How to Report AdSense "Ad Farms" to Google

Adsense Cheating Hurts Human Writers!

Tsu Dho Nimh
When you see a page loaded with Google ad after ad and no content, or a page of garbage keyword content with Google ads, it hurts everybody except the greedy sleaze who is running the site. Google is paying the fraudulent sites, advertisers are getting less good page content for their money, and we are getting undercut by a bunch of text-generating computer programs. Every page of 'bot-generated keyword babble is in direct competition

A human can recognize recognize the computer-generated "Adsense Ready" content that isn't really content: it looks like it might be English, but makes no sense, and it's loaded with the same phrases. Unfortunately, Google's software isn't that smart yet.

Here's how to report them:

1. Copy the URL of the page.

2. Click on the phrase "Ads by Goooooogle" at the top of the misleading links.

3. Click on the "Send Google your thoughts on the ads you just saw".

4. Select "Report a violation" from the list of topics.

5. Report the URLS and tell them it appears to be an ad farm, containd gibberish content, or is a misleading link.

Google staff will check out the URL and take care of it. The site's owner may have their AdSense account cancelled. It's hard to get a new one.

Here's part of the Google AdSense policy that applies to ad farms and garbage pages:


  • No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages.

  • No Google ad or Google search box may be displayed on any domain parking websites, pop-ups, pop-unders, or in any email.

  • No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.

Published by Tsu Dho Nimh

I'm a long-time technical writer with time to spare. I'm an omnivorous reader, a superb researcher, and a very fast writer. I'm also a good photographer. I'm fascinated by medicine, and annoyed by quack...  View profile

6 Comments

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  • Rachel Carpenter (joyful327)4/27/2009

    Thanks for you help!!!

  • Patty Oh9/10/2007

    Thanks for the great info! I often wondered what to 'do'

  • Grrrrrrgle8/3/2007

    You have to remember that Google get paid when these ads get clicked on, too. They invoice the advertiser, take their cut, then pass some on to the domain owner. Often these domain owners have hundreds, thousands, or in some cases, millions, of domains registered with Google, and making some significant cash. It's unlikely Google will cut off such a lucrative source of income.

  • Bhumika Ghimire5/22/2007

    great info..really need to report some sites..

  • blackcrayola9/29/2006

    Thanks, Tsu! I didn't think there was anything I could do about this sort of thing. It's great to have a computer guru in our midst!!

  • April Gilford9/29/2006


    Thanks! Great information to have.

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