How To Download Adsense Payments Data

Last year, my Adsense account was upgraded to the new AdSense payments platform. As part of this change, Google will be shutting down the old payments platform completely by the end of this month.





What this simply means is that by June 30, 2015, your payments data prior to the upgrade date (Mar-2014 in my own case) will no longer be available.



So, Google recommends that you download your data and save a copy in case you need it in the future, e.g., for tax purposes.



To download your old payments data, please follow the steps below:



    ==> Sign in to your AdSense account.

    ==> Click the gear icon and select Payments.

    ==> Scroll down to the "Previous payments" section at the bottom of the page.

    ==> Click "See your previous payments".

    ==> In the "Finalized earnings and payments" section, click Export to CSV.

    ==> If a download prompt appears, follow the instructions in the dialog, and click Save  and it will be downloaded as a CSV file.



Note that if you don't see the "See your previous payments" button, then you don't have any previous payments data on our old payments system to download.



I hope this helps.

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Reasons Your Adsense Report Might Include Sites You Don't Manage

While reading about the Adsense Site authorization feature earlier today, I stumbled on an article which I believe will be helpful to those that have been wondering why their Adsense reports include sites they don't manage.

The article lists reasons why Adsense systems might attribute a few impressions to sites that you do not control and sites where you've not directly placed your ad code. According to the article, these can include:



==> Sites that serve the contents of your site from their own domain. You can authorize some of these sites that you trust to display ads.



==> Improper iframed redirects. For example, some sites create an iframe through which they reference another site.



==> Web pages forwarded in email clients.



==> Duplicating (in other words, copy and pasting) of stories from one publisher to another.



So, when next you see impression from some strange sites in your Adsense report, stay calm...lol :)



Do you experience such?

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Adsense Matched Content Feature : Ogbongeblog Approved

Recently, Google announced the introduction of  Matched Content, a free tool that can recommend relevant articles to visitors of your site based on topic similarity.


By making it easy for your readers to find the content that they're interested in, the tool can help increase your site's page views, the time spent on your site, reader loyalty, ad impressions, and ultimately ad revenue.

Adsense matched Content

The Matched content feature is for Adsense publishers but not available to all publishers. To be eligible, you must have a site that meets Google's minimum requirements for traffic volume and number of unique pages.

Good news is that my blog, Ogbongeblog has been approved to create Adsense matched content units. Hence, I have access to the Matched content feature in my AdSense account.

Has your site been approved for the Matched Content feature?

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How To Place Ad Banner Under Header of Blogger Mobile View

In this tutorial, I will explain how to place 300x250 ad banner under header of Blogger mobile view. The banner can be Google adsense ad, an affiliate program banner or a personal advert banner to promote your products and services. So, I expect you have saved the code for the banner somewhere.



You can increase your Adsense earnings by placing a 300x250 ad banner under your blog header section as explained in this post.

To get started, sign in to your Blogger account via www.blogger.com

==>  Go to your blog dashboard,click on "Template".

==> Click the settings icon under "Mobile", Select "Yes.............", choose "Custom" and Save.

==> Go back to "Template" > "Edit HTML"



==>Use CTRL F to find id='main' in the HTML



==> Edit showaddelement to yes and add maxwidgets='3' so it becomes similar to the code below:



<b:section class='main' id='main' maxwidgets='3' showaddelement='yes'>



==> Click "Save Template".



==> Go to "Layout' and you should now be able to add a gadget above the post area as seen in screenshot below.

==> Click the "add a gadget", select "HTML/Javascript"



==> Copy and paste your ad code in it and save.



==> Click the "edit" link next to the gadget



==> Click in the address bar of the gadget window and scroll to the end of the address as seen in the screenshot below:

Take note of the gadget id and close the window. In the screenshot above, the id is HTML1



==> Go to "Template" > "Edit HTML"



==> Use CTRL F to find the gadget id in your template

==> Add mobile='yes' to it so it becomes similar to the code below



<b:widget id='HTML1' locked='false' mobile='yes' title='' type='HTML'>



==> Click "Save Template"



==> Use CTRL F to find ]]></b:skin>



==> Paste the code below, directly above the ]]></b:skin>



#HTML1{

display : none;

}



@media all and (max-width: 768px)  {



#HTML1{

display : block;

}



}



Replace the gadget id with yours.

Click 'Save Template"



View your blog on mobile phone and you should see the banner displayed under the header.



I hope this works for you.



NB: If you set it to mobile='yes', it will be giving you errors while saving arrangements in the layout section.



If you need help placing Google ads on your blog, contact me. I will only charge you a token. 

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Policy Breach Notice from Google

Earlier today, I received an email from Google with subject line ‘Policy Breach Notice’ and reads:

Dear Publisher,

We have now verified that we are no longer detecting PII being passed to Google from the account(s) under your control.

Thank you for helping to resolve this matter.

Regards,
The Google Policy Team

Well, I guess Google sent this to me by mistake because I didn't receive any prior policy violation notice that has to do with passing PII (Personally Identifiable Information) to Google. So, if you've received this too, keep calm and keep blogging :)

Any Adsense publisher that violates the policy will receive an email similar to this:

It has come to our attention that you are passing personally
identifiable information (PII) to Google through your use of one or more
of Google\'s advertising products -- DFP, AdSense, and/or Doubleclick
AdExchange.

Our systems have detected PII, including email
addresses and/or passwords, being passed from each of the domain names
below. We have also included below an example of an ad request that we
received from your account (from which the PII detected has been
redacted).

