A lot of times their numbers don't quite add up. For example if I look at my earnings for last month, I see one number, but if I look at my balance, I see a slightly lower number due to the $5 or so they took out at the end of the month for invalid activity. They never really update that first number, so there's the amount I earn, and there's the amount I'm paid, and they're not the same.

I have noticed the same thing with channels as well; I get a sense that they don't add up (although to be honest I never really went into it too deep, because a lot of my channels overlap)

I guess it doesn't really matter. I just have to accept what they say. I like it better, though, when numbers line up.

Overlapping?

Well yea because I test all the things. I test color schemes, placements, text vs image, which state the site or section is targeted to... Most of my ad units have at least three custom channels on 'em.

Right. I don't add up the custom channels either because of overlap. Sometimes I want to know how an entire section is doing, some channels are tests, some are sitewide, etc.

I figured it out. Everything on my site is 100% original, written by me and a writer I have. I hired a second writer late last month, and it turns out her articles were not 100% orginal. Those are the pages that were showing up as having earnings in the custom channels but not showing up as earnings in the daily total. So Google knew that those pages were duplicates of text elsewhere on the net and didn't really credit me the revenue. I usually run everything through a copyright site. Didn't this time, and Google caught it.

Needless to say, that writer is no longer with me.

Weird, I never heard of that having a direct effect on AdSense before.

Are you certain about that? There is no reason for that to cause an invalid click. AdSense and AdWords are concerned with conversions. Valid and invalid clicks are part of that concern. The originality of the content has nothing to do with the conversion rate or the validity of the click.

Your conclusion is interesting, and if it's true, that would be an interesting development and insight into AdSense. Could there be another reason?

I still think that you've created an extra custom channel for that writer, which caused the overlap.

It's not a channel overlap. I think it is weird, too, but I've double checked it. The numbers add up to the penny. The revenue attributed to those specific pages shows up in the custom channels but not in the daily total. It's as if Adsense is saying, yes, we'll show you that those pages will make money but because the content is not original, we won't give you the money.

Are you certain about that? There is no reason for that to cause an invalid click. AdSense and AdWords are concerned with conversions. Valid and invalid clicks are part of that concern. The originality of the content has nothing to do with the conversion rate or the validity of the click.

Those pages are receiving the same traffic as the rest of the site. I have a very heathly RPM overall, and so do these pages, so it has to be the content. Especially since it is the only content on the site that is not original.

I would suspect invalid clicks have been deducted from the total but not from the channels.

Like Martinbuster I doubt that the reason for clicks being invalidated is the one that you give.