A look inside Google AdSense and blogging as a whole.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

How Google detects Invalid Clicks

Still thinking to cheat AdSense? Stop that. It will never bring you anywhere. You might pull it off with smaller ads network, but definitely not with Google. Here are some detection methods they might use. At the very least, they have the resources to do so.

IP Address
If the AdSense click is originated from the same IP Address as the one used for accessing your AdSense account, your account is flagged.

Cookies
Most home users do not use static IP Address for Internet connection. In most cases just disconnect and reconnect will give you a new IP Address. But don’t forget, Google has set cookies on your computer.

Other Google Services
Thinking that you are safe just because you do not access your AdSense account? Think again. This time, consider these: GMail, Google Earth, Google Calendar, Google Search, Google Toolbar, Google Talk, Google Sitemap, Google Desktop, Blogger, and so on, and so on. With the wide range of services they provide, Google can trace the originator of most (or probably almost all) clicks.
Click Pattern 1
Oh, why this computer / IP address / person is so trigger-click-happy on this particular website but never click on the ads on other sites?
Click Pattern 2
And why is it that people accessing these sites direct (type-in URL or from bookmark) tend to be very active ad-clickers compared with those referred from search engine or other sites?
Click Pattern 3
And why the ad-clickers like to hit and run, compared with non ad-clickers that surf a few pages before leaving?
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
Your CTR may range from 0.5% to 10%, but if it exceeds a certain point (probably around 10%), you are flagged.
Geo-Location
Used Urchin (Google Analytics) before? Then you should know that Google can trace traffics origin down to the small town. Different IP doesn’t mean much. Unless you site is really targetted to one small geo-point, a high number of clicks from nearby location will get you banned quickly.

Search Engine Ranking
Your website is not indexed on any search engine, not linked by any prominent website, but get consistently high traffic? That sounds like something is in play. Regardless of whether it is an adware-embedded software, spam, trojan clickbot, or intentionally installed click-exchange network, it doesn’t sound right.

Webpage design
How about the “click here” or “support us”? Google has the best search engine in the world. Is it really that hard to find those words?
Combo
Each of these detection methods might seem rather weak. But combine them together, and not many click-fraud can pass-through these filters. Even the smartest clickbot will have a hard time.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

How to Cheat Google Adsense...

I found one article that is quite interesting and the topic is "how to cheat Google Adsense". But at the very beginning, I need to say that this is no way you can cheat Google to earn more money from this program. This article only gives a little joke on how to get banned by google indeed. Just read it without following the rules.
You come to this article probably thinking to find some ways to cheat Google, or to confirm whether some method you have on mind will work. Well, if you want to know how to cheat AdSense, here are the ways, focusing on the AdSense click-frauds. These covers from basic AdSense cheating techniques to the advanced class.

1. Basic clicker cheat
This is a noob. This guy knows almost nothing about web technology or network architecture. He clicks on his ads every time he has chance. It can be a few clicks to hundreds of clicks daily. Most likely he doesn’t even read the AdSense Program Policies and Terms and Conditions.

2. Proxy clicker cheat
She knows a thing or two about cookies and IP address. Or she doesn’t know, but somehow guessed that if she use the things called anonymizer, Google will not be able to trace her, because her identity is hidden. She may use anonymizer / proxy websites or specialized anonymous software like tor (The Onion Router).

3. Multiple computer clicker cheat
He knows that somehow Google will detect if the clicks are originated from his own computer. So he will try to even out origin of the clicks. He will recruit his friends, family members, relatives, neighbors, his cats, and his dogs on single mission: to click on the ads. He will also click on the AdSense ads when he is using the library computers, or his office workstation.

4. Software clicker cheat
Graduate to the next step is buyers of clickbots / click-bots. These are specialized robot software to click on AdSense ads. It will browse around your websites, clicking on the ads every few minutes. The more advanced ones will cloak the IP address too, so the website seems to be very popular worldwide. To cover the track, this clickbots will browse around the advertisers sites too while continuing its “click quest”.

5. Paid-clickers cheat
If you don’t like automated things, there is always other option for you. Just pay $50 dollars a month to the professional AdSense clickers. These are groups of highly specialized Internet surfers with office in the dark rooms in street corners of India, Pakistan, and China, helping AdSense account owner to earn good amounts of money ? before the AdSense account is disabled, that is. They will browse around your websites, clicking on the ads every few minutes. Because they use human eyes, they know which ads worth more. And to be more convincing they can click a link or two, or sign up free offers / newsletters on the advertiser sites.

6. Click-rings cheat
Network is power. So says many business gurus. Instead of taking things to their own hand, this people realize that they can join hands with those with similar goals and distribute AdSense clicks among themselves, the so called AdSense click-rings. Joining this click-ring network means that your website address will be made known to members, who will regularly browse the website and click on your AdSense ads. In exchange, you will also browse other members’ sites and click on their AdSense ads. The medium used varies. Some click-ring groups use mail-list for communications. Some are using bulletin boards/forum, Yahoo groups, or Usenet. IRC is another popular way. Slightly more complicated is specialized AdSense exchange software for collecting members website address and displaying others’ websites for clicking.

7. Other medium cheat
I have tens of thousands email address on my newsletter subscriber list. If I include AdSense ads on my newsletters, with 5% CTR, I can get a thousand clicks per one email. Not bad. Or I can pay someone to write some useful/nice/funny/cute toolbars or firefox extensions or screensavers that people can download and use for free, and display my AdSense ads there.

