Your AdSense account was disabled

For invalid-traffic closures, Google analyzes clicks and impressions for patterns "that might artificially drive up an advertiser's costs or a publisher's earnings," and says: "If we determine that an AdSense account might pose a risk to the integrity of our invalid traffic defenses and our Google Ads advertisers, we may disable that account to protect our advertisers' interests." It will not tell you what it found: "we cannot share information that could be used to circumvent our invalid traffic defenses." And per its terms, Google "will use its sole discretion when determining instances of invalid traffic."

Closures come in two flavors with two separate processes: invalid traffic and policy violations. Your notification email names which one you have, and it decides which appeal form and which rules apply below. The asymmetry of information is the design, not a bug, so the productive move is not decoding the reason from forums. It is building the strongest single appeal you can.

Quotes from Google's "AdSense account closed by Google for invalid traffic" (support.google.com/adsense/answer/57153) and "AdSense account closed by Google for policy reasons" (support.google.com/adsense/answer/2576043), wording checked July 2026.

Invalid-traffic closures are appealed through Google's invalid activity appeal form. Google's note on it deserves reading twice: "There's no guarantee that your account will be reinstated. After we've reached a decision on your appeal, further appeals may not be considered." That is the one-shot reality. For policy closures the form is separate, Google says its decisions "are typically final," and it enforces a pause: "you must wait 90 days between account closed appeals."

Google publishes what a reviewable appeal contains, and it reads like an incident report, not a plea. Its own guidance, condensed: provide as much information on the relevant activity as you can; work through the common closure reasons honestly (friends clicking your ads, purchased traffic, a surge you never explained); review your ad implementations against a typical user journey for accidental clicks; include the email address on the closed account; and "tell us what changes you'll make for the future," concretely, in terms of systems and behaviors. You must also confirm the invalid traffic was not due to your own actions or negligence, or that of anyone you are responsible for.

The calm read: nothing on Google's page rewards speed, and everything rewards completeness. Take the days to pull your analytics for the anomaly window, the referrers and geographies that do not fit, dates, and the specific change you have already made. An appeal that says "I found X on these dates, here is the evidence, here is what now prevents it" is the only version that gives the reviewer something to act on. If the appeal succeeds, note that Google says ad serving can take up to 48 hours to resume.

From Google's own FAQ: "Publishers closed for invalid traffic and/or violations of our publisher policies may be eligible for a final payment of the portion of their revenue that has not been identified as invalid. Upon account disablement, a 30-day payment hold is put in place to enable calculation of this final payment (where applicable)." After the 30 days, you sign in to see your remaining eligible balance, if any, and arrange payment. The rest goes the other way: "Deductions from your final balance for invalid traffic and/or publisher policy violations will be refunded to affected advertisers where appropriate and possible."

Plan around the honest version of that: the balance you saw on closure day is not a number you are owed; it is a number under review. Whatever survives the invalid-traffic calculation arrives after the hold, and it may be zero. Do not build the next sixty days of your cash flow on it.

Google's FAQ is unambiguous about what a denied appeal ends: "Publishers closed for invalid traffic are not allowed any further participation in AdSense. For this reason, you may not open a new account." The workaround everyone reaches for next, an account in a family member's or friend's name, is the pattern Google says it already looks for: it may close accounts it determines are related to a closed one, and it will not tell you how it finds the relation. The AdSense lane is closed. Spending months probing that is the expensive way to learn the same fact.

Here is what a denied appeal does not end. The same Google FAQ: "AdSense publishers are allowed to place their ads on any site that complies with the AdSense Program policies and Terms and Conditions. A publisher's account status may be separate from a specific site's compliance with our policies." Your site, your content, your audience, and your rankings are all intact. What you lost is one demand source.

Path one: other display demand

The managed networks are not AdSense resellers; they run their own review. Journey by Mediavine opens at 1,000 sessions and verifies for itself "that traffic is real and not purchased, artificial, or bot traffic." Be aware of one hard edge: Mediavine's published review standards for its main tier include "Good standing with Google AdSense/AdExchange," so a closure sits directly in that path. The honest gate is the cause: if you found the traffic problem and genuinely ended it, a network running its own verification can reach its own conclusion, and being straight about the history costs less than being discovered. If you never found the cause, fix that before putting anyone's ads on the site; no network wants the traffic Google refused. The networks comparison has the current bars, and the free eligibility check tells you which are open to you.

Path two: demand that is not display at all

Display was one buyer of your audience's attention, not the business itself. The same pages that earned ad clicks can earn through affiliate relationships, lead generation, sponsorships, products, and an email list you own outright. None of those ask about your AdSense standing. For most sites the durable answer after a closure is a mix: rebuild display through a network that clears you on its own review, and stop being a single point of failure in the meantime.

Network claims checked July 11, 2026 against Journey's minimum requirements and Mediavine's requirements page.