Fear an Adsense ban?

Adsense terms and conditions give only a holistic view into what Google terms illegal and invalid and what is expected. But quite often, you need to take that bit extra effort to ensure that you remain inside the ToS of Adsense.

Here is a list of things that have got publishers banned in the past. This list shall keep growing and so please keep checking back on the updates.

Thanking the sponsors

As a site publisher, it is sometimes genuine that you feel indebted to the either Google or to other sponsors as well, who help you keep your site free.
But still, it is better to avoid explicitly thanking your sponsors. Most times, you may even ignore Adsense to be one of your sponsor, since you really call someone who pays you money to keep the site up as a sponsor. But still, when you have Adsense on your pages, Google is also considered a sponsor and by the ToS, you may be banned for drawing your visitors attention to the ads.

An interesting example of this kind was in one case, where the publisher had, in the FAQ section explained how the offers he had on his site could be managed free. And the account was banned because he had mentioned that his sponsors paid him for every click they got from his website.
MORAL: Never be explicit in thanking your sponsor(s).

Thanking the users

Google ToS explicitly mentions that you should not display Adsense ads on thank you pages. But, it may so happen that you thank the user for something, and still carry on with your content. Now, you are at the mercy of Google to decide if your page is a valid content page or a thank-you page. Now, this cannot have a generalized advice since it depends on how much content you have, and which is deemed suitable by Google. In this case, remember to mail Adsense Support before you even insert all your ads.

Purchasing an Adsense banned domain

This is a very important point where you get banned for no fault of yours. Google has in the past, banned websites as such for violating the Adsense ToS. So, in case you are purchasing a domain second hand, first make sure that the website is not in the Adsense blacklist. To ensure this, first email Goolge asking them to clear the website of any misdeed in the past, and purchase the website only when that is cleared. Of course, this might hurt you a bit if you are purchasing it in auctions are it is a really sought after name, but if you want to put good use of Adsense to your website, this is the only way out.