8. Visitor cheat
Simply putting “Visit out sponsors” or “Check out the ads above” on your website is cheating. This might not be very clear-cut cheat to some. But Google AdSense program policies has stated clearly, the only text allowed are “Advertisements” or “Sponsored List”

9. Spam cheat
This is the highest level all click-frauds, the Maestro of Fraudsters. She spams millions of emails regularly, offering to “satisfy your inner needs if you can help me check on the links on my website”. Of course, email is not the only way. What IRC and instant messaging (IM) are for, after all. She will look for unsuspecting victims, offering something too-good-to-be-true “if only they will visit the website and click on the links”.

10. Click-through-rate cheat
Whichever method(s) above used, there is one limiting condition: the CTR(click-though-rate). Any CTR that exceeds certain percentage (probably around 10%) will raise red flag in Google AdSense back room. To lower the CTR, the professional cheaters will create some pages on the same domain that attracts very high traffic. Some interesting freebies will sure do the tricks. AdSense code is pasted there, thus creating a very high page impressions. Whether or not the the ads are clicked does not matter anyway, because they are targeting low paying keyword that does not have much competition. The fake clicks are, of course, on where the big money is, the low traffic pages stuffed with high-paying keywords.


Disclaimer: I don’t say and don’t think that these methods will work. If you even need to read this article, there’s 99.999% chance you will get caught before you can even get your first paycheck. Your AdSense account will be disabled, and you get banned from ever applying for AdSense account again.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Google Adsense Preview Tool

The AdSense preview feature is an added item in the tools option of Windows Internet Explorer v.6. It allows an AdSense publisher to have a look on the Adsense advertisements on his/her site. Non-AdSense users also have the opportunity to take a look at a sample of the advertisements being displayed in AdSense sites. This tool is paricularly useful when you need to enter the URL of the website into the competitive ad filter.

The AdSense preview provides other functions for Adsense users. For example, they can take a look at the source of the site where a certain ad is displayed. When they click on the advertisement in preview, it will not be counted as a "hit," since the ads are still on beta state. Thus, subscribers need not worry that the client may be charged for the "ad preview."

Another feature of the AdSense preview is that users can design and create the color and style of the preview screen. They can likewise customize its format to enable them to view more ads. Finally, the preview device has a geographically-based ad locator. This gives users the option to click on an advertisement displayed for another country or niche.

If you are currently using Internet Explorer, installing the AdSense preview device will be quite easy. Simply connect on the internet and link up the AdSense preview tool. Click on it then save the file on your computer. Once you see a pop-up window, click on "Yes." The program will install itself on your computer in a matter of minutes. After the installation, close and then re-open Internet Explorer. Once you are re-connected online, go to any website and click on the mouse. You can get to use the AdSense preview immediately thereafter.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Traffic Building Strategy - 3

TrackBack may not be a popular thing to most bloggers. Many do not even know about it and among those who are knowledgeable about TrackBack, never used it on their blogs. But, I will tell you that if you only know how to effectively use TrackBack, it will certainly bring you good blog traffic. So you have an idea by now on what exactly this post is all about. Let’s get started.It is best to start with what exactly a TrackBack is, how to do it, and making a test before we proceed to discuss on how to use it effectively to increase blog traffic.What is TrackBack?TrackBack is a system implemented by Movable Type and later adopted by many blogging tools, including TypePad, BoastMachine, WordPress, and Nucleus.


Essentially, TrackBack is a mechanism for communication between blogs. If a blogger writes a new post commenting on or referring to the post found on another blog and if both the commenting blogger’s blog and the other blog has TrackBack mechanism support, then the commenting blogger can notify the other blog with a "TrackBack ping" which means the other blog will automatically display a backlink and summaries of the commenting blogger’s new post at the post which had been cited to.

How Do We Notify The Other Blog with a TrackBack Ping?First, understand that not all blog has enable TrackBack functionality. When they do, you should see a TrackBack link at the bottom of the post. Once you find the link and you wish to talk about the post made by another blogger, click the TrackBack link of that post and copy the TrackBack URL.

Once you have that TrackBack URL, go to your own blog and create a new entry related to that post. Before posting your entry, paste the TrackBack URL in the space provided for TrackBacks. This will send the notification to the blog you referenced once you publish your entry. So, there, you’ve sent a TrackBack.Just make sure when you're sending TrackBack URLs that your blog entry is relevant to the one you are referring to. Otherwise, you will be perceived as a TrackBack spammer.

Send a Test Trackback! As a way to try this out, you can send a TrackBack ping to this post. Just click the TrackBack link located at the end of this post. There, you'll find the TrackBack URL for this entry, in this case (http://haloscan.com/tb/ru8en/8505413345883737052). Go to your blog, make a new entry talking about this post, paste the TrackBack URL and publish. If your ping worked, you should find your TrackBack reference the next time you click the TrackBack link of this post. If there are people who already sent TrackBack ping to the blog entry, you will find references to these TrackBacks as well.

How to use TrackBack Effectively Increase Blog Traffic?Remember, sending TrackBack ping to other blog will automatically create a backlink and summaries of the commenting blogger’s new post at the post which had been cited to. Unlike usual backlinks, backlinks made by TrackBack ping may not increase your search engine ranking but will still served as a doorway to your blog.To increase blog traffic using TrackBack, send TrackBack ping to high traffic blogs and popular blog post. This will cause a portion of their traffic flowing to your blog. Also send TrackBack ping to blogs whose theme are closely related to your blog as their loyal blog traffic will certainly be interested in your post.Again, just make sure when you're sending TrackBack ping that your blog entry is relevant to the one you are referring to.

Also, if you want to let people send TrackBack pings to your weblog, make sure that you have it enabled. Some blogging systems like Blogger need extra plugins or third party services to have TrackBack feature. To have this blog a Trackback feature I used a free third party services by HaloScan. I will talk more on HaloScan next time. Stay tuned!

-----All content provided hereby is a property of Quomodocunquizer's Blog.-----