Our contracts and policies prohibit information being
passed to us that we could use or recognize as PII. Sending us PII has
put you in breach of those terms.

You should review your
implementation of Google tags on your pages, including whether PII of
any nature may feature in the URLs of such pages.

Please give this matter your immediate attention. You should submit your response in this form.

If
you fail to achieve compliance with your contract within 30 days we may
disable ad serving on your account(s). If you fail to submit any
response within 14 days, access to your account will be suspended.

Publishers that receive such notice are given 30 days to remediate breaches of the identifying users policy. During this period, they will receive weekly email messages containing a list of ad requests grouped by domain from which PII is being detected.

If you've received the violation notice, you can read how to resolve it here and best practices to avoid sending PII.

You can also follow the forum discussion at Google Adsense Help.

Did you also receive the policy breach notice without any prior violation notice?

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How To Add Adsense Into Wordpress Blog Posts

Adding adsense to wordpress post is possible with most of the free ad management plugins for WordPress out there. I've tried the official Adsense plugin for Wordpress as well as the Quick Adsense plugin but my favorite for now is the "Insert Post Ads" plugin by the guys at wpbeginner.com.





I ditched QuickAdsense plugin recently when I discovered that I couldn't save changes to my ad codes and placement. The plugin was misbehaving and there wasn't any update to fix the bug. The Adsense plugin on the other hand, as at the time of publishing this post doesn't give me the freedom to set the size of ads I want in my my Wordpress post.



With the "Insert Post Ads" plugin, all I need to do is to install it, paste my code and select if the ad unit should appear after the first or second paragraph. I can also set it to display the Adsense ad unit at the top or end of Wordpress blog post. You can also easily align your ad to appear in the center, left or right using css. Using the plugin to insert adsense into wordpress also makes it very easy for me to track performance of each ad unit in my Adsense dashboard.

So, if you are looking for how to paste adsense code in wordpress, you can try the plugin.

How To Use "Insert Post Ads" Plugin for WordPress

==> Simply install and activate the plugin : Insert Post Ads.

==> Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item called Post Adverts.

==> Go to : www.google.com/adsense to get your ad code.



==> Click on Post Adverts » Add New. On the next screen, simply add the name of your ad for identification purposes, paste the ad code itself, and select the paragraph you want to display the ad code after. you can also select "Before content" or "After content"

==> Once done simply click publish.

==> Go to Post Adverts » Settings to select which post types you want to show your ads on such as posts, pages, and custom post types. Very Important!



==> View your posts and your ads should now be appearing in inside your WordPress blog posts.



NB: If you want the ad to appear in the middle, add <center> at the top of your ad code and add  </center> at the end of the ad code.

How To Add Adsense to WordPress Sidebar

==> Go to 'Appearance" > "Widgets"

==> Drag a text gadget to the sidebar column

==> Copy and paste your adsense add code in text gadget.

==> Save.

How To Add Adsense To Wordpress Header

==> Install official Adsense plugin.

==> Connect I to your Adsense account and use it to place your ad anywhere the pointer displays in your header area.



I hope this helps.



Which plugin do you use for adding adsense to wordpress post ?



Recommended: How to add adsense inside Blogger posts

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Adsense Product Recap 2014

As the year comes to an end, the Adsense team decided to take the time to recap the new AdSense products and features that were released this year via a newsletter. If you didn't receive the mail, below is the 2014 Adsense product recap:





Multi-screen additions:

•  Responsive ad units
   Responsive ad units can help you provide a great ad experience for users on every screen (i.e.computers, phones, tablets). To make your code simpler and save you time and effort, the responsive ad code automatically adapts the ad unit size to your page layout.


•  Multi-screen scorecard
   Check the new multi-screen category in your publisher scorecard to see what percentage of your pages are multi-screen optimized, and review how this compares to other AdSense publishers.


• Tools for building multi-screen sites
   New to multi-screen? The AdSense Multi-Screen guidelines can help you get started on or improve your mobile site. For more technical resources on developing a mobile website, visit the Web Fundamentals course and the Web Starter Kit.

Ad unit updates:

•  Custom size ad units
   Creating custom ad unit sizes for your website will give you the flexibility to design your ads and your site to fit your audience. Adsense now have 434,216 new ad unit options which behave just like their standard sized counterparts.


•  New ad sizes
   Increase the flexibility of your ad units with the the new Billboard (970 x 250) and Portrait (300 x 1050) ad unit sizes. Visit the blog to learn how these sizes can help you reach more advertisers while also enhancing user experience and engagement on your site.

New features in your AdSense account:

•  New features in the Ad Review Center
   Discover how filtering reviewed ads, searching by ad sizes, and finding related ads can give you more control. Visit the Inside AdSense blog to learn more about these new Ad review center features.


•  A/B testing for categories in the AdSense interface
   Interested in testing how blocking certain ad categories changes your site's revenue? Now you can run A/B tests without changing your ad code to better understand how to use ad category settings to your advantage.

Toolbar and plugin updates:

• View Google Analytics data in the Google Publisher Toolbar
   You can now view visitor data from Google Analytics in the Google Publisher Toolbar. Learn how to install the Google Publisher Toolbar and use Google Analytics insights while you browse your pages.


•  AdSense Plugin for Wordpress
   Using Google products within WordPress just got easier. Link your Wordpress site to your AdSense account, easily place ads, and check your page visibility with the Google Publisher Plugin.

Which of the product releases above have helped you to continue to make the most of your website?

