Everything About Invalid Traffic - AdSense for Content

If you are having an AdSense account, you might have already noticed the finalized earnings showing messages in the description stating “Invalid Traffic - AdSense for Content”. This would give an heart attack to the publisher when the amount being debited is seen in large amounts. It stings even the debited amount is very smaller.

What is this invalid traffic debiting?

Google deducts the amount that was accounted for the invalid traffic or clicks on the advertisements placed on your site. It will not happen in real time, though it will be calculated summarized by the end of the month.

Advertisers would not be charged for the invalid traffic or clicks that were counted on their ads. So, as the advertiser was not getting any valid exposure from your ad units, all the earnings thus made will be considered as invalid.

What if someone is click bombing?

Google have said it clearly in the past that the click bombing contributes only a small fraction to the invalid activity. Google algorithms are intelligent enough to sense click bombing kind of invalid activities well. However, it is always better to file a complaint about it as soon as it is found.

Although this topic often comes up on our forums and in the questions we’ve received, we’ve found that click bombing represents only a small fraction of invalid activity. – Ad Traffic Quality Team, Google

Is this dangerous?

It is however normal to get a little invalid traffic or clicks on the site due to some accidental reasons. Major sites like Marketing Land even had experienced 10% loss of their monthly revenue as invalid debit in the month of May 2015.

If you are seeing a major amount of deductions for the same reason for a few consecutive months, you should be worrying about it. As per one of the best answers in Google product forums, deductions more than 30% of the monthly revenues are to be watched out.

How to watch out for invalid traffic/clicks/activity?

The better way to keep a watch on your activity is by checking out analytics for visitor behaviors at least twice or thrice a week. This watching frequency helps to report the invalid activity as soon as you notice it.

Whenever you find some hike in your traffic inconsistently, it might not be the genuine traffic always. It might be generated by your competitors virtually(bot traffic). That’s a catch!

If you got some unusual AdSense revenue than normal, check for the unusual amount of clicks in reports. Generally, the average amount of clicks with higher RPM or CPCs could give you a hike in the earnings. If this is not the case, you might have got more than average clicks which implies danger.

It is always better to report invalid activity as soon as you sense it. Let’s see how to report invalid activity to Google.

How to report invalid clicks/traffic/activity?

Google allows the publisher to report the invalid activity. You can use this form to report suspicious traffic or clicks on your ad units. Using the form, you can report the unusual activity confirmed by yourself or any significant changes that you noticed are suspicious.

When you find any such invalid activity on your site, contact Google using this form and provide full needed information. It is always said by Google that the watch-out for invalid activity duty is solely the responsibility of the owner of the site or publisher.

Please keep in mind that it's your responsibility to prevent invalid activity from occurring in your account, and this form does not absolve you of that responsibility. – Google

That means, the invalid clicks contact form is not for requesting excuses for the invalid activity occurred on your site. It will not help you not to get penalized. Google will be storing the submitted information for records, they may not respond to your every submission unless there found any significant issue with your account.

What’s your thought on this? Share with us in comments below.