Wherein Google Adsense screws us royally.

My Good Lady Wife, who does all the grunt work to run the BBTI website, just heard from Google Adsense that they have denied our appeal.

What appeal? Well, last month was the first full month for us to be running the Google Ads in order to help offset the time and cost of having BBTI free for everyone to use. Initially, it looked like it was going to be a reasonably good thing, generating an estimated $120 for the entire month. Then, after the month was over, Google Adsense said that actual earnings was just $24. When my wife asked why the discrepancy, Google Adsense came back with the answer that they had determined that we had somehow engaged in “invalid click activity” (i.e.: fraud) and that not only were they not going to answer the discrepancy, but that they were closing our Google Adsense account and refunding the $24 to the advertisers.

Oh, and they refused to say what “invalid click activity” they had detected.

My wife appealed the decision, of course, since we have a very solid track record of how many people visit the site, and all the estimates were in accord with what we’ve seen over the years. All she got back from Google Adsense was that they were rejecting the appeal and that it sucks to be us.

I can’t begin to express how annoying this is. As I’ve noted here over the last three years, we run thousands upon thousands upon thousands of visitors a month, and the site has become a standard reference for firearms enthusiasts around the world. I don’t know if Google Adsense is just anti-gun, or what, but it really feels like they have screwed us over.

And the accusation that we have engaged in something tantamount to fraud is just insulting.

We’ve pulled the ads from the site, of course. What we’ll do next remains to be seen.

But let this be a cautionary tale about working with Google Adsense.

Jim Downey