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How I Make Adsense Appear In Middle Of Blogger Posts (New and Old) Without Using Post Template Feature

In my previous post, I explained how to easily place Adsense ads in middle of Blogger posts using the Blogger "Post Template" feature. Although the trick is very easy to implement and automatically displays ad in desktop and mobile view, the trick doesn't display the ads in old posts.





If you want the ad to display in the middle of all posts (old and new), you will have to hack your blog's html and add some codes to it. I stumbled on the trick here, implemented it and works fine on my blog. I even use the trick to make Adsense ads appear in the middle of posts on Blogger mobile view.



This script in the trick actually looks for number of <br/>  (line break) tags inside your post and display ad unit.

How To Get Started



==> Generate your Adsense ad code from www.google.com/adsense

==> Parse the Adsense ad code at www.freehtmlparser.blogspot.com (paste and click "Encode")

==> Login to your Blogger dashboard and back up your template ( Very Important! )

==> Go to "Template" > "Edit HTML"



==> Use CTRL F to search your HTML for the JQuery script below:

<script src='https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>

If it exists, move on to the next step. If not, copy the script above and paste directly above </body> in your blog's html



==> Use CTRL F to find </body> again and directly above it, paste the code highlighted below:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>

<script>

 $AdCode = $("#AdCode").html();

 $("#PostBody br:lt(1)").replaceWith($AdCode);

 $("#AdCode").remove();

</script>

</b:if>

==> Save the Template



==> Go back to "Template" > Edit HTML. Use CTRL F to find <data:post.body/> . Replace it with the code below:

<div id="PostBody">

 <data:post.body/>

</div>





<div id="AdCode">

<div style='margin:5px 0;text-align:center;clear:both;'>

 <!-- Paste PARSED Ad Unit Code Here -->

</div>

</div>

==> Save the template



NB: Your template might have 2 or more <data:post.body/> codes. You have to identify correct one by using "try and error" trick. The 2nd or 3rd instance works in most templates though.



==> Go to "New Post" > "Options". Ensure you select "Press Enter for line breaks".

That's all.



To make it appear on mobile view, find <b:includable id='mobile-post' var='post'> in your HTML and replace the <data:post.body/> under the line as explained above.



I hope it works for you.



If it doesn't work for you, you can simply revert the changes by uploading the back up you created before implementing the trick.

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How To Put Affiliate or Adsense Advert In Middle of Blogger Blog Post

There are series of tutorials online on how to place Adsense below Blogger post title and at the end of Blogger post but you will hardly see tutorials that will explain how to easily place adsense or affiliate advert in the middle of a Blogger post. This is simply because it's not something you can easily achieve by copying and pasting your ad code in your blog's html.





Although, there exists an advanced hack you can implement to insert an ad in the middle of a Blogger post but I'm sharing with you in this post, a trick that simply involves the use of Blogger's "Post Template" feature.



Post template helps save you time by pre-formatting the post editor. You can use it to format your posts in a certain way. Hence, you can also use it to automatically display your adverts in the middle of your posts.



How To Get Started



==> Get your Adsense code or advert code ready

==> Log in to your Blogger dashboard and go to Settings > Posts and comments, then click Add next to Post Template.

==> Paste your ad code in the box and save. (No need to parse the code).

That's all.



When next you need to compose a post, click on the "HTML" tab of the post editor to see your ad code.



Type your post content above and below the ad code, so that the advert will be in the middle.



When you are through with typing the content, you can click on the "Compose" tab to easily add links etc to your post.



When you are done, publish your post, view and you should see the ad in the middle of the post.



NB: The ad will not display in old posts but automatically displays on the Blogger mobile view.



Try it and let me know if it works for you.



Cheers!



Recommended: How I Make Adsense Ads Appear Automatically In Middle of New and Old Blogger Posts Without Using Post Template Feature.

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Optimizing AdSense Online Course For Adsense Publishers

Do you want to know what works for other publishers on Adsense Network?



Are you looking for practical optimization tips from Adsense experts?



Then check out the first online Adsense course: Optimizing Adsense.



From  choosing ad sizes, to improving page speed, to setting up Adsense experiments, Google Adsense experts will show you how you can increase your Adsense revenue.



With videos, activities, assessments, you can build your Adsense expertise and put your knowledge to test.

To get started, you will have to register for free. You will provide your name, Adsense publisher id, site url and choose the reason for taking the course from the available options. You can also choose to receive certificate after the course.



Once you're successfully registered, you will be presented with a pre-course assessment. This pre-course assessment will help you identify what you already know and what you still have to learn from each of the lessons.



The score of the assessment will not affect your course certificate - so feel free to select "I don't know" if you're unsure of the answers to the questions. If you do not want to take the assessment after registration , you can always come back and take it later on.



After answering the questions, click on 'Submit Answers' to save your progress. Your lessons to focus on will be saved in your profile and for the incorrect answers, you will be referred to the lessons to take.



Register now to join fellow publishers in taking the optimizing Adsense course.



If you've taken the course, feel free to share your score below.

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Adsense Introduces 970x250 and 300x1050 Ad Sizes

Google Adsense has announced the introduction of two new ad sizes - 970 x 250 Billboard and the 300 x 1050 Portrait, which Google believes will help Adsense publishers to reach more advertisers while also enhancing user experience and engagement on their sites.


The new, larger ad formats are meant to provide a great canvas for rich creatives. As with most of Adsense ad sizes, both of these ad units can accommodate standard text ads in addition to image ads.

Additionally, they can show similar-sized image ads. In this case, you may occasionally see a 300 x 250 ad served in the 970 x 250 ad unit and a 160 x 600 served in the 300 x 1050 ad unit when those units are opted in to showing image ads.

