[Notice] AdSense Manager Banned by Google

Don’t use relative path!
href="/projects/wordpress/adsense-manager/banned

You got banned because your plugin, by default, puts your adsense code onto other people’s sites a certain percentage of the time. Google does not allow you to do that sort of thing. This is why they require approval of any site to join adsense. You’d get banned if you put adsense on other sites that you made without getting a new domain approved by them as well.

Relevant T&C stuff:
“You acknowledge and agree that Ads and/or Links: (i) shall only be displayed in connection with the Site(s), each of which is subject to review and approval by Google in its discretion at any time…”

“A site or third party cannot display our ads, search box, search results, or referral buttons as a result of the actions of any software application such as a toolbar.”

“You may not… (vi) directly or indirectly access, launch, and/or activate Ads, Links, Search Results, or Referral Buttons through or from, or otherwise incorporate the Ads, Links, Search Results, or Referral Buttons in, any software application, Web site, or other means other than Your Site(s), and then only to the extent expressly permitted by this Agreement”

In short, if your plugin didn’t try to take revenue from displaying your ads on other sites, you wouldn’t have gotten banned. Other sites are *not* allowed to display your ads. If you want funding for writing your plugin, get it by donations or something.

Just to clarify, we’re talking about ‘other sites’ as in something like the adverts for teh account abc.tld showing up on the site of xyz.com, right? I’m thinking of all those wpmu sites that show adsense banners when the site admin’s banners show say 20% of the time.

Otto42: That’s not true. Google specifically say that once you have approved your original domain you can place your ads on any other domains as you see fit. They do not require you to re-approve every single site your ads are used on. It may be that these have to be your own sites (if that is what “Your Site(s)” refers to) but I wouldn’t read that as explicit.

It’s in the T&Cs too (I checked before adding the feature to the plugin) but I am banned from reading them now.

The toolbar issue should not be relevant as it relates to displaying ads on a non-content site. If it is against the rules to generate the ads themselves (AdSense Manager created the code on the fly) then the whole plugin is in violation.

Since Google have refused to clarify in what way I was in violation, I assumed the worst and removed the whole plugin. It simply doesn’t make any sense to continue distributing something which could result in people losing their AdSense accounts.

If someone else wants to take up development of the plugin minus the donations feature, it’s still in the SVN.

moshu: Thanks, links are plugin and post. If you can change them it would be appreciated.

@drmike: Right. That’s against their TOS.

When Google approves you, they ask for your site address. And if you watch closely, they actually visit your site and check it out before approving you. A brand new WordPress blog will often get rejected, for example. You have to show that you have real content for them to approve you.

Putting your adsense ads on other sites, especially ones that you don’t “own”, is a big no-no and will get you banned real, real fast.

The special case of WordPress MU sites might be a bit simpler.. The site owner is showing his own ads on his own site. His members are showing their ads on their sites. So there’s nothing to flag this automatically in Google’s system. Whereas abc.com’s ad’s on xyz.com’s site will get automatically flagged for review. This is only my educated guess, mind you, but it makes sense to me.

Otto42: That’s not true. Google specifically say that once you have approved your original domain you can place your ads on any other domains as you see fit. They do not require you to re-approve every single site your ads are used on. It may be that these have to be your own sites (if that is what “Your Site(s)” refers to) but I wouldn’t read that as explicit.

Their TOS seems to disagree with that, to me, but let’s just say you are correct for sake of argument.

You realize that if any site showing your ad violates the TOS in some other way, you’d get banned as well, right?

Like say some site posts some porn or something. Or uses a popup. Or whatever… Your ad shows up as having been on that site, you get banned too. Still seems like a really bad idea to put ads on sites that you have no control over, ya think?

Otto42: Once you have added your first site you can then show your Ads using your same Google Id on other sites. Check the TOS, they specifically say you do not have to re-apply for each site.

I suspect too that certain people who were using the plugin were showing ads on sites which either contained invalid content or were against the Google TOS themselves. Unfortunately, as I’ve said, because Google refuse to state the reason for the ban this may be wrong.

It’s worth noting that in my appeal I specifically asked to be notified if the plugin itself was in violation. I also asked whether removing the donation would solve the violation problem being aware that this alone might be the cause.

If I knew that the ban was purely against income generated in this manner and not the plugin I would happily continue to distribute it (albeit without being able to develop it further).

However, given Google don’t discuss the results of an appeal I don’t see a way to establish this. I could of course take your word for it, but it would be a risk at other peoples expense.

mutube: I really have no idea where you’re seeing this in their terms, but I did find this little gem in there:

“In addition, You agree that while You may display more than one (1) Ad Unit on each Site Web page, You shall not display any Ad Unit on a page that contains Ads associated with another Google AdSense customer (e.g., Your Web hosting company), unless authorized to do so by Google.”

https://www.google.com/adsense/static/en_US/Terms.html

Given the way the plugin generates ads, this seems like a definite violation of their terms, because it’s almost certain to display more than one accounts adsense ad on a page at some point.

As far as the plugin goes, if it’s generating code identical to Google’s code (which is frankly not difficult to do), then there’s no way they could detect the use of a plugin in the first place. Heck, I use some code to generate the adsense javascript instead of having it copied/pasted from their generator. But the code is the same as if I had done so, so how are they going to know? Short of reading this post, of course… ??

The fact of the plugin is not the issue, the method the plugin used most likely is.

Otto42: I made sure that didn’t happen! When it displayed my Ads on the site it displayed only my Ads. Of course it then depends on what your definition of ads “being on the same page” is.

The code generated should be identical although I can’t be certain of it at all times. I would just like confirmation that it can be used and then I’ll release it with the revenue generation remove.

I can’t get that confirmation because they refuse to talk to me! I have sent an additional ‘I am not arguing the outcome of the appeal but can you confirm that it is not against the rules to generate code from a plugin’ type email but got no reply. I am unable to access their contact form because of the ban.

If you want to ask please do. Word it in a general if you like, but let me know how it goes!

Just to clarify one small point here about adding adsense to your OWN sites. Though it does not state it in the T&C that I can find, in their FAQs Google states:

“There’s no need to open another account or notify us when you place the AdSense code on a new site…”

I know that does not answer the greater question, but does take one point of debate out of the ring.

I just wish you had gotten an answer. All this guessing makes it feel like this is the wp.com forums. ??

After thinking about what you said Otto42 I’ve updated the pages to notify potential users of the potential violation and then leave it up to them to decide.

Hopefully someone will have luck asking Google for clarification …although I seriously doubt it! Time to move onto other projects.

Anybody know any other good ad networks?

These suggestions come from Joel Comm’s “The Adsense Code” as alternatives to Google.

Kontera.com
chitika.com
contextcash.com
publisher.yahoo.com
adbrite.com

Good luck!

I only today installed WP, I also installed this AdSense Manager only to see this forum message now

What are the implications of me keeping AdSense Manager on my blog? I have currently disabled it, however would very much like to keep using it, but obviously don’t want my google adsense account banned…

is it the developer who is in trouble or also the users?

fragglebottom: I’m the developer of AdSense Manager. At the moment it isn’t clear whether using the plugin is a violation of the Google T&Cs or if it was just the feature which donated a share of Ads to me. I did ask specifically in my appeal for information on this (regardless of the outcome) but they will not discuss it.

In theory it should be impossible for Google to identify whether you are using AdSense Manager or not, but I can’t be sure. If you want to use it make sure you download the latest version (2.3). To be extra safe copy & paste code into the Code Units which replicate the Google code as is.

A few people have contacted Google on my behalf and as soon as I hear back I’ll post an update. Feel free to do the same.

Thanks,