Kicked out of Adsense

Or to use their words, "we've determined that your AdSense account poses a risk of generating invalid activity"


I read their Terms and Conditions thoroughly. I followed these rules to the best of my knowledge. I could list a bunch of examples, but that seems kind of boring.


What I didn't completely follow was Google's Program Policies for Adsense. Unfortunately, I didn't even know these existed until my account was disabled. It was here I read that publishers may not "compensate users for viewing ads or performing searches, or promise compensation to a third party for such behaviour." I totally did this. I said that I was going to donate the money to charity. The program policy also says that "clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user interest. Any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions on your Google ads is strictly prohibited. These prohibited methods include, but are not limited to, repeated manual clicks . . . " People clicked on ads on my blog that they weren't genuinely interested in and they did this because it was generating money that I had said I would donate.


When I first realized my mistake I felt awful. I had been so PUMPED to make a donation to The Saskatchewan Children's Hospital Foundation. I couldn't believe my error. I had combed through the Terms and Conditions. Why hadn't I looked at the program polices? Did Google even direct me to the Program Policies? I can't remember. . . It took a couple of days for the word "mistake" to resonate with me. I messed up. I couldn't go back and change it. And I certainly couldn't change a mistake I didn't know I was making.  It was that - a mistake.


Not only did I feel awful the first couple of days, I also felt mad. I felt like Google didn't thoroughly look over my case. I felt like they only cared now because they were going to have to pay me. Since then I have come I understand their side. Google needs to protect their advertisers and the only way for them to do this is to monitor the clicks. My blog probably threw up a red flag because significant increase to the amount of clicks. It makes sense that they would look into it. 


This whole ordeal (including the feelings of guilt and lost sleep) made me realize the the parts that I was most upset about were:

1. Being kicked out of the program. Seriously. I am a grown adult who follows the rules. I am a grown adult who even made sure to read the rules and somehow I still wasn't able to comply. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. When it first happened I couldn't figure out how I was going to come on here and talk about my mistake. I felt like I had let people down. After sitting on it for the weekend and receiving a response to my appeal, I felt like I needed to get this off my chest. The last step in the whole ordeal is to say, "I'm sorry" and move on. I'm sorry. My appeal was denied. They still don't want me in the program - I was probably TOO honest in the appeal, but I wanted to show google that I am an honest person who made an honest mistake. So much for appealing to their compassionate side.
2. Not having the money for the Hospital Foundation. I had to remind myself that Hugh and I do make a monthly donation, so I was still giving. And I also had to acknowledge that if I want to raise some money for The Children's Hospital Foundation, I will have to do more than just sit at my computer and type. I might have to donate my time and energy to organizing an event. I put this in my Happiness Project Book on the "Not all of us can do great things but we can all do small things with great love" page. Someday.

Even though we are not rolling around in cash to donate to charity, I still love to write and love that you read.