Hence, 300x250 and 970x250 image ads will both compete for your 970x250 ad unit while 160x600 and 300x1050 image ads will both compete for your 300x1050 ad unit with the most competitive ad served thus maximizing the earnings on your ad units. When a 160x600 image is served it will be centered in the 300x1050 ad unit.

As both of these new sizes are large ad units, publishers can place a maximum of one of these units per page.

Which of these new ad sizes will you add to your blog?

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Tracking Adsense Earnings of Responsive Adsense Ad Units

The Performance reports tab at www.google.com/adsense is designed to provide more insight into not just how much you're earning, but what impacts those earnings.



If your blog is responsive and you've placed responsive adsense ad codes on it, you can track the performance of your responsive ad units by viewing the Ad units report on the Performance reports tab.



To access the "Ad Units" report,



==> Sign in to www.google.com/adsense

==> Click on "Performance reports" tab

==> On the left sidebar, click "Ad Units"





Right there, you will see the earnings, number of clicks, number of page views etc of each responsive ad unit on your blog. Each responsive ad unit will be identified by the name you used when you created them.



The performance of all responsive ad units on your blog is shown under the “Responsive” label in the "Ad sizes" report. This is where you will see the total number of clicks, ad request CTR, CPC and estimated earnings of all the responsive ad units on the blog.

Clicking on the "Responsive" label will break down the performance further, day by day.



If you want to track the sizes of the ads that have been served from your responsive ad units, you can view the Creative sizes report.



Cheers

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Adsense Respsonsive Ad Code Modification Using CSS Media Queries

When I published how to create and add responsive Adsense ad unit, I recommended the implementation of the "Smart sizing" mode which doesn’t require you to make any changes to your ad code. This mode lets Adsense to dynamically calculate the ad unit size that will adapt to your page layout based on the width of the ad unit’s parent container, then determine what's the best standard height to go with that width.





For example, if you have a <div> with a width of 30% and you place our ad code within the<div>, then depending on the width of the user's screen, Adsense will automatically serve different ad sizes. If your page is viewed on a tablet with a width of 1024px, we'll serve a 307x250 ad, and if it's view on a 21" desktop PC with a 1680px width, we'll serve a 504x60 ad.



If you would want to specify either an exact size via CSS or a general shape (horizontal, vertical, and/or rectangle) that your ad unit should conform to, you will have to select the "Advanced" mode instead of the "Smart Sizing" mode when you generate your responsive ad code. The Advanced mode lets you modify the ad code as desired using css media queries.

I implemented the responsive 728 x90 leatherboard ad banner under the navigation of this blog using the "Advanced" mode. I modified the ad code in a way that it will serve a 300 x 250 ad unit on screens whose width are less than 500px. If the width of the screen is greater than 500px but less than 800px, a 468 x 60 ad unit will be displayed and on screens whose width are greater than 800px, a 728 x 90 ad unit will be displayed.



To get this done on my blog, I generated the responsive ad code, ensuring I select the "Advanced" mode. Below is what the generated ad code looks like:





<style>

.oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 320px; height: 50px; }

@media(min-width: 500px) { .oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 468px; height: 60px; } }

@media(min-width: 800px) { .oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 728px; height: 90px; } }

</style>

<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<!-- OBlog_responsive_728_AdUnit -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle oblog-responsive-728-adunit"
     style="display:inline-block"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-1234"
     data-ad-slot="5678"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>



I deleted the style part of the code (in yellow) , then placed the other part of the adsense code on my blog using the HTML/Javascript gadget. Thereafter, I added the media queries below to the css section of my blog's html.





.oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 300px; height: 250px; }



@media(min-width: 800px) { .oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 728px; height: 90px; } }

@media(min-width: 500px) { .oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 468px; height: 60px; } }

@media screen and (max-width: 499px) { .oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 300px; height: 250px; } }



That's all.



The .oblog-responsive-728-adunit { width: 300px; height: 250px; } specifies the default size. This will ensure that an ad renders even when media queries aren’t supported especially when your blog is viewed by old browsers.



If you understand how to use css media queries, you can use styles different from mine.



You can use the responsive design testing sites to see what your responsive ad unit will look like on different devices and screens to make sure that the responsive behaviour is working fine.



To test with your desktop browser, you must resize your browser to a certain width before you access your web page for you to see the responsive ad that is served on screen with such width.



UPDATE:



 ==> If your ad name (eg oblog-responsive-728-adunit) is not added beside adsbygoogle as seen in the ad code above, add it yourself and ensure you use it for the styling too. 

==> Also ensure data-ad-format="auto" is deleted if present in your code.





NB: This css media queries will not work for you if your blog is not responsive. You can check if your blog is responsive here.

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How To Create and Add Responsive Adsense Ad Unit to Blogger Blogs

Responsive web design is the trend these days as more and more people are browsing the internet through their smartphones and tablets. If your Blogger blog is responsive, you can consider adding responsive ad units to the blog to maximize your Adsense earnings.



Adsense responsive ad code automatically serves different ad sizes based on the space available and also has support for ad size changes after a screen orientation change  (e.g., when a tablet or phone goes from portrait to landscape).



By using a responsive ad unit, you can control the size of the ads on
your page, in line with how you control the layout of the rest of your
page across devices. 





If your blog design is responsive, all you need to do is to generate responsive ad code and add it to your blog's html.

How To Generate Code for Responsive Adsense Ad Unit  

==> Log in to www.google.com/adsense

==> Click the My ads tab and click +New ad unit

==> Provide a unique name that will help you find this ad unit later

==> Select “Responsive ad unit (BETA)” from the Ad size drop-down

==> Click Save and get code.

