Google Adsense is the leading company in web advertising programs which is a large system of earning for your website. Similar to all other great advertising programs, Google Adsense has well define Terms of Service (ToS) that are required to be strictly followed in order to receive benefits from this great opportunity to earn online.
I am sharing some important Adsense tips; some mistakes which should be avoid in order to protect your Adsense account from getting banned by Google Adsense. These tips are gathered from the Google Terms and Conditions and information from FAQ at Google Adsense. You may already know some of these tips but those who don't know or new to Google Adsense web advertising program I would try to explain it in very simple manners.
* Never try to click your own Adsense ads or get them clicked - You know this one very well. This is a surefire way to close you Adsense account. Never tell your office associates or friends to click on them. Keep a check if your family or children are busy increasing your income by clicking your ads and indirectly trying to stop your income. Don't even think of offering incentives for clicks, using automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software. Adsense is very smart to detect fraudulent clicks. Check the ads which appear on your pages by the Google Preview tool if required.
* Avoid changing the Adsense code - There are enough means of Adsense optimization & customizations available to change the color, background or border to suit your needs. Do whatever you want to do outside the code, never fiddle within the ad or the search code. They know it when you do. The search code has more limitations to color and placement, but you should adhere to the rules. The code may stop working and violates the TOS.
* Do not run competitive contextual text ad or search services - Never run such ads or services on the same site which offer Google Adsense competition in their field. Never try to create link structures resembling the Adsense ads. Never use other competitive search tools on the same pages which have Adsense powered Google search. They do allow affiliate or limited-text links. Update: Google has allowed you to run contextual advertising like Yahoo ads, Chitika etc provided the ads do not resemble Adsense ads.
* One Account suffices for multiple websites - You do not need to create 5 accounts for 5 different websites. One account will do. If you live in the fears that if one account is closed down for violation of TOS, believe me they will close all accounts when they find out. You can keep track of clicks by using channels with real time statistics. They will automatically detect the new site and display relevant ads.
* Place ads only on Content Pages - Advertisers pay only for content based ads. Content drives relevant ads. Although you might manage some clicks from error, login, registration, "thank you" or welcome pages, parking pages or pop ups, it will get you out of the program.
* Do not mask ad elements - Alteration of colors and border is a facility to blend or contrast ads as per your site requirements. I have seen many sites where the URL part is of the same color as the background. While blending the ad with your site is a good idea, hiding relevant components of the ads is not allowed. Also do not block the visibility of ads by overlapping images, pop ups, tables etc.
* Keep track of your content - So Adsense is not allowed on several non content pages. But it is also not allowed on several content pages too. Do not add it on web pages with MP3, Video, News Groups, and Image Results. Also exclude any pornographic, hate-related, violent, or illegal content.
* Avoid excessive advertising and keyword stuffing - Although the definition of 'excessive' is a gray area and is subject to discretion, yet Google Adsense with correct placement, focused content and high traffic will get you much more income than other programs, so excessive advertising is not required. Keyword stuffing does target better focused ads, but overdoing it is not required.
* Ensure you Language is Supported - Adsense supports "Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Danish, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, English, Polish, Finnish, Portuguese, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Swedish, Italian and Turkish". In addition, Adsense for search is available in Czech, Slovak, and Traditional Chinese. If your web pages language is not supported, do not use the code on such pages.
* Do not specify Google ads as your alternate ads - Several services like Chitika eMiniMalls allow you to place alternate URLs, when a targeted paying ad cannot be displayed. This involved creating a simple html page and putting the ad to be displayed instead. Even Adsense allows an alternate URL feature instead of displaying public service ads. But never use Adsense ads as alternate URLs.
* Do not confuse with adjacent images - It was a common policy to increase CTR by placing same number of images as the number of text ads, which falsely gave the impression that the text ads represented an explanation to these images. Inserting a small space or a line between the images and ads is not allowed. Make sure that the ads and images are not arranged in a way that could easily mislead or confuse your visitors.
It is always better to inquire for Adsense help from the educated staff of Google Adsense. This way you can avoid the common mistakes that could ban your Google Adsense Account.