While there is no doubt that Google AdSense can earn you some nice money, you are setting yourself up for failure if you commit any of these errors. Do not create a Google AdSense account using fictitious details. That is a no-no rules, according to Google, and they will terminate your account and retain any money you may have made. Additionally, attempting to conceal your genuine identify can result in major complications with the Internal Revenue Service or whoever your tax authority is.
Do not modify or hack the Google AdSense code in any way except to adjust the settings that Google has authorized you to change. Any attempt to circumvent Google’s built-in algorithms endangers the network’s integrity and jeopardizes Google’s financial model. You are not dealing with a small family firm here, and Google has the legal strength and enormous money to take you through every court in the land if your hacking shenanigans harm their business.
Avoid including AdSense advertisements on your registration, confirmation, and “thank you” pages. Do not inquire as to why you are unable to place your advertisements there. That makes sense to me as excellent settings. However, Google believes different, and violating their Terms of Service is a capital felony.
Avoid displaying AdSense ads alongside those of a competitor on the same page. That makes perfect sense. Google does not want you to be 100 percent site loyal, but they do require that their own advertisements not be overloaded by offerings from competitors.
Do not “beg for clicks” or offer any incentive for users to click on your Google AdSense advertisements. This is a significant violation, and you see it frequently. Any “get paid to do stuff” site that includes Google advertisements in the member control panels is walking the plank unknowingly. Even those sites that encourage you to “help keep my site going by clicking on our sponsor’s advertisements” are requesting to be blocked if those sponsor’s advertisements are Google Ads.
Never click on your own site’s advertisements, even if you are genuinely interested in the product or service and considering purchasing it! Nothing screams fraud more than a webmaster who gladly clicks on advertising from their own site. Google’s algorithms can monitor this behaviour, and it won’t be long before you receive a farewell note from their fraud squad.
No deceptive labeling. Google is extremely particular about the wording that may be used surrounding their advertisements. In accordance with their terms of service, publishers may not include anything other than sponsored links or advertisements in their advertisements. Also known as ‘stealth ads’ or ‘misleading ads’, these are any items directly above our commercials that may be mistaken for, or seek to be confused with, Google adverts. This is to prevent visitors from being confused and barking up Google’s tree after clicking on an advertisement that directed them to a pornographic website rather than the recipe website they expected to visit.
Avoid the use of keyword spam and other divisive tactics. You may be tempted to purchase one of those tools that “generates millions of keyword-rich pages in seconds,” but let me tell you something: Their time is limited. Google is very aware of such pranks and will be on the lookout for you. Among the other forbidden gimmicks are the following:
• “Sneaky” page redirection that take a visitor to a site other than the one they expected to view.
• Multiple websites, domains, and pages, for example, that include significant amounts of duplicate content.
• Any form of hidden text or link.
• An abnormally high number of outbound links on any page. Google suggests a maximum of 100. I’d keep it significantly lower.
• And here’s some sage advice straight from Google: “Do not participate in link schemes aimed to boost your site’s ranking or Page Rank. Avoid links to online spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web in particular, as these links may have a negative effect on your website.
Avoid advertising anything on Google’s list of forbidden items. It’s a far shorter list than PayPal or eBay’s, but it covers a lot of the same ground as PayPal or eBay, including hacking/cracking content, pornography, illegal narcotics, gambling sites, beer or hard alcohol, and guns.