==> In the “Ad code” box that appears, select the recommended "Smart Sizing" mode from the Mode drop-down.

==> Place the ad code on your site.

How To Place Adsense Code On Blogger Blog

==> Log in to www.blogger.com

==> Go to "Layout"

==> Click on "Add a gadget"

==> Select "HTML/Javascript" from the options

==> Paste the ad code in it and Save.



That's all.



Once you’ve placed your ad code,I recommend that you test your ads on different devices and screens to make sure that the responsive behavior is working correctly. You can also use the free online Responsive Web Design Testing Tools for the test.

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Unconfirmed Allegations Of How Adsense Robs Publishers Denied By Google

Unconfirmed allegations that Google Adsense was and still stealing money from publishers was published anonymously by an alleged former Google employee to pastebin. The report, which has resulted in heated discussions on many sites, have been denied by Google.



The whistleblower who claimed to have worked in Google, said he took part in what could be considered as theft of money from the publishers by Google, which involves banning publishers that were earning $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 per month before their periodic payout so it could keep their ad revenue.

According to a post on TechCrunch, Google released the statement below, as denial of the accusations:

“This description of our AdSense policy enforcement process is a complete fiction. The color-coding and ‘extreme quality control’ programs the author describes don’t exist. Our teams and automated systems work around the clock to stop bad actors and protect our publishers, advertisers and users.



 All publishers that sign up for AdSense agree to the Terms and Conditions of the service and a set of policies designed to ensure the quality of the network for users, advertisers and other publishers. When we discover violations of these policies, we take quick action, which in some cases includes disabling the publisher’s account and refunding affected advertisers.”

 Below is the unconfirmed report published by the Whisteblower for reference purpose:

 I am a former Google employee and I am writing this to leak information to the public of what I witnessed and took part in while being an employee. My position was to deal with AdSense accounts, more specifically the accounts of publishers (not advertisers). I was employed at Google for a period of several years in this capacity.



 Having signed many documents such as NDA’s and non-competes, there are many repercussions for me, especially in the form of legal retribution from Google. I have carefully planned this leak to coincide with certain factors in Google such as waiting for the appropriate employee turn around so that my identity could not be discovered.



 To sum it up for everyone, I took part in what I (and many others) would consider theft of money from the publishers by Google, and from direct orders of management. There were many AdSense employees involved, and it spanned many years, and I hear it still is happening today except on a much wider scale. No one on the outside knows it, if they did, the FBI and possibly IRS would immediately launch an investigation, because what they are doing is so inherently illegal and they are flying completely under the radar.



 It began in 2009. Everything was perfectly fine prior to 2009, and in fact it couldn’t be more perfect from an AdSense employees perspective, but something changed.



    Google Bans and Ban Criteria



    Before December 2012:



 In the first quarter of 2009 there was a “sit-down” from the AdSense division higher ups to talk about new emerging issues and the role we (the employees in the AdSense division needed to play. It was a very long meeting, and it was very detailed and intense. What it boiled down to was that Google had suffered some very serious losses in the financial department several months earlier. They kept saying how we “needed to tighten the belts” and they didn’t want it to come from Google employees pockets. So they were going to (in their words) “carry out extreme quality control on AdSense publishers”.

When one of my fellow co-workers asked what they meant by that. Their response was that AdSense itself hands out too many checks each month to publishers, and that the checks were too large and that needed to end right away. Many of the employees were not pleased about this (like myself). But they were successful in scaring the rest into thinking it would be their jobs and their money that would be on the line if they didn’t participate. The meeting left many confused as to how this was going to happen. What did they mean by extreme quality control? A few other smaller meetings occur with certain key people in the AdSense division that furthered the idea and procedure they planned on implementing. There were lots of rumors and quiet talking amongst the employees, there was lots of speculations, some came true and some didn’t. But the word was that they were planning to cut off a large portion of publisher’s payments.



 After that point there was a running gag amongst fellow co-workers where we would walk by each other and whisper “Don’t be evil, pft!” and roll our eyes.

What happened afterwards became much worse. Their “quality control” came into full effect. Managers pushed for wide scale account bans, and the first big batch of bans happened in March of 2009. The main reason, the publishers made too much money. But something quite devious happened. We were told to begin banning accounts that were close to their payout period (which is why account bans never occur immediately after a payout). The purpose was to get that money owed to publishers back to Google AdSense, while having already served up the ads to the public.

This way the advertiser’s couldn’t claim we did not do our part in delivering their ads and ask for money back. So in a sense, we had thousands upon thousands of publishers deliver ads we knew they were never going to get paid for.

Google reaped both sides of the coin, got money from the advertisers, used the publishers, and didn’t have to pay them a single penny. We were told to go and look into the publishers accounts, and if any publisher had accumulated earnings exceeding $5000 and was near a payout or in the process of a payout, we were to ban the account right away and reverse the earnings back. They kept saying it was needed for the company, and that most of these publishers were ripping Google off anyways, and that their gravy train needed to end. Many employees were not happy about this. A few resigned over it. I did not. I stayed because I had a family to support, and secondly I wanted to see how far they would go.



 From 2009 to 2012 there were many more big batches of bans. The biggest of all the banning sessions occurred in April of 2012. The AdSense division had enormous pressure from the company to make up for financial losses, and for Google’s lack of reaching certain internal financial goals for the quarter prior. So the push was on. The employees felt really uneasy about the whole thing, but we were threatened with job losses if we didn’t enforce the company’s wishes. Those who voiced concerned or issue were basically ridiculed with “not having the company’s best interest in mind” and not being “team players”. Morale in the division was at an all-time low. The mood of the whole place changed quite rapidly. It no longer was a fun place to work.

