Have you checked your server stats to see what IP's visitors are using when hitting your server?

I have the raw access log but how can I check who's clicking on the ads?

Do you notice certain IPs hitting multiple pages at a fast rate? Identify the suspicious ones then check where they're coming from, if they have referrers. Block liberally.

You may want to consider removing your adsense ads while hunting down the source of this traffic and identifying if it's rogue or legit. Could be nothing. Could be something. If you have more questions about tracking and blocking bots you might want to check out the spider forum.

Best,

mb

I'll try to look into the logs of visitors with suspicious access but it might take me time because I have around 8,000 uniques everyday. :(

So this means I'm really being clickbombed and as a result, Adsense is smart-pricing my ads?

Is it really good to temporarily disable Adsense ads while I'm looking into this?

Is it really good to temporarily disable Adsense ads while I'm looking into this?

I was going to suggest that exactly to avoid problems or being kicked out of the Adsense program while you analyze your logs.

Maybe just remove your publisher Id from the ads until the bomber gets tired of it, or remove your site from the "allowed list". If you just remove the ad, he may wait around until they're back.

Interesting numbers, very interesting.

1) Google apparently ignores the legit clicks, i.e. clicks that showed up prior to things "running wild". There is a good chance that these clicks are still part of the total clicks, but their value has been dragged down with the illegit clicks. This is notable because up to now I was under the impression that the value of a click was done on a per-click basis, not on an per-account basis.

2) There is no direct relationship between click-traffic and revenue. On 28/02, just EPC was decreased to hit the $22 revenue average. The 3,000 clicks were valued in such a way that the publisher still received the normal/expected revenue. THEN, ON THE NEXT DAY, on 01/03, the reduced EPC was applied to the clicks that appeared. Due to the reduced volume, total revenue was in the bin for three consecutive days. Then two normal days again, and back to the bin as the click traffic increases.

If anything, it's a good example of how the Adsense algo may work under extreme conditions. I know this does not help you with the revnue problem you are experiencing, but it seems to prove that Google has some kind of treshold/glass ceiling, at least for some publishers (a thing that has been debated here big time in the past).

Very interesting.

Google has some kind of treshold/glass ceiling, at least for some publishers

not.

It's called supply and demand.

If you can supply an unlimited amount of quality traffic you'll earn an unlimited amount of money, based on the traffic.

If the traffic is junk, your payments will be junk.

So you see, AdSense is only as good as your site/SEO so if there is a ceiling, then it's the site owners fault.

This is really shocking, motoroller, sorry to hear that.
I don't know how I would react, about 40% of my total income is from AdSense.

I would also suggest to remove your ads as soon as possible to limit the damage that has been done. Do you have any "enemies" or so? People who want to hurt you?

This makes me again think if it is possible to kick someone out from AdSense with click attacks.

Very sad indeed :(

[edited by: HuhuFruFru at 11:13 am (utc) on Mar. 10, 2009]

Did you make any changes on Februaray 28th/March 1st?

So you see, AdSense is only as good as your site/SEO so if there is a ceiling, then it's the site owners fault.

I don't spam, I have quality content, so how can it be my fault if someone click-attacks me?

That's my problem with Google, I've reported this to them twice already but never got any support or response from them. If they show me logs of who clicks on my ads, probably I can do something about it. But since they have all the logs, then at the least, they should punish the click-attackers and not me.

HuhuFruFru, no I didn't make any change in recent months. I'm also not aware of any "enemies" although I'm known to be an online earner to most people so those envious of me might be the ones who would clickbomb me.

Update for March 9:

(Mar. 9) - 19,000 - 3,500 - $1.20

Very, very, very sad. I hope Google could help me bring back my income.

$20 - $30 a day from 100 clicks is well above average to begin with.

A 3000% increase in clicks with roughly the same number of page impressions is a red flag for sure.

I strongly suspect that your clicks are fraudulent (not by you) and what happens is that when the person/bot clicks the ads they are backpaging. This in turn brings down your "conversion" rating with adsense because google doesn't pay full price on clicks if the person backpages or leaves the page immediately.

Your conversion rating is being pummeled and so you are earning less from the valid clicks.

Get that site's adsense hooked up with you analytics if you haven't already and find out which page is getting the clicks... and where the visits to that page are coming from. It's such a big jump that it shouldn't be hard to find.

$20 - $30 a day from 100 clicks is well above average to begin with.

What is average for 100 clicks?

FarmBoy

$20 - $30 a day from 100 clicks is well above average to begin with.

I hope not since potentially I have a long way to fall if that were to be true!

I hope not since potentially I have a long way to fall if that were to be true!

Actually it is above average I would say. No offense HuskyPup, but from some of the posts I've read from you, I think you're used to royal treatment and you're taking it for granted. Maybe you have a great niche, but in this economical climate, better be very competitive as there are lot of hungry publishers with the eye of the tiger ;)

Hi, very interesting, I guess we all are seeing a decrease in performance according to other threads we can read about it.

Anyway motoroller, this of course is open to debate but I have personally seen both in my hands and others, similar traffic with less income being the rule (additionally, you don't mention unique visitors, only impressions).

