I just made an Adsense mistake...

[Kelly Verge]

I've been careful to never click on my own ads.

However, this morning as I was working on one of my sites an ad just sucked me in... I wasn't even thinking; I just clicked. Guess it was a well-written ad.

One click won't be an issue, will it?

[jitterbug978]

stop worrying... Youll be fine google understand, it happens!

Dont sweat it, but dont make it a habit either.

[Kirahster]

I have clicked on an ad that I was interested in too. I was not penalized for it. If you clicked on the ad because you were interested and a potential customer then the ad did its job. If you were clicking on the ad because you wanted to see how much you would get for a click, then that is not good.

[internetmarketer99]

Originally Posted by jitterbug978

stop worrying... Youll be fine google understand, it happens!

Dont sweat it, but dont make it a habit either.

While it does happen, and chances are you'd never hear about it, do yourself a favor and email them ('Help" / 'Contact Us'). You cover your @ss and act responsibly about your Adsense account. That gives you something to use in your favor should you ever have another problem down the road.

Mark

[internetmarketer99]

Originally Posted by Kirahster

I have clicked on an ad that I was interested in too. I was not penalized for it. If you clicked on the ad because you were interested and a potential customer then the ad did its job. If you were clicking on the ad because you wanted to see how much you would get for a click, then that is not good.

That can get you banned for good.

*Never* intentionally click your own ads. Period.

If you're interested in an ad, type the ad's URL directly.

Mark

[jitterbug978]

yea under no circumstance ever click your ad... even if you are interested. That is click fraud. You WILL have your account banned by doing so.

[HCLee]

Don't Panic! You won't get banned just with one click to your own ad. If you read the FAQ on Google Adsense it says they understand occasionally we may accidentally click our own ads and they have a way to ignore these clicks. That's the assurance part. But if I were you I'll play it safe and email the Google Adsense Support and tell me about it. You'll sleep better I'm sure. It happened to me before and I made sure I did that and also made it a point to be my one and only wrong click.

[KirkMcD]

Originally Posted by internetmarketer99

do yourself a favor and email them

DON'T TELL THEM!!!! They will hold it against you.
i've only read bad things when somebody says that they told them that they accidently clicked an ad.

[RyanCoisson]

Yea if you ask me I wouldn't tell google. I would simply move on as one click is not a big deal. I would however, never do it again and if an ad does intrigue just type it in the url and go to their site.

Ryan

[marketseeker]

Originally Posted by Kirahster

I have clicked on an ad that I was interested in too. I was not penalized for it. If you clicked on the ad because you were interested and a potential customer then the ad did its job. If you were clicking on the ad because you wanted to see how much you would get for a click, then that is not good.

Google does not differentiate between the reasons for clicking but I assume you were just trying to make him feel better. Sort of "oh that's ok if you didn't mean it" I would not take a chance with adsense I would write a an email and tell Google to remove the click form my account then you have some recourse if they happen to ban you, not likely

[sydneyaus]

Google is not going to punish you for this 1 click, but be careful next time. People have been banned for clicking their own ads repeatedly (and I guess on purpose!) Would be a shame, because when it comes to contextual advertising Adsense is still the best!

[internetmarketer99]

Originally Posted by KirkMcD

DON'T TELL THEM!!!! They will hold it against you.
i've only read bad things when somebody says that they told them that they accidently clicked an ad.

May I ask where you read that?

Mark

[remodeler]

I had that happen about 2 yrs ago. I wrote them immediately to tell them what had happened and they responded with a nice email that they understood and that there was no need to be concerned with just the one click. Now that was 2 yrs ago. I don't know what they say today. Perhaps it depends on who is looking at your account, etc. Anyway, I haven't done that since.

[Kat Bartone]

I once accidentally clicked on my own ad and emailed them right away, asking that I not be paid for that click, and explained why.

They were nice. No problems at all. i don't even remember if my click was deducted - was probably all of seven cents or so, LOL

- Kat

[paulgl]

I don't think this is a problem.
I do believe that quite a few of us have done that without thinking.
We're human.

I also think that google makes accommodations for such things,
either negating them or something else. However, unless you
do it quickly and often, nothing should come about from it.

