My buddy Ben aka Sktitzzo of SEO Refugee ran into a problem where Google banned his Adsense account. Ben was understandably upset and jumped through Google’s hoops to figure out what happened, how to solve it and get reinstated. The problem was Google just didn’t care.

Google sent an automated email that claimed there was click fraud on the account. At the end of the email was a link for an appeal. Ben clicked the link and made the appeal only to get another automated email stating there was definitely click fraud, that Google would be keeping any money earned on the account and that Ben was pretty much SOL. Repeated attempts to contact Google after this have failed.

As mentioned Ben is a friend of mine. I also know his father. They are both decent and honorable people and click fraud just isn’t in Ben’s character. So how did this happen?

Ben looked into it and he came up with Get ANY Adsense Account Banned. It is so ridiculously easy I can’t believe it hasn’t been a bigger issue up to now.

The problem with the Google Adsense program is that your publisher ID is public just sitting in the source code for anyone to pick up. Then they can use that ID on sites they control and do fraudulent things. Or if that is too much work, just use a proxy and continuously click the ads. Either way, the account gets banned and Google doesn’t offer any help or real recourse to get things straitened out.

Poor customer service is the culprit. Google has not been forthcoming about where or how the fraud occurred and this is not an isolated incident. Google’s policy of “guilty” without recourse is reprehensible. A little transparency would go a long way. At this point a little dialogue would go a long way!

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