The last thing any website owner or publisher wants to wake up to is a Adsense warning email or almost any email from Adsense as it can really get you on edge. I have always tried to read and keep up to date with the latest policy set in place by Adsense but recently I saw an email titled: Action required to comply with AdSense program policies. This was the first time receiving such an email in 2 plus years I have been with adsense.
I was surprise even more considering it was regarding a policy violation that I had breached. Now note I had no idea, plus I heard that Adsense usually ban users and have their Google Adsense account disabled so imagine my surprise I even got a E-Mail. The Email reads as follows and I have highlighted the important parts in red:
Hello,This is a warning message to alert you that there is action required to bring your AdSense account into compliance with our AdSense program policies. We’ve provided additional details below, along with the actions to be taken on your part.
Affected website: ?????
Example page where violation occurred: ???
Action required: Please make changes immediately to your site to follow AdSense program policies.
Current account status: Active
Violation explanation
Publishers may not implement Google ads in a manner that disguises the ads in any way. In order to maintain a good user experience, it is important for publishers to clearly distinguish Google ads from site content. This includes, but is not limited to: site layouts in which the ads push content below the fold on mobile devices; placing 300×250 or larger ad units above the fold on a mobile optimized site.
In order to remain fully compliant please ensure that your site and ad layout remain compliant across all devices. More information about this policy can be found in our help center and on this short video.
How to resolve:If you received a notification in regard to page content, we request that you immediately remove Google ads from the violating pages. If you are unable to, or unsure of how to remove the ads from these pages, or would like to continue monetizing the page with Google ads, please modify or remove the violating content to meet our AdSense policies.
If you received a notification in regards to the way ads are implemented on your site, please make the necessary changes to your implementation.
You do not need to contact us if you make changes. Please be aware that if additional violations are accrued, ad serving may be disabled to the website listed above. You should immediately take time to review your pages with Google ads to ensure that they comply with our policies.Additionally, please be aware that the URL above is just an example and that the same violations may exist on other pages of this website or other sites that you own. To reduce the likelihood of future warnings from us, we suggest that you review all your sites for compliance. Here are some useful resources you might be interested in.
At first I had no clue due to the terror what the problem was but after reading it a few times I saw the part I highlighted in red. Now again I am surprise as I did not think Google would place exact details as to the problem I though I would have to shoot in the dark but it was spelt out for me. So I want to first thank Google for the warning and second for the detailed account of what I was unknowingly doing wrong, really thank you guys weather or not you ever see this.
So this article is to mainly guide anyone who may have gotten a similar email and have no clue what to do.So first of all as mentioned the problem was on mobile mainly so I viewed the website on my phone to my surprise seeing I normally work mainly from my desktop I saw the problem as seen here:
The above screen shot was taken using an online app and the problem was worse than seen above the Ad unit was pushing the content down page and there was only a single line of words down the page beside the ad. So the ad was pushing my content below the fold and in Adsense content must come first, also the ad was larger than 300×250.
How to Fix this Adsense TOS Violation on Ad placement?
I was using a plugin for easy management of the ads so clearly all my pages were in violation so I went in and instead of right aligning the Ad and placing it at the top of the page with the content wrapping around it which was fine on desktop but messed up on mobile. I moved it to after the first paragraph and still kept it right aligned.
I then checked how the website would look across devices in mobile and various devices online using Google Pagespeed insight that shows a mobile preview and this website that shows your device across several sized gadgets, please note that these websites only give you an idea and is not 100% accurate on the look so do view on mobile eventually. Finally when I was finished and satisfied I tested it again on my smartphone and a friend’s phone and it looked more like this now:
As you can see now the content has priority and the Ad no longer is visible on mobile above the fold, you would have to scroll down to see it and of course its almost in the same place on desktop just slightly down the page but above the fold.
The lesson here is to make sure when you are checking for policy violation that you do not leave any devices out and view your website on all possible gadgets your users may use. After fixing the problem you will need to go to Adsense dashboard and click on the button on the red banner at the top of your screen that’s warning you, you can’t miss it, next click action. Now under policy violations first tab you will see account level violations that’s blank or no violations you will need to go to : site level violation and you will see the violation. Click on it or the most current one and you will see the offense, now simply choose the option that says resolved and indicate what you have done to fix the problem and submit, now simply wait for google to check up on what you have done in about 3 days or less.
