Adsense Bowling

I do not pretend to be the first to have identified this problem. My first encounter with Adsense Bowling was on this SEO Chat thread in October of 2005. I do believe it is a problem worth exploring, though, especially due to Google’s apparent one-sidedness on the issue.

What is Adsense Bowling
The Google Adsense program has a fairly strict Terms of Service which requires publishers to follow a set of guidelines when publishing ads and promoting sites with those ads. You cannot encourage your visitors to click on ads. You cannot commit click-fraud. You cannot place ads on error pages. You cannot place ads on pages whose sole purpose is to serve those ads. You cannot put ads in pop-ups. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately, this TOS assumes that the publisher has control over how his/her ads are distributed and displayed. Adsense Bowling is the process of egregiously violating this Terms of Service with another individual’s Adsense Publisher-ID so as to cause the account to be banned.

Possible ways to Adsense Bowl:
1. Posting to forums asking people to “visit this site and click on the ads”.
2. Attempting to place ads inside spam emails.
3. Placing ads in pop-under windows.
4. Creating new sites on free hosting which ask visitors to click on the ads.
5. Creating large numbers of spam websites with only Adsense visable.
6. Using HTML-Injection vulnerabilities to place other’s Adsense on Guestbooks, Forums, Blogs, Wikis, etc…

Why Should Google Worry
Adsense has become a meaningful source of income for tens of thousands of individuals, businesses, and organizations. It is, by and large, the easiest way to monetize any traffic. However, for it to be a viable long-term solution for any website, it needs stability and security. I know many webmasters – white hat and black hat alike – who have sworn off Adsense simply because of the dangers of putting all their eggs in one basket (especially a basket with a glaring hole at the bottom).

What Google Should Do
The websites Google knows you have control over are the publisher’s custom channels and the original site with which they created the account. If a violation occurs on one of these sites, by all means, ban away. But, if the violation occurs elsewhere, Google should do the following.

1. Only ban sites with TOS violations ON THAT SITE, not based on postings on an unrelated forum or blog.
2. Always notify the publisher of potential violations before taking actions against publisher payments.
3. Only withhold payment when Click-Fraud is suspected.
4. Google should offer encrypted code tied to each site.
5. Display referer data in Adsense Reports. This would allow publishers to know if their publisher-ID is being used on sites other than their own.

What Can Publishers Do
Nothing. I know that is terrible, but you cannot monitor the usage of your Publisher-ID. Even if you saw a massive upswing in your Adsense revenue, the best you could do is contact Adsense to see if they can figure it out for you. The protections are few and far between for publishers. What you can do is contact Google Adsense here and request these features and guarantees. As a publisher, you are part of Google’s biggest revenue stream. If enough of us speak up, they will listen.

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