Google thinks I'm a Crook

Google used to be a good company but it is really just another advertisement company - driven by greed and generally being selfish egomaniacs. They have become evil, and here is why.

Two days ago I received an email from Google telling me that I was generating "invalid clicks" with my Google Ads. They told me that it was strictly prohibited and threatened to punish me by "adjusting my payment".

Today, they did just that - "adjusted my payments". More precisely, they stole the money I have earned.

Am I guilty of invalid clicks? Nope, not even close.

What happened was that I launched the new "Design" section on August 20, 2007. It was a huge success and I nearly doubled my traffic overnight. I also added a 3rd advertisement position on the top of the page, in the hope that it would generate more money. It did - nearly 3 times as much.

So, when you look at my stats, there is a huge jump in both unique visitors and advertisement revenue.

Notice the sharp drop in advertisement revenue by the end of the month. This was when Google adjusted my payment level back to what it was before I launched the design section. I still got just as many visitors as the days before - and more importantly - just as many advertisement impressions and click-throughs.

Google doesn't believe this change is real. They believe that I am manipulating my traffic - thus generating a higher page impression and click-through rate. But, it is real. I did not manipulate anything. I didn't create scripts that automatically click on ads; I didn't even ask friends to generate traffic.

I wrote an email to Google explaining all this - an email they have chosen to ignore and instead they decided to steal my money.

Don't be Evil?
- yeah right!

I have had enough - I will not tolerate being accused of doing something I have not done, and I will not accept being paid less than half the money that I am entitled to.

I have decided to stop using Google AdSense completely and I have already removed Google's ads from this site. I am also cancelling the other Google Services I use - namely Google Analytics and FeedBurner.

I am officially blacklisting Google!

If not Google, then what?

Now, of course, I have a minor problem. I got no advertisements to cover the costs of running this site. I got no statistics and I need to move my feeds.

But, it is actually possible to exist without Google.

Advertisements:

There are several alternative advertisement networks out there. Here are some of the most important ones.

• Yahoo Ads, which I have been told are great (greater than Google AdSense actually). But it is still in Beta and open "by invitation only". Damn...
• Clicksor, another advertising network that people have told me about. Looks interesting, but I need to look into it first.
• Text Link Ads, is a great advertising service (at least according to 9Rules). I did actually join their network several months ago, but I have not had the time to try it yet.

Statistics:

I have already created a statistic system as part of my CMS system. I do need expand it, but that shouldn't be too difficult to do.

Note: Baekdal.CMS|3 stats are based on anonymous data gathering. Meaning that there is no link between your IP address and what pages you see. The result is that I cannot track individual usage. I used the same system when I collected stats for my Actual Browser Sizes report. I could see the size of people's screen, but not track who or where it came from.

RSS Feed Management

I also already got a comprehensive RSS feed system. It is only a matter of changing the links.

Google is out and, you know, I don't feel particularly sad about it. I just feel annoyed by their accusations. Apparently, Google's motto "Don't be Evil" is not the same as "be good"...