AdSense Account Disabled and Reinstated- My Experience with Google Adsense

Back in mid February 2011, I published a hub about my experience with Google AdSense explaining how my Adsense account had been disabled for invalid click activity which they specified was a violation of their terms of service or TOS. Due to all the comments I received, I wanted to clear up exactly what happened with that. The main reason being that I want to help others to understand that if the same thing happens to them, there is hope and your account truly can be reinstated if you have in fact, done nothing wrong. You can see my original hub here. Since some of you may not have read my original hub, I will go ahead and explain what happened.

I signed up for Google AdSense shortly after I joined HubPages. I was very realistic about my expectations with Adsense. I knew it would not be a "get rich quick" deal.. but I was hopeful it could, at some point, be a source of income. I noticed I would make 20 cents one day and then 30 cents a few days later and after some time my earnings were steady and adding up, though very slowly. After a little more time they started rising even more. It had gotten to the point where I was earning 1.00 here and 1.24 there and it kept adding up. I knew if I kept going it would be no time before I hit my 100.00 pay out. It really made me want to work harder. I focused a lot on existing hubs, making sure they were formatted right. I would make sure and write a couple new hubs every week or so. The increase in my earnings motivated me so I really tried to step up and take more time and put more effort into it. As I said before, I knew I wasn't going to get rich quick or anything like that but I did feel like it was potentially a great source of passive income if I would just be patient and keep putting the work into it.. and so that is what I did.

In mid February , Valentines Day to be exact, I received an email that my account had been disabled due to posing a risk of generating invalid click activity and stated this was a violation of the Adsense Terms of Service or TOS. Well, I was astounded! I had tried EVERY way possible NOT to violate any of the terms of service. I had even told friends and family who I invited to read my hubs NEVER to click on any of the google ads. I was THAT paranoid and careful about it. Needless to say, I felt completely wronged because I knew I was innocent and had done nothing to warrant my account being disabled. What made it worse is that I had no idea what I had done and we are dealing with Google so it's not like they are going to contact me personally to tell me what the problem was. What was even worse was learning that I could never apply for an Adsense account again, that it is a one time thing and if you blow it, you are out forever. Let me just say, I was devastated and felt like my hard work, time and effort put was for nothing. I felt cheated.

I did try and appeal their decision but it was not accepted and I had already read you only have one chance to appeal and 90% if the time you will not get your account back. So I had to throw up my hands. It was a pretty depressing time, let me tell ya. I know people probably think I was being oversensitive, but you have to understand how much time and effort I was putting into my writing. I was very cautious about adhering to the rules and I was extremely serious about my work. I knew what had happened was NOT right and I was powerless over getting my account back but I wasn't powerless over letting other people know what happened. I knew that this surely has happened to other innocent people if it had happened to me. So I wrote a hub (link is in the first paragraph) and I was then able to let it go.

So, I'm checking an email on 3/2/2011 and I get this email saying they have reversed their decision and have reinstated my Adsense account. Talk about being in shock and feeling drug from one end to the other.. I was very happy because I KNEW I had done nothing to deserve it in the first place. It's a weird thing though, as I had read several places that Google will hardly ever reinstate an account that has been disabled. Apparently, it is rare. Honestly, I have no idea how rare it is but I do know of one other girl with an account here on HubPages that had the same thing happen to her right around the same time it happened to me. So, maybe nowadays it isn't quite as rare as people think.

I really want to let others know that just because your AdSense account was disabled does NOT mean that you will not get it back. I sincerely believe that if you did nothing wrong, there is a chance you will get your account back. If it happened to me and another girl on HubPages, I know it can happen to you. So if this has happened to you please don't give up. It just might be that you will receive an email stating you have your account back. I know how it feels thinking you've lost your account forever (and knowing you have done nothing wrong) and no one should have to go through that. I think if this is a common occurrence for AdSense to disable accounts it should be better explained when you sign up for the account because people take it seriously and put a lot of hard work into it.

If your AdSense account was disabled due to posing a risk of invalid click activity and you KNOW you've done nothing wrong, my advise is to first appeal their decision and then let it go... but DO keep an eye on your email in the next few weeks.. I really do believe you have a chance at getting your account back if you are truly innocent and did nothing wrong. If it happened to me, it can surely happen to you.

For those of you who want to take preventive measures, please study up on what invalid click activity is in order to protect your account. Here is a really good and informative blog post about Invalid Click Activity. Don't let what happened to me, happen to you.

I wish you all the best of luck in your writing and with AdSense!