I also happen to find 110 clicks = $27.00 too high per day, not quite the daily usual.

I'm familiar with 100 clicks = US$8 per day. I've seen better, I've seen worse, but not that high.

Actually it is above average I would say.

I'm with HuskyPup, those numbers are below average from my perspective.

FarmBoy

motoroller; Do you still have AdSense running on your site? I'm with the folks that think pulling the ads at least until you hear back from Google is a good idea.

$0.20 - $0.30 clicks seems reasonable to me, not high, not low.

I've removed all Adsense ads from my site around 12 hours ago, but I'm still seeing ad clicks on my Adsense account -- is this normal? Probably due to delay in reporting?

My earnings though for the day is $0.01, the very first I'm earning this in years.

How'd I know if it's time to put the ads back? After almost two weeks and two reports to Adsense, should I expect them to contact me to say everything's alright and I can now have the ads back?

I think you need to resolve for yourself where the clicks were coming from (referrers) and what IPs they were coming in on. Google might tell you the traffic looked normal or they could tell you your account poses a hazard to their advertisers. If so, you should be prepared to tell them what you discovered, if anything, and what steps you took to prevent it, if steps were necessary.

You may want to consider reviewing some log analysis software to help you identify trends.

If I earned $30 per 100 clicks, I'd be a very rich man.

I'm so in the wrong niche :)

I've removed all Adsense ads from my site around 12 hours ago, but I'm still seeing ad clicks on my Adsense account

Configure the "allowed sites" on your account to avoid any other site to show your ads.

I'd start with webalizer if you have it installed on your server. Check each of the top ip referrers and traceroute them. If they are coming from the neighbors then you probably know who is doing it.:)

I'd start with webalizer if you have it installed on your server. Check each of the top ip referrers and traceroute them.

Thanks for the suggestion, thegreatpretender. This is what I'm doing right now. Hopefully the logs will really be of help.

Configure the "allowed sites" on your account to avoid any other site to show your ads.

explorador, that's what I did but Adsense won't allow that there's not even one allowed URL there so I added the IP 72.14.235.132 which is Google's IP.

Now, 10 hours after I did that, I noticed in my account that there are still clicks being recorded. In fact, right now a total of 400 clicks have been made for the day -- although the actual earnings is $0.

Is this OK? I thought I've only allowed Google's IP to show the ads, why are there still so many clicks being recorded?

Help, anyone.

Take the AdSense ads COMPLETELY off until you find out what is going on.

If you must have at least one site in the allowed sites filter, pick some site that you'll never have ads on.

If it *still* continues, then you either have to get ahold of someone at AdSense, or probably give up on it for a while.

netmeg, I'm just following what koan suggested before.

Maybe just remove your publisher Id from the ads until the bomber gets tired of it, or remove your site from the "allowed list". If you just remove the ad, he may wait around until they're back.

It makes sense because if the clickbomber sees I've taken the ads off, he might just return to attack me once I brought the ads back.

Which is it... are you removing the ad code completely

or

just removing your publisher id # from the ad code?

Is this OK? I thought I've only allowed Google's IP to show the ads, why are there still so many clicks being recorded?

Review the following:
1. Remove all the adsense code from all of your pages on your site. If you have a CMS it would be easier. If you have static pages, do a double check.
2. Put your URL as the only allowed site.

As your www.yoursite.xx is the only site allowed and has NO adsense code, there will be NO way to show ads.

As for the google IP... Consider the translate function. I mean, I get many visits on my site via "translate", so, google shows my pages but having only my sites allowed, this translations wont show any ads. In your case, you might have an adsense code and google would still show your ads via translate or perhaps cached pages (not so sure about this last one).

Mmm... if you create a new account the attacker will still do you harm. The following sounds ridiculous already but putting myself in your shoes I know I would do it:

I would make sure not to show any adsense ads. I would create dummy adsense ads with flash or html pointing to a php or perl script (of course, a long url disguised). The script would do nothing... but it would log the IP, referrer, operative system, browser, TIME (with seconds) etc of the one who clicked the ad. Then redirect to the same page or to several urls choosed previously matching the dummy ads.

This way I would have a log specifically of the people clicking your ads for later study while you work on something else. I'm pretty sure anybody would click at least a few times on the ad before finding out it was a trap. Or will find out 4 clicks away.

AN IP repeated at least 3 times within 20 seconds would be a unnatural behavior. Anybody (natural) who clicks on an adsense ad is unlikely to generate another click on an ad on the same site within 3 or 10 seconds I guess.

ken_b, I just retained the ads on the site but removed all sites in my Adsense account's "Allowed Sites" list except for one IP address owned by Google. (That's because "Allowed Sites" requires at least one site or IP.)

explorador, that sounds like a good plan. I might try doing that to isolate who's really clicking on the ads.

I checked my Adsense account and yes, the clicks are indeed being recorded, although as I said, they're not earning me anything. BUt because of the channels, I set up, I've identified that all clicks are really coming from a particular ad unit on my site. Now I just have to figure out who's really clicking on it.