I do not know if this fixed it for me just wanted to warn others to be careful, I will have to wait about 3 days to see if my actions were enough, I will also update you guys on what happened in a while. Also what do you guys think and are you in violation of this without know as I was. Please share your thoughts and as always please leave a comment below and share this article with a friend.
I got the same warning. want to know is this works for you or not?
please let me know so thati can also take action. also tell me how can i remove the ads above the fold if i add them manually throught code?
PS there are 1000 pages 🙂
So far its been days since I made the changes and so far so good but I do not want to speculate until more time has passed as you never know with these things and they tend to monitor your pages for compliance allot after a policy strike according to my reading.
Seem you are saying you added your code manually which would normally mean on every page, in such as case you will need to start with the affected page they mentioned in the email and either remove that above the fold add or adjust it so that it appears below the fold on mobile while not violating any more policies.You will also need to address all other pages with the same issue especially if you have been placing the add in the same area. If you have been manually placing ads I suggest you start using a plugin that automates the process and makes adjustments easier.
Add code manually or edit for 1000 pages is not easy and I suggest that you use a plugin that you can customize such as quick adsense that will make editing any amount of pages with ads easier.
Violation explanation
Our program policies do not permit any alteration to AdSense code which artificially inflates ad performance or harms advertiser conversions. Your publisher account offers a number of options when generating the ad code, which we hope will allow you to create an ad layout that fits in with your site. It is also not allowed to place ads on mobile optimized sites so that they cover any part of the site content or implementing parts of a webpage to cover any portion of the ads. Please be aware that if you have a responsive website design that ads may shift into non compliant positions as the format of the screen changes.
In order to remain fully compliant please ensure that your site and ad layout remain compliant across all devices. For more information this policy can be found on ourhelp center and this short video.
Can you pls tell me what changes should I do ???
Remember I am no expert so this is just my interpretation of what is to be done. Did you modify the adsense code you got from the adsense control panel such as adding anything to the code to make it behave a certain way when implemented on your website? you might have done something innocently but it may have caused the adsense code to behave abnormally you need to think long and hard. I suggest you convert all ads back to the format as given by adsense when you copy it from the control panel and don’t change anything.
You can even use responsive AD units if you need flexibility.You need to get a phone or two and browse your website and look at how the ads display, I suggest changing your theme if its causing things to overlay on top of other things use a trusted and reliable theme and actually look how it displays make sure nothing is messed up on phones or on tablets and even desktop.
That’s what I get from reading the e-mail exert what happened to you may have been your themes fault if I were to guess, ultimately you know what modifications were made over time and can now interpret things better. Hope that helps.
I never modified ad code. I am using Ad Inserter & Ad Injection plugin. Do these plugins modify ad code ?? I also minified JS through W3 Total Cache plugin. Does it modify ad code ?
And now I am using responsive ad unit. But revenue dropped 50%. So I am thinking to use non-responsive theme. Don’t will i be good move or not…
As far as I know i don’t think so but do research them and see if others are having issues when they use them. I highly doubt they would seeing its a popular plugin. Minifying JS is recommended and it does not modify code you would have to add something to the given Adsense code that’s intended to mess with the natural way ADs work for malicious reason for that to qualify.
I don’t think anythings wrong with Responsive themes after all Google recommends that you be mobile friendly. I suggest you adjust your current setup and make sure that your content looks great on desktop and looks good on mobile without any overlapping elements.
Prioritize content and be careful of of layout on mobile. I recommend you watch this Video as it helped me a bunch: #AdSense101 – Monetizing for Multiscreen
Best of luck and let me know how things turn out.
Why you didn’t try putting up a responsive ad unit above the fold? That would have simply fixed this issue. Isn’t it?
That’s true it would have definitely fixed the issue by showing appropriate ad size in the spot without violating the rules and I dont think it would have pushed the content down. I don’t think it would have done very well performance wise though, I am getting better results from what i did to fix the problem. The adjustment resulted in the Ad showing above the fold on desktop and just below it on mobile.Conversions are up, Only wished I had seen the problem earlier and known it was a violation, I had no clue.
what mobile plugin you are using? or is just a mobile theme?
I am using just a Mobile theme no plugin RoRo.