The bans of April 2012 came fast and furious. Absolutely none of them were investigated, nor were they justified in any way. We were told to get rid of as many of the accounts with the largest checks/payouts/earnings waiting to happen. No reason, just do it, and don’t question it. It was heart wrenching seeing all that money people had earned all get stolen from them. And that’s what I saw it as, it was a robbery of the AdSense publishers. Many launched appeals, complaints, but it was futile because absolutely no one actually took the time to review the appeals or complaints. Most were simply erased without even being opened, the rest were deposited into the database, never to be touched again.

Several publishers launched legal actions which were settled, but Google had come up with a new policy to deal with situations such as that because it was perceived as a serious problem to be avoided.

So they came up with a new policy.



    After December 2012: The New Policy

The new policy; “shelter the possible problem makers, and fuck the rest” (those words were actually said by a Google AdSense exec) when he spoke about the new procedure and policy for “Account Quality Control”.

The new policy was officially called AdSense Quality Control Color Codes (commonly called AQ3C by employees). What it basically was a categorization of publisher accounts. Those publisher’s that could do the most damage by having their account banned were placed in a VIP group that was to be left alone. The rest of the publishers would be placed into other groupings accordingly. The new AQ3C also implemented “quality control” quotas for the account auditors, so if you didn’t meet the “quality control” target (aka account bans) you would be called in for a performance review. There were four “groups” publishers could fall into if they reached certain milestones.



    They were:



 Red Group: Urgent Attention Required

Any AdSense account that reaches the $10,000/month mark is immediately flagged (unless they are part of the Green Group).

    - In the beginning there were many in this category, and most were seen as problematic and were seen as abusing the system by Google. So every effort was taken to bring their numbers down.

    - They are placed in what employees termed “The Eagle Eye”, where the “AdSense Eagle Eye Team” would actively and constantly audit their accounts and look for any absolute reason for a ban. Even if the reason was far-fetched, or unsubstantiated, and unprovable, the ban would occur. The “Eagle Eye Team” referred to a group of internal account auditors whose main role was to constantly monitor

    publisher’s accounts and sites.

    - A reason has to be internally attached to the account ban. The problem was that notifying the publisher for the reason is not a requirement, even if the publisher asks. The exception: The exact reason must be provided if a legal representative contacts Google on behalf of the account holder.

    - But again, if a ban is to occur, it must occur as close to a payout period as possible with the most amount of money accrued/earned.



 Yellow Group: Serious Attention Required

    Any AdSense account that reaches the $5,000/month mark is flagged for review (unless they are part of the Green Group).

    - All of the publisher’s site(s)/account will be placed in queue for an audit.

    - Most of the time the queue is quite full so most are delayed their audit in a timely fashion.

    - The second highest amount of bans occur at this level.

    - A reason has to be internally attached to the account ban. Notifiying the publisher for the reason is not a requirement, even if the publisher asks. The exception: The exact reason must be provided if a legal representative contacts Google on behalf of the account holder.

    - But again, if a ban is to occur, it must occur as close to a payout period as possible with the most amount of money accrued/earned.



 Blue Group: Moderate Attention Required

    Any AdSense account that reaches the $1,000/month mark is flagged for possible review (unless they are part of the Green Group).

    - Only the main site and account will be place in queue for what is called a quick audit.

    - Most bans that occur happen at this level. Main reason is that a reason doesn’t have to be attached to the ban, so the employees use these bans to fill their monthly quotas. So many are simply a random pick and click.

    - A reason does not have to be internally attached to the account ban. Notifying the publisher for the reason is not a requirement, even if the publisher asks.

    - But again, if a ban is to occur, it must occur as close to a payout period as possible with the most amount of money accrued.



 Green Group: VIP Status (what employees refer to as the “untouchables”)

    Any AdSense account associated with an incorporated entity or individual that can inflict serious damage onto Google by negative media information, rallying large amounts of anti-AdSense support, or cause mass loss of AdSense publisher support.

    - Google employees wanting to use AdSense on their websites were automatically placed in the Green group. So the database contained many Google insiders and their family members. If you work or worked for Google and were placed in the category, you stayed in it, even if you left Google. So it included many former employees. Employees simply had to submit a form with site specific details and

    their account info.

    - Sites in the Green Group were basically given “carte blanche” to do anything they wanted, even if they flagrantly went against the AdSense TOS and Policies. That is why you will encounter sites with AdSense, but yet have and do things completely against AdSense rules.

    - Extra care is taken not to interrupt or disrupt these accounts.

    - If an employee makes a mistake with a Green Level account they can lose their job. Since it seen as very grievous mistake.



 New Policy 2012 Part 2:



 Internal changes to the policy were constant. They wanted to make it more efficient and streamlined. They saw its current process as having too much human involvement and oversight. They wanted it more automated and less involved.



 So the other part of the new policy change was to incorporate other Google services into assisting the “quality control” program. What they came up with will anger many users when they find out. It involved skewing data in Google Analytics. They decided it was a good idea to alter the statistical data shown for websites. It first began with just altering data reports for Analytics account holders that also had an AdSense account, but they ran into too many issues and decided it would be simpler just to skew the report data across the board to remain consistent and implement features globally. So what this means is that the statistical data for a website using Google Analytics is not even close to being accurate. The numbers are incredibly deflated. The reasoning behind their decision is that if an individual links their AdSense account and their Analytics account, the Analytics account can be used to deflate the earnings automatically without any human intervention. They discovered that if an individual had an AdSense account then they were also likely to use Google Analytics. So Google used it to their advantage.



