How to Block Harmful AdSense Affiliate Ads on Your Blog

Did you know that the blog you’ve worked so hard to grow is being exploited at this very moment as a source of malicious ad revenue by someone else? Without your knowledge, malicious ads are lurking throughout your blog, damaging your readers’ trust and causing serious harm to your blog’s reputation. In this post, we will explore the tactics used by these parasitic malicious ads, how to identify them, and effective methods to block them.

Malicious Affiliate Ads Parasitizing Your Blog

Recently, while reviewing the AdSense ads section, I had a very unpleasant experience. A disgusting picture of athlete’s foot, like the one shown below, appeared as a WPlaybook ad. Curious about what kind of ad it was, I clicked on it, only to find that it led to a Naver blog.

The post started with a disclaimer saying, “This is absolutely not an advertisement or affiliate,” but at the end of the post, there was a product affiliate link. The blog itself was not a normally operated blog, and I’m not even sure if the blog owner was a real person. It was just the same post repeated over and over again. If I hadn’t checked it in the ad review section, such malicious ads might have been left unchecked.

AdSense ads are an important source of income for blog operators. However, if malicious ads like these are not managed through the ad review section, your blog could become a channel for someone else’s revenue stream.

Malicious ads deceive users and contain unpleasant content, which can damage the reputation of the blog owner. Especially problematic are ads that use shocking images and false information to provoke clicks. As you can see in the image below, although the post claims “No sponsorship at all,” I believe traffic is being driven through AdSense or various paid community ads.

If these malicious ads are left unchecked, readers will leave our blog, which will negatively impact ad revenue as well. Therefore, blog operators must detect such issues early and respond proactively. In this article, we will explore in detail how to remove malicious ads from AdSense and preventive measures.

Characteristics of Malicious Ads

First, let’s look at the characteristics of these malicious ads.

Use of Shocking Images

Malicious ads mainly use shocking images to grab users’ attention. These images may contain unpleasant or disgusting content, providing a negative experience for users. For example, ads often use repulsive photos of conditions like athlete’s foot or skin diseases to lure clicks. While these ads encourage users to click, the users ultimately feel deceived.

Especially if you want your blog to be recognized as a trustworthy source of information, you must remove such ads. The purpose of advertising is to provide useful information to users and introduce the advertiser’s products or services, but shocking images undermine this purpose.

Providing False Information

Malicious ads often provide false statements like “T his is absolutely not an advertisement or affiliate.” Such phrases are used as deceptive tactics to gain users’ trust. Even though the ad is actually promoting a product, these false statements prevent users from recognizing it as an advertisement. This damages the credibility of the advertiser and negatively affects the trustworthiness of the blog.

The malicious affiliate post on Naver also introduces the author’s occupation as a rail welder. It goes on to describe how much they suffer from athlete’s foot. The story sounds very plausible, and there are even photos included. However, the photos never show the person’s face.

In real life, anyone who hides their face and stays anonymous should be treated with suspicion. A Google image search shows that the photos appear to be directly taken from the site SongJeongSeok.com, which seems to be run by a current employee of the Korea Railroad Corporation. This person is not a welder.

Affiliate Links Included

Another characteristic of malicious ads is that they include product affiliate links at the end of the post. These links encourage users to purchase products or use services, allowing advertisers to generate revenue. However, these affiliate links are often accompanied by inaccurate information or exaggerated claims, which prevent users from making informed evaluations of the products.

In the case of the blog in question, it even mentions at the end that due to an overwhelming number of product inquiries, the link had to be left in place.

When you click the link, you’re directed to the Smart Store, which looks like this

One question that arises here is: who is running this ad (or group behind it)? The link might be an affiliate link, or simply a URL with parameters attached, which means someone is tracking visitors coming through the Naver blog.

My guess is that an advertising agency hired by the company DAYLUV is disguising these posts as product reviews on Naver blogs to promote their ads.

Do you think this advertising method is acceptable?

Wapple:WPlaybook

What are your thoughts? I plan to keep the comment section open on this post because I’m curious to hear your opinions.

Abnormal Blog Operation

Blogs that contain malicious ads often operate abnormally. For example, they may only have a single post repeatedly uploaded, which is far from normal content management. These blogs exist solely to generate ad revenue and do not provide useful information to users.

In the case of the blog I mentioned, I initially wondered if I had misunderstood and that maybe the blogger was genuinely working hard. But after looking at the post list, the answer became clear.

They were regularly posting the exact same product content repeatedly. Each post even had around 200,000 to 300,000 views. How much AdSense ad budget do you think was spent on this? And how much profit was made from it?

How to Remove Malicious Ads from AdSense

To stop this kind of behavior, you first need to block the entry point. But it’s not enough if only one person blocks it—you all have to block it together. Only then will these kinds of abuses stop happening with AdSense. Please make sure to set this up!

Use the Ad Review Section

AdSense provides a tool called the Ad Review section, which allows you to check and manage the ads displayed on your blog. By regularly reviewing this section, you can identify and block potentially harmful ads. You can see all the ads that have been served, and immediately block any problematic ads.

Ad Blocking Settings

If you want to block specific ads, you can find and block them in AdSense’s Ad Review section. As shown in the image above, first set the review target in the Ad Review tab (usually these types of ads are filtered into the review target first), then select the ad and click ‘Block’.

It doesn’t end there.

In fact, even if you block it with the above methods, you can just re-post another Naver blog post and advertise it.

Wapple:WPlaybook

Blocking by Advertiser URL

If a specific advertiser is causing problems, blocking the advertiser’s URL can be more effective. By entering the advertiser’s URL in the ad settings to block, you can block all ads coming from that advertiser. This is especially useful when a particular advertiser repeatedly causes issues.

As shown in the image below, Google AdSense provides a way to block by advertiser URL.

After filtering through the review center, I found quite a few blocked URLs. Seeing the variety of ad sizes blocked, it’s clear this was done by an advertising expert, not a beginner.

Blocking by Ad Network

After giving it more thought, I realized there might be even worse offenders out there. When such ads are submitted, they usually undergo review, and if it were me, I would probably reject them. So, which company on earth approved these ads…?

So, as shown in the picture above, I tried filtering by ad networks based on similar ads. Do you know what came up? Let’s take a look.

The advertising network called Baidu MediaGo was found to be specializing in placing ads for malicious affiliate posts on Naver blogs or certain harmful product promotions. The products varied widely, including those claiming to remove neck wrinkles, treat erectile dysfunction, relieve rhinitis, and eliminate bad breath.

To block an entire ad network, go to the Ad Network Management section.

Click to enter, then use the search box to find “Baidu.” After that, change the status on the right to “Blocked.” Please make sure to do this!

In Closing

Even right now, many people are likely being exploited like the WPlaybook blog. If you know someone who runs a blog, please share this information with them. Only when all bloggers help each other can we prevent such problems, and trustworthy affiliate sites and reliable information can truly flourish on the internet.

WPlaybook studies how to earn money online honestly and with hard work. If you’re interested in online monetization or are quietly building your income through blogging, join our WPlaybook community! Blogging alone can be lonely. Let’s grow healthily and succeed together. 🙂

Thank you for reading this long post until the very end.

• Actual Naver Blog: Freshman Welding Dad (Athlete’s Foot Medicine)
• Real Naver Blog: Researcher Hyun Imam (rhinitis medicine)