1. Add the following code to your robots.txt file, which instructs robots to wait 5 seconds between each request (the default is 1 second):
   

   User-agent: *
   Crawl-delay: 5

2. Sign up for Google Webmaster Tools and change the crawl rate to slower.
   

   

3. As a last resort, you can block robots altogether. This is not recommended since you will not be indexed, but it may be necessary if your webserver cannot handle the bandwidth:
   

   User-agent: *
   Disallow: /

Hopefully this will not even be an issue if you are using a good webhost. I recommend getting a dedicated server from Dreamhost.

Background

We already know there are a variety of blackhat tactics that can be used to get a competitor’s site banned or penalized in Google’s search listings (e.g. spamming backlinks in bad neighborhoods, duplicate content on multiple domains, etc.). All of these methods are off-site, meaning the webmaster has no way of stopping anyone from setting up hundreds of domains scraping his content and plummeting his SERP ranking. But what about sabotaging your competitor’s Adsense account?

There is always the obvious “go crazy clicking your competitor’s ads” tactic, but at least Google makes some attempt to combat this problem by tracking IP addresses and cookies. Publishers are being banned from Adsense at a steadily increasing rate, but I tend to think that usually it is the publisher’s own fault for encouraging clicks, providing adult content, or utilizing “shady” methods of driving traffic to their site.

When you signup for an Adsense account, you are approved based solely on the original domain you submit for review. Once you are approved, then you are allowed to instantly place your Adsense code on any number of sites that you own without having to have get them approved, or even put them on file with Adsense. As a publisher myself with hundreds of domains, I find this to be very convenient. But…

The Problem

Since you have never submitted any of your domains to Adsense (beyond the initial domain), Google just ASSUMES that you own all of the domains that display your Adsense code. Consequently, your account will be held responsible for the traffic sources, promotional methods, spammy content, illegal ad placement, or poor click-through rate of a site that you may not even own (as long as they display your code)! And no, it’s not that easy to just signup for another account (you need a new SSN/EIN).

The How-To List

So with that in mind, I present to you a step-by-step guide to getting your competitor’s Adsense account banned:

1. Identify your competitor’s website.
2. View the source code of any page that displays his Adsense javascript code, and copy it to your clipboard. It will look something like this (the section that reads pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is his unique publisher ID):

<script type=”text/javascript”><!–
google_ad_client = “pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
google_ad_format = “728×90_as”;
google_ad_type = “text_image”;
google_ad_channel = “”;
google_color_border = “FFFFFF”;
google_color_bg = “FFFFFF”;
google_color_link = “0000FF”;
google_color_text = “000000″;
google_color_url = “000000″;
//–></script>
<script type=”text/javascript”
src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”>
</script>

3. Copy the javascript and paste it into any website that you own (I am assuming you know how to “replicate” your competitor’s whois info for your site, or at least make it private). It should instantly display your competitor’s ads on your site without any problem.
4. Write a little note to your visitors: thank them for visiting and let them know that they should “check out our sponsored links.” Bonus points if you can rig up an animated gif arrow pointing to the ads.
5. Blog about dildos or whatever sex toy you happen to fancy. Adsense loves adult content for sure!
6. Spam your site to Craigslist every single day in all 400 cities (though 30 will probably do just fine), or hire someone from India to do it for you (it will only cost you about 15 cents per post).
7. Buy bulk amounts of traffic on Ebay! And I’m talking like a million hits to your site in a few weeks. If this shitty traffic doesn’t kill his Adsense click-through rate, nothing will. And who knows what kind of zombie computers or sneaky redirects are conjuring up your mystery traffic. (The Adsense javascript can relay to Google the HTTP_REFERER attribute, which more or less reveals the source of your traffic.)
8. Optional: Advertise your site via unsolicited email. This is illegal in many countries and people will hate you for this. The wise ones may even report you to Adsense (let’s hope!). Of course, they will probably report you to your host first, so I don’t recommend this one.
9. Keep doing this for a month. Actually, you probably only have to do ONE of these methods for a month, but multiple ones won’t hurt. Every month before payment, Adsense quality control reviews accounts for… quality. You can be sure your site now has an extreme LACK of quality and is ready to get banned.
10. Report your site to Google. Email adsense-abuse@google.com or click on the “Ads by Goooooogle” link to give them some helpful feedback on how their ad network is being abused.

A Personal Experience and a Reply from Adsense

When Google warns/bans an Adsense publisher for violating TOS, they generally provide at least a vague reason along with the violating domain. Couldn’t the publisher reply to Google and deny ownership of the domain? Well, at least according to an email I received from Adsense support, a publisher is reponsible for their Adsense code even if it is displayed against their will on a site they do not own!

Case in point, I sold one of my websites to a party who apparently did not know very much about web development. Instead of installing the PHP script that allows easy modification of pages and Adsense code through an admin interface, he simply ripped the static HTML of all 2000 pages! (Unbelievable, but okay whatever it’s his site now.) But even worse, he kept my Adsense code on his page. I asked him to remove it, but apparently he was trying to go through all 2000 pages and do it manually, so it was taking forever. Concerned about an incompetent webmaster displaying my Adsense code, I emailed Google asking them to keep my ads from displaying on that domain, as it was now out of my control. Their response:

Hello XXXX,

Thanks for writing in about your site. I understand that you’re having trouble with the person you’ve sold the site to. Unfortunately, we cannot blocks ads connected to your publisher ID from showing on this site.

I can only offer you two suggestions to remove your ads from this site.

First, you can contact the new owner of your site again and request that he remove your ads from the site.

Alternatively, you can permanently close your AdSense account. If you close your account, your ads will no longer appear on this site. Unfortunately, you’ll no longer have access to the Google code and you’ll receive no further emails from us. Your remaining earnings will be paid out according to the payment schedule outlined in the AdSense Terms and Conditions (https://www.google.com/adsense/terms), provided there are no holds on your account.

If you’d like to permanently close your AdSense account, please reply to this email and we’ll process your request. We also encourage you to let us know why you feel Google AdSense hasn’t worked well for you so far. We’re constantly working to improve our program and will carefully review all of your suggestions.

Thanks for your patience.

For additional questions, I’d encourage you to visit the AdSense Help Center (http://www.google.com/adsense_help), our complete resource center for all AdSense topics. Alternatively, feel free to post your question on the forum just for AdSense publishers: the AdSense Help Group (http://groups.google.com/group/adsense-help).

Sincerely,

XXXX
The Google AdSense Team

So basically, Google told me my options were to either ask him again nicely to remove my code, or close my Adsense account altogether. Incompetent-webmaster-guy wondered why the hell I wouldn’t want to make more money while my code was still on his site. But I knew better than that. I knew he could put my ads in the wrong place, and I would get banned. I knew he could promote his new site using less than professional methods, and I would get banned. Frankly, a small site like the one I sold him was not worth jeopardizing a major source of income for my entire network of sites, and it made clear to me how easy it would be for a competitor to destroy me… or how easy it would be for me to destroy a competitor if I would so choose.

Solution

It’s very simple actually. Google should require every domain to be submitted to Adsense before ads are displayed, not for approval purposes, but for confirmation of ownership. Ads would display on the domain only after the publisher has claimed ownership of the domain and thus taken responsibility for the manner in which the ads are displayed. This would prevent the sort of Adsense sabotage that I have described.

Resources

Google Adsense Terms and Conditions