Is this a bad habit?

Clicking on certain google ads

[walkman]

So sometimes you see an ad for a berry, tea or whatever that almost promises to cure cancer, or one that "tells" you how to make $160 an hour. I click on them, especially if I like the site I see the ad on. Of course I click to learn more about the product, sometimes I click on all of the "interesting" ones at once.

Is it good or bad having a desire to learn more about their miracle products? :) ?

[SteveWh]

Google probably has the machinery to notice your pattern and consider it suspicious for a variety of possible reasons, so if you are registered with either AdSense or AdWords yourself, I wouldn't do that.

[walkman]

Nope, not registered, I use adsense on many of my pages. Of course, I don't click all day or everyday. Just on special occasions

[londrum]

bit confused... are you saying that you click the ads on your own site?

[J_RaD]

sometimes I click on ads I see as scammy just to cost them a click :-P

[buckworks]

Keep in mind that a higher click-through rate is one of the factors that can boost an ad's Quality Score. If more people click an ad, the AdWords algos will conclude that it must be a good ad.

Ill-intentioned clicks from self-appointed policemen may actually be helping the alleged scammers get their ads shown more frequently and at less cost.

So, to answer the original question, "Yes, it's a bad habit!"

[piatkow]

sometimes I click on ads I see as scammy just to cost them a click

I must confess to being tempted occasionally but I know enough about Adsense to resist.

[walkman]

No, I don't click on my site's ads. Sometimes I click on scammy ads...to find out more about them :)