Not Encourage Clicks: Do not attempt to misrepresent ads, deceive visitors into clicking them or offer compensation for clicking ads.  This includes instructing visitors to click your ads or asking them to show “support” by doing so.
• Thou Shall Not Employ Forbidden Content: While the definition of “offensive” is nearly as broad as the internet itself, simply avoiding putting Google advertising on pornographic pages or pages that endorse or offer criminal/illegal activities and products will save you a lot of potential heart ache.
• Thou Shalt Have No Ads Before Me: Do not embed additional ads in your contributions to the site. This can not only bring the wrath of Google down on you, but is expressively forbidden by our own site.

Misconceptions

On the other end of the spectrum, there is also a lot of misunderstandings about what is perfectly legitimate behavior regarding Google AdSense.  Here are some of the most common.

If I use Google AdSense, I can’t click on ANY Google ads: This is absolutely incorrect. Google and Advertisers realize that many AdSense users are still a valuable source of potential customers and visitors.  They want your traffic and business.  Restrictions on your browsing behavior are ONLY in regards to fraud and competitors. You are completely free to view and interact with ads that you have no vested interest in .

Google AdSense Means My Computer is Monitored: Participants in the Google AdSense are not monitored any more than any other visitor. While it is true that if you interact with your own ads, Google will know, there is not special software or measures in place that otherwise single you out from other web traffic.  This is a matter of respect and privacy.

AdSense Will Make Me Rich: While it is indeed very possibly to make a  healthy income from AdSense, it’s take time to build up a readership, traffic and volume of material to accomplish this. At Did Ya See, we make no guarantees but will help you monetize your existing reading, writing and sharing habits.  Why not make money doing the things you love?