Google Adsense – is it worth the hassle in 2022?
Google Adsense gets a lot of publicity, but is it really worth the hassle? Really, what is it about Google Adsense that attracts so many publishers?
Google (or its parent, Alphabet) is the largest platform on the planet. For comparison, Facebook is fifth. So those looking to sell anything online are naturally going to think about advertising with Google. Google’s ad revenue, according to Statista.com, was more than $116 billion in 2018. Their market reach is staggering. 
How have they done this?
Google runs the most successful affiliate program in the world. That’s Google Adsense. Through their network of thousands, if not millions of affiliates worldwide, they sell just about anything for their Google Ads customers (formerly Google Adwords). Whenever anyone, anywhere in the world, clicks on an ad served by Google through the Adsense program, their Ads customer pays a fee that runs anywhere from a few cents to hundreds of dollars for the click.
Ads customers bid on the keywords they want. The person who pays the most for a keyword will be highest in the search results for that word. That’s great if it converts to profitable sales. It’s not so good for the advertiser if it doesn’t. But it’s always great for Google and for the Adsense affiliate – as long as he or she gets paid.
Therein, as the poet said, is the rub…
Will you get paid?
Google has an absolutely rigidly strict policy for their Adsense program. If their software detects what it thinks are bad clicks, it cancels the Adsense account, stops payment on any payments made to the affiliate, zeroes all revenue owed, and returns any money charged their advertiser for those clicks.
They provide a form you can fill out to attempt to be reinstated, but it is almost certain to be rejected.
Disclaimer: Certain links on this site are affiliate links for which the owner is remunerated for sales and/or leads.
But what if you did nothing wrong?
But if you did nothing wrong, it won’t matter. For one thing, they will never, ever tell you what they think you did wrong. That is another of their ironclad policies. They will politely tell you that, while they tell you they will not reinstate anyone who has “abused their system.”
There is no recourse. If you were expecting a really nice check for all your hard work, kiss it good-bye. You will never see it. It doesn’t matter how much hard work you put in to earn it. It is gone. Forever. No exceptions.
What do they ban for?
Google cancels any Google Adsense account whenever it detects any “bad clicks” on any ads served to that account.
These included:
- Clicks generated by you clicking on an ad on your site (duh, right?)
- Clicks generated by bot traffic (double duh!)
- Clicks from traffic you bought in good faith, if they see a lot of clicks and no conversions (sales)
- Clicks from malicious bots randomly clicking around your site (likely looking for a weakness so they can hack you)
It doesn’t sound fair, but it’s still a fact: if someone visits your site and starts clicking a lot of Google Adsense ads without buying anything, you will get banned. That is Google policy. Is it worth that kind of hassle? 
Worse, now that hacker software is so cheap and easy to use, hackers from all over are setting up bots to scour the Internet looking for vulnerable sites. They perform all manner of tests on sites they hit, including clicking on ads. This is seen by Googles AI watchdogs as you manipulating clicks. Your Google Adsense will definitely be closed when this happens. It doesn’t matter that it’s not your fault. You’re guilty, convicted and banned, forfeiting all earnings and with no recourse.
This writer is just one victim of this kind of treatment. Year after year, I try to get my Google Adsense account reinstated. I fill out their form. I get a polite refusal. They have yet to tell me what the ban was actually for.
But I want to be a Google Adsense affiliate!
If you want to be a Google Adsense affiliate, more power to you. I wish you the best. There are some things you need to do.
Budget in an expensive monthly subscription for the best security software you can get. But don’t stop there. Go at least as far as having double redundancy. That means at least two expensive subscriptions for two different security programs.
You absolutely must have a high enough level of security to immediately recognize and block all bot traffic. One hacker can destroy your business anonymously, without even hacking into your site.
What can I do?
Choose other affiliate programs. There are many. Check out some of the ones on this site. One or more might fit your preferred niche perfectly. But there are many others. Places like Clickbank and The Warrior Forum offer many digital products that might work well for you. Do your research.
A favorite of mine is Skimlinks, for effortless adding of paying links to blog posts. There are many WordPress plugins to help with a wide variety of affiliate programs, if you blog using WordPress, too.
Have you had any personal experience with Google Adsense? Has it been positive or negative? Tell us about it! Your comments and questions are welcome, below!