The word around here is that google does stuff as they see fit.
The more you can do to avoid it, the better. Now that you have
done it, I'll bet you will be sure and never do it again! Just another
reminder to people who use adsense.

Paul

[J Elizabeth Dize]

Originally Posted by KirkMcD

DON'T TELL THEM!!!! They will hold it against you.
i've only read bad things when somebody says that they told them that they accidently clicked an ad.

That was not what happened in my experience.

Originally Posted by Kat Bartone

I once accidentally clicked on my own ad and emailed them right away, asking that I not be paid for that click, and explained why.

They were nice. No problems at all. i don't even remember if my click was deducted - was probably all of seven cents or so, LOL

- Kat

This is exactly what happened in my experience They were really, really nice about it when I made this error and contacted them.

[onyxgem]

I clicked by mistake before and I panicked as well. During my two years doing internet marketing, I must have done it 5 times on different sites. This accidental clicking usually occured while tweaking an adwords site. Instead of clicking on edit, I clicked on the ad.

I didn't tell google and I would not recommend telling google.

Never do it on purpose and if you do it accidentally, you risk a chance of your account getting banned, but that may not happen either.

[Kelly Verge]

I emailed.

They were polite and friendly.

Their system catches and deletes inadvertent clicks automatically (I guess they record your IP's when you visit your account page). They said it only triggers a response if there are "more than a few."

[internetmarketer99]

Originally Posted by Kelly Verge

I emailed.

They were polite and friendly.

Their system catches and deletes inadvertent clicks automatically (I guess they record your IP's when you visit your account page). They said it only triggers a response if there are "more than a few."

Good for you, Kelly.

While I assume most have good intentions, if you scratch the surface of the "I was banned for no reason" experiences, you often find they did something they heard about, or read about, or 'didn't think it would be a problem', etc.

My advice, for anyone and from many years experience:

If you're serious about building a long-term, sustainable business, treat it like one;

Whatever programs are critical parts of your business - Adsense, Adwords, EZA, Commisison Junction, Clickbank, Aweber, etc., - read and understand their TOS;

Don't believe everything you read - there's plenty of personal experiences, conjecture, hear-say, and just plain guesswork is passed off as statements of fact;

Do things "right" - you'll have far fewer problems, and you'll sleep better;

Mark

[marketseeker]

Originally Posted by internetmarketer99

Good for you, Kelly.

While I assume most have good intentions, if you scratch the surface of the "I was banned for no reason" experiences, you often find they did something they heard about, or read about, or 'didn't think it would be a problem', etc.

My advice, for anyone and from many years experience:

If you're serious about building a long-term, sustainable business, treat it like one;

Whatever programs are critical parts of your business - Adsense, Adwords, EZA, Commisison Junction, Clickbank, Aweber, etc., - read and understand their TOS;

Don't believe everything you read - there's plenty of personal experiences, conjecture, hear-say, and just plain guesswork is passed off as statements of fact;

Do things "right" - you'll have far fewer problems, and you'll sleep better;

Mark

I would like to add that I am sic and tired of the idiots who are trying to make money form Google and bad mouthing them at the same time. Google is in business to make money, they have rules to save you and your hard work from being abused. I look at people in two ways 1. business owner mentality and 2. employee mentality, I have zero tolerance for the employee mentality.

[Carl Pruitt]

Originally Posted by marketseeker

I would like to add that I am sic and tired of the idiots who are trying to make money form Google and bad mouthing them at the same time. Google is in business to make money, they have rules to save you and your hard work from being abused. I look at people in two ways 1. business owner mentality and 2. employee mentality, I have zero tolerance for the employee mentality.

I agree, with the caveat that no business entity makes the right decision 100% of the time. So if Google makes a wrong move no one should ignore it just because they make money from them.

It is true, though, that most of the complainers seem to come from a mindset that Google is evil if they try to stop people from gaming the system to draw traffic to sites searchers wouldn't visit without the tricks. I agree with Google's belief that what is best for the user experience is going to be the most profitable in the long run and I believe that most of what Google does is with that principle in mind. Even in the publishing/adsense arena, it is still about delivering value to the user.