 This led to many publishers to actively display ads, without earning any money at all (even to this day). Even if their actual website traffic was high, and had high click-throughs the data would be automatically skewed in favor of Google, and at a total loss of publishers. This successfully made it almost impossible for anyone to earn amounts even remotely close what individuals with similar sites were earning prior to 2012, and most definitely nowhere near pre-2009 earnings. Other policy changes also included how to deal with appeals, which still to this day, the large majority are completely ignored, and why you will rarely get an actual answer as to why your account was banned and absolutely no way to resolve it.



    —-



    The BIG Problem (which Google is aware of)

There is an enormous problem that existed for a long time in Google’s AdSense accounts. Many of the upper management are aware of this problem but do not want to acknowledge or attempt to come up with a solution to the problem.



 It is regarding false clicks on ads. Many accounts get banned for “invalid clicks” on ads. In the past this was caused by a publisher trying to self inflate click-throughs by clicking on the ads featured on their website. The servers automatically detect self-clicking with comparison to IP addresses and other such information, and the persons account would get banned for invalid clicking.

But there was something forming under the surface. A competitor or malicious person would actively go to their competitor’s website(s) or pick a random website running AdSense and begin multiple-clicking and overclicking ads, which they would do over and over again. Of course this would trigger an invalid clicking related ban, mainly because it could not be proven if the publisher was actually behind the clicking. This was internally referred to as “Click-Bombing”. Many innocent publishers would get caught up in bans for invalid clicks which they were not involved in and were never told about.

This issue has been in the awareness of Google for a very long time but nothing was done to rectify the issue and probably never will be. Thus if someone wants to ruin a Google AdSense publishers account, all you would have to do is go to their website, and start click-bombing their Google Ads over and over again, it will lead the servers to detect invalid clicks and poof, they get banned. The publisher would be completely innocent and unaware of the occurrence but be blamed for it anyways.



    —-



    Their BIG Fear

The biggest fear that Google has about these AdSense procedures and policies is that it will be publicly discovered by their former publishers who were banned, and that those publishers unite together and launch an class-action lawsuit.

They also fear those whose primary monthly earnings are from AdSense, because in many countries if a person claims the monthly amount to their tax agency and they state the monthly amount and that they are earning money from Google on a monthly basis, in certain nations technically Google can be seen as an employer. Thus, an employer who withholds payment of earnings, can be heavily fined by government bodies dealing with labor and employment. And if these government bodies dealing with labor and employment decide to go after Google, then it would get very ugly, very quickly ….. that is on top of a class-action lawsuit.

After reading through the inconsistencies of the unconfirmed allegations identified by Techcrunch, I believe it is “a complete fiction” probably from a banned publisher.



What's your take on this?

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How To Change Your Google Adsense Bank Account Details

When adding your bank account to your Google Adsense account for wire transfer payments, it's essential that your bank account information is entered correctly as payouts will be issued to the bank account on file.





Should you notice that the information entered is incorrect, please review your payment details and add a new bank account as soon as possible because a payout cannot be re-issued if the funds reach a valid bank account. Although, if the bank rejects the payout, the funds will be returned to your account.

To protect the privacy and security of your banking information, AdSense Support does not have access to edit or remove the information that you've entered.



To provide the correct information, you must add a new bank account by clicking Payments in the left navigation and visiting your Payment settings page. Right there, you can add the new bank account but ensure you set it as the primary form of payment (Very Important).

That's all.



Recommended: How to Add Bank Account to Google Adsense Payment Settings Page.

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How Long Does Adsense Wire Transfer Reflects In Bank Accounts?

Yesterday, I informed you that I have successful received my first Adsense wire transfer payment directly into my Nigerian GTBank dorm account. Many bloggers have also confirmed to have received theirs too but some are still waiting for their payment to reflect in their bank accounts.





This now makes some bloggers to wonder how long it normally takes Adsense wire transfer payment to reflect in bank account after Google pays it.

Well, I stumbled on an announcement on Google Product Forums regarding March 2014 payment schedule. Below is a quote from the thread:

For publishers using an electronic form of payment this month, I wanted
to share with you information about this month's payment timeline so
that you can better anticipate when your payment may arrive.



During most months, we typically begin initiating normal monthly
scheduled payments at approximately midnight GMT on the 22nd calendar
day of each month and send the instructions to our bank later that day. 
Due to this date falling on a weekend this month and to align with bank
business days, we will begin initiating March regularly scheduled
payments later this weekend for accounts with no payment holds and a
balance exceeding the minimum payment threshold.  We expect our bank to
receive and begin processing your payment instructions around mid-day
(GMT) on Monday, 24 March.  For EFT or wire transfer payments, the
payment clearing processes in various locations may take three or more additional banking days before you receive the funds in your bank account.



Most electronic payments arrive in your bank account prior to month-end,
and you may receive your payment much sooner than this, but please
allow adequate time for your payment to arrive before becoming concerned
with or inquiring about the status of an electronic payment.  We
usually have no way to obtain additional information regarding an
electronic payment during this time period.  Payments initiated over
weekends and/or holidays always take more time to arrive when compared
to other months, so please anticipate that additional time will be needed when payments are processed over non-banking days.



