Clickin my own ad.

[humblebeginnings]

So I was surfin a bit searching for some inspiration for one of my websites. Then I saw this really catchy ad that made me curious. I clicked and I ended up... at one of my own websites. No wonder I liked the ad so much, I wrote it myself.

Is clicking your own ad (besides it is stupid cause I guess it will cost you money) against Adwords TOS?

Have been looking into the TOS but couldnīt find it.
Wasnīt there a threas about the same subject a few months ago?

[toddb]

You cannot click adsense ads on your site. i do not think it is a big deal to click your own adwords ad. I have done it as a fast route to where I need to be.

[inferno]

its a good question, i know some people like to click their own ads to help their long term positioning, but i find it to be costly in the long run, and a bit unscrupulous.

[beren]

No. How could that be against TOS? It costs you money, but you're not cheating other people.

[Paul_N]

Google actually tell you to click on your own ads to test the conversion tracking, so its not a problem.

[inferno]

beren, technically that is not true, you are cheating the people by artifically increasing your ranking. remember your rank does have CTR as a parameter. tho im not sure what googles official stance is on this, perhaps this is a good place for AWA to chime in :)

[mhhfive]

It can't be in anyone's practical interest to click on their own ads to artificially bump CTR-relevancy... especially with the Quality Score thing now... right?

[eyeinthesky]

Of course, G wants you to click your own ads, the more times the merrier :)

You increase your CTR, they increase their ROI

[humblebeginnings]

Sort of the same goes for clicking ads on your own Adsense pages; someones CTR goes up and Googles ROI goes up. And my earnings go up. Everybody benefits, sort of. Yet G don't want that...

[ronmcd]

Sort of the same goes for clicking ads on your own Adsense pages.....Everybody benefits

Everyone benefits? Sorry, if you click on your own adsense ads you are stealing from an adwords advertiser to put money in your pocket. Thats why its against the adsense TOS, so called invalid clicks. Not at all the same as clicking your own adwords ads. You would have to click your own adwords ads many many times at significant cost to gain anything, and I'm pretty sure its not against the TOS. In fact as Paul_N said you really need to do it to test your ads work as expected.

[humblebeginnings]

IknowIknowIknowIknow! Just forgot the smiley, Geez!

[mark1111]

You would have to click your own adwords ads many many times at significant cost to gain anything, and I'm pretty sure its not against the TOS. In fact as Paul_N said you really need to do it to test your ads work as expected.

If you click them from within your account to test them, it doesn't cost you anything (I think).

[patient2all]

A friend learned that #anhcor bookmarks don't work by clicking her ad. If you do it within the AdWords interface, it jumps to the #anchor, not when done in Google itself though.

That was certainly worth a click and educated me to a misconception that I was under (Of course, support claimed they did work fine, then when I escalated the matter claimed it was an IE issue though they don't work in Mozilla either).

So there is a benefit to clicking an ad on a cheap keyword now and then for a little QC.

patient2all

[inferno]

wow, i never even thought of linking to an anchor point....great idea man! :)

[Dr_X]

Of course, support claimed they did work fine,

Patient, when are you gonna learn? Support don't know nuttin'. That's what webmasterworld is for. :-P

oh, and that's what clicking your own ad is for too. :-)

-Dr.X

[Dr_X]

wow, i never even thought of linking to an anchor point....great idea man! :)

but, but, but.... it DON'T WORK! :-D

-Dr.X

[inferno]

i mis read it, i thought he said it works when you click on the ad normally but not within google, thats what i get for speedreading :P

[patient2all]

thats what i get for speedreading

No, it's not you Inferno. I meant to edit it for clarity but it got beyond the 'edit window' (however long that is?)

patient2all