What to do when Adsense Account is Suspended

Frequently, there are people posting messages at the Google AdSense Help group saying their account had been suspended. The usual reason is invalid clicks (what clicks are invalid it totally up to AdSense to judge but this is how AdSense Help define invalid clicks: "Invalid clicks are clicks generated through prohibited methods. These prohibited methods include but are not limited to: repeated manual clicks, or the use of robots, automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software." For invalid clicks, account holders are often given no warning before their account is suspended.

Accounts can be suspended because of other reasons, such as invalid impressions by participating in autosurf programs (traffic exchange programs like BlogExplosion are in a gray area, and AdSense is rather vague about it, but I have stopped using BlogExplosion for sites that contain AdSense products), for violating the Program Policy, etc., but before suspension, account holders often get warning emails and have a chance at rectifying the problem.

If your account has been suspended, you can apply for reinstatement. It is very hard but not impossible as some people have applied for reinstatement and got their account plus earnings back. However, if you are planning to apply for reinstatement, do some homework first, prepare your appeal letter carefully and give as much information as you can to support your appeal. Your first appeal may be your best chance at getting reinstated. Subsequent appeals will be much harder.

The best thing to do is to do some research and read about the experience and get tips from people who got suspended from the AdSense program, appealed and got reinstated. Below are some links to site that you should read before you apply for reinstatement.

Here is one person who got suspended, but got his account back: "How to Bring Google AdSense Down" Or "You are Guilty but We will not Tell You Why" and "How to Resurrect Your Google AdSense Account". It is a first hand account of someone who had his account suspended, and how he had to appeal twice to get it back.

You too can get banned from AdSense with no money down (Enquire Within) This is an account of someone who got banned, and not only got back into the program plus got back his earnings.

What to Do if Google Wrongly Bans You from AdSense, By Paul Middleton This is a personal account of how Paul Middleton got banned and how he got his account back.

Geek Talk This is Geek Talk, a forum. There is a thread with a message from a poster Larwee where he detailed what why the situation is as it is and what a publisher should try to do to get his account back.

How to ensure your AdSense account will not be cancelled
It is a list of the top 10 list of what to do (and not to do!) to ensure your AdSense account remains in good standing.

15 Common Mistakes by Google AdSense Publishers that Violates Terms of Service A good list of thing an AdSense account holder should avoid or what to do in order to stay in good standing with Google AdSense.

AdSense Bowling An account of how an enemy can get you banned from AdSense. If you are an AdSense publisher, try not to make enemies. This is how a person who have differences with you can do to try to get you into trouble with AdSense. He can go to your site, click View > Page Source in the menu bar and open up the source code file of your site. Included in the source code will be the AdSense script from which he can get your AdSense ID. With that ID, he can set up sites that violates AdSense TOS, etc with AdSense products with your AdSense ID. Sometimes, it is not even necessary to go to that length. All he has to do is to go to one of your sites and click on the ads repetitively. Moral of the story: DON'T MAKE ENEMIES.

Contact Form for appealing for reinstatement of AdSense account

If your account was disabled for invalid clicks, here is the contact form for you to appeal for reinstatement: Appeal

Contact Form for reporting AdSense invalid clicks

This is for those whose account have not been suspended but have accidentally clicked on their own ads or have reasons to suspect that there are invalid clicks being generated. In such cases, it is always better for you to let AdSense know first rather than for them to find out about it later. Here is the contact form for reporting invalid clicks:
Reporting AdSense Invalid Clicks (close new window to get back to this page).