When the "payment in progress" line appears, this indicates that we're
preparing and sending your payment to our bank.  When this changes to
"payment initiated" or a link to a payment receipt, this means that our
bank accepted the payment and forwarded for processing.  The time
required for us to receive this acceptance confirmation from our bank
varies by payment location, so do not be alarmed if this update takes
longer to appear for your account than is reported by others on the
forum.  (For some locations, we receive this within hours of sending
payment instructions, while other locations such as the U.K. require
multiple days before we receive this response from our bank.)  Allow
additional days after our bank accepts the payment for it to traverse
individual country clearing systems and arrives in your bank account.



Thanks for your patience, and have a great weekend!



The Google AdSense Team

From the announcement above, I can deduce that after Adsense initiates your payment on the 22nd of the month, it can take up to 5 days for some banks to process the transfer into your bank account, and you may receive your payment much sooner than this.



Funds sent by wire transfer will usually arrive at your bank within three business days. Once your bank receives the funds,there may be a delay before the funds are available in your account. For a more specific disbursement timeline, please contact your bank.

If it's been at least three business days since Google sent your wire transfer, you may need to contact your bank to confirm the payment. If your bank has not received the payment within 10 business days, please contact AdSense Support.



How soon do you receive your Adsense payment directly into your bank account?

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Can I Receive Adsense Payment With Naira Savings Account?

After publishing how to add GTBank Swift code and account details to Google Adsense payment page, I've been receiving some mails and phone calls from some Adsense publishers who just want to confirm if they can also receive their payments using their Naira-denominated Savings account.



Well, according to some comments on a thread at BloggersLab today, you can receive your Adsense money directly into your savings account without using dorm account. It is not compulsory you enter a domiciliary bank account via Adsense payment settings..





If you look closely at the screenshot below, you will see that +Aseize Okaztle confirmed that he received his payment (Naira equivalent) directly into his Savings account.

All you just need to do is to enter your Savings bank account details, the bank name and the bank SWIFT-BIC code as explained in this tutorial.



I recommend you use GTBank account though. Their are some banks that will be asking you stupid questions when you request for their SWIFT-BIC code and might give you a wrong code.



Remember, SWIFT-BIC code of GTBank is GTBINGLA.



Have you receive yours via a Nigerian Savings bank account?



Join BloggersLab and connect with fellow bloggers.

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How To Add GTBank Account and SWift BIC Code To Google Adsense Payment Settings

Recently, I informed you that Nigerian Adsense publishers might start receiving their Adsense payments by international wire transfer. I am delighted to inform you that I've received my first payment via wire transfer yesterday directly into my GTBank dorm account, just within 2 days the payment was issued by Google. Cool..huh?

For you to receive your Adsense money into your Guaranty Trust Bank account, you will have to add your account details, including the GTBank SWIFT code as a new form of payment via the payment settings page of your Google Adsense account.



To add your GTBank account details just as I did mine, follow me through the steps below:



    ==> Sign in to your AdSense account.

    ==> Click the gear icon in the upper right corner of any tab

    ==> From the drop-down list, select  "Payments".

    ==> In the left sidebar menu, click Payment settings.

    ==> In the "Available forms of payment" section, click Add new form of payment.

    ==> Choose the radio button for “Funds transfer to bank account” and click Continue.



    ==> Enter your bank account information as seen in the screenshot below.

- Enter your account name in the "Account holder name" field

- Enter "Guaranty Trust Bank PLC, Nigeria" in the "Bank Name" field

- Enter "GTBINGLA" in the "swift-bic" field

- Enter your bank account number in the "Account Number" field and retype it in the space provided



    ==> Ignore the " Intermediary bank details" and "For further credit details" options.

    ==> TICK "set this form of payment as primary"

    ==> Click the SAVE button.





Once you are done, your payment settings page will look like this:

If you earn more than $100 this month and didn't place a hold on your payment, you will automatically receive your Adsense payment directly into your GTBank account by the 23rd of next month.



As at the time of publishing this post, GTBank hasn’t charged any commission on the wire transfer made to my account, unlike Check payments which am always charged $10.50.



Have you received your Adsense payment directly into your bank account? Did you add your bank account details using a different method? Please, let me hear from you via comments.

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Nigerians To Start Receiving Adsense Payments Directly Into Bank Accounts

Earlier this morning, Google notified me of upcoming updates to my Adsense account which will affect my payment options. It was stated clearly in the notification mail that after the upgrade, express delivery secure checks and courier tracking numbers will be discontinued and I will be offered the option to receive my Adsense payments by international wire transfer.





If you don't know what wire transfer means, it is a method of electronic funds transfer that allows you to receive funds directly into your bank account. Wire transfer is a fast, secure, and reliable alternative to receiving payments by check. Unlike the secure check payment option, Google doesn't charge a fee to send wire transfer payments.



If you are a Nigerian Adsense publisher, you will have to add the details of your Nigerian bank account to your Adsense account if you want to receive your Adsense payments via Wire Transfer. 

How To Add Bank Account To Google Adsense Account

After the upgrade is complete, you will have to follow the steps below to enter your banking information in your Google Adsense account:





    ==> Sign in to your AdSense account.

    ==> Click the gear icon in the upper right corner of any tab

    ==> From the drop-down list, select  "Payments".

    ==> In the left sidebar menu, click Payment settings.

    ==> In the "Available forms of payment" section, click Add new form of payment.

    ==> Choose the radio button for “Funds transfer to bank account” and click Continue.

    ==> Enter your bank account information and click Confirm and continue.



That's all.



Your account will be updated and your next payment should arrive in your bank account within 4-10 days.



Did you also receive the notification mail?



What's your take on this?



Please, let me hear from you via comments.



PLEASE, share this with friends.

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