Another Admob Ad Policy violation warning

Hi,

I just received this email, i only use one interstitial ad before the user chooses a puzzle to play , so i do not know what to make of this email, can any one please guide me …

Also is this like one strike(warning) of the 3 that any one gets …

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Hello,

We are alerting you that your app is currently in violation of the AdMob program policies. Importantly, this will require action on your part to ensure no disruption in ad serving. Please read below for more information on the actions you need to take:

Publisher Id: ca-app-pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

App Id: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Current ad serving status: Active

Violation explanation

LAYOUT ENCOURAGES ACCIDENTAL CLICKS - INTERSTITIAL ADS:
Publishers are not permitted to encourage users to click AdMob interstitial ads in any way. Please review how you’ve implemented interstitial ads and be mindful of the following non-compliant implementation(s):

Interstitial ads that load unexpectedly while a user is viewing the app’s content.
For more information about our policies and tips for how to comply please read the following:

AdMob ad placement policy
AdMob interstitial ad guidance
AdMob preload instructions for Android and iOS

Action required: Please make changes immediately to your app to comply with AdMob program policies.

Current account status: Active

You do not need to contact us once you’ve made the necessary changes to your app. Please be aware that if additional violations are accrued, ad serving may be disabled to the app listed above.

Note that the app listed above is just one example and the same violation may exist on other apps you own. We suggest that you review all your apps for compliance with the AdMob program policies to reduce the likelihood of future warnings.

For more information regarding our policy warning notifications, visit our Help Center.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Google AdMob Team

Rajiv

what’s your CTR for this app?

Hi,

Its like many times i see some amount getting added to this ad unit then getting deducted , i have now added the ad unit to appear after the puzzle is completed rather then before it is selected , hope that helps with issue…CTR 2.7%

I did a big campaign of about $300 on adwords and ironically its sister firm is blaming me for click fraud, such a shame …

Regards

How is the Interstitial triggered exactly? and when does it show after user action?

That’s weird. Same thing happen to me today.
Also I did a adwords campaign for about 200$.
My CTR is about 0,5% so it can’t be the problem. Ads are displayed during the load of the next level.
Honestly I don’t see any violation here so it’s another google action like “waste your time and worry if you get banned”?

@tacchan23 @domad @shuiwo- So here is the flow, the game opens, the person then clicks on play puzzle, then the user goes to a page where the list of puzzle lies, here the ads show up, the user can dismiss the ad and select puzzle and play the game, now i do not show any other type of ad like banner etc, just this one ad…

Now after email i have made the ad show up only after the user completes the puzzle, hope that helps …

But the apps that i played as sample have so many ads flashing all the time , including ones that are very near the place where the user places finger to solve the puzzle, still admob has no issue with them but sends such email to me …

@domad - if your app shows ads during the load of next level, what else a developer can do, this is what is mentioned in their best practices videos as well, really google is resorting to flushing out small players and focusing on big fish from where 90% of their revenue comes …

And even sadder there is no alternative in sight …

Regards

If I understand your flow correctly, the problem is here:
the person then clicks on play puzzle, then the user goes to a page where the list of puzzle lies, here the ads show up

You need to show the Ads as soon as the user click and before showing the next activity. When the user closes the Interstitial Ad you will launch the next Activity instead.

@tacchan23 - but the ads don’t always show up immediately , sometimes there is a delay and hence by that time the puzzles page will open up, should i give a delay for 2-3 seconds before the puzzle page opens up …

Now i am showing ads immediately as the puzzle is completed successfully, is that ok now or there also i will need to make some changes …

Thanks

Rajiv you need to pre load the ad and on click you need to check is ad is loaded then show it otherwise ignore

@DroidDev99 - thanks, that is a really good option but my worry is they are nit picking for even minor issues , so as per their policy an interstitial is best suited to be shown after a level is over , so i have shown an interstitial after the level is over and given a delay of 4 seconds and then go to main puzzle level , for the last one day now there has not been any deduction in the amount as was earlier in the case … they called it accidental clicks , lets see how it goes …

Regards

It is against AdMob rules to show an Interstitials after a random delay when a new activity is opened. There is no way around it, need to follow their rules.

@tacchan23 - actually the 4 second delay is when the puzzle is completed and before the main puzzles page opens, the ad is called as soon as the puzzle is completed , i gave 4 seconds so that even if there is slow internet there is sufficient time to load the ad before the puzzles page …

Is there any app you can kindly point which shows interstitial as per their policy , it will help a lot …

Thanks again

Regards

In general AdMob only allows like this:

  1. load the Interstitial as soon as possible
  2. when the user perform an action or after something is completed (the puzzle in your case), display the Interstitial Ad (ONLY if it is loaded successfully already)
  3. when user closes the Interstitial Ad, bring the user to the next activity/puzzle/whatever
    3a) if the Ad is not loaded, don’t show the Ad and bring the user to the next activity/puzzle/whatever

@tacchan23 - thanks a lot for this , this will be useful for my other apps as well , i have tried to do this now, if the amount i earn is not deducted by admob it means its working, earlier they were deducting amount for accidental clicks…

Regards

AdMob always deduct some money anyway… but maybe it will be less than before I hope. And most importantly you will not face any policy warnings.