Router setting to block clicking on your own ads?

[heyday]

Does anyone know here if it is possible to block outgoing traffic to pagead2.googlesyndication.com so in case I click on my own ad it doesn't go anywhere?

Right now I have edited my HOSTS file to send traffic to pagead2.googlesyndication.com to a internal IP but the probelm is I can not view ads now.

Any other solutions to this?

heyday

[Hobbs]

yes, self control.

[heyday]

Obviously self control but get serious here.... I want to dummy proof this..

There has got to be an way to do this....

heyday

[Nutter]

Here's what I did...

1 - In FireFox, I added my initials to the User-Agent string.

2 - I've got a PHP script that checks for my initials in the UA and outputs the Google ads if it's not found. If it is found, it outputs something like 'ads not shown for you'.

And, what I used to do...
Same idea, but checked my ip address first instead of the UA.

I'm not too worried about clicking on my own ads, it's more so the impressions don't show up in my stats when I'm working on the sites.

[Qur1uS]

there is a hosts file change you can make if you are a windows user. Look here [webmasterworld.com...]

[jetteroheller]

I have SSI inserted ad code.

The SSI script looks for several condition to show only an alternate ad code.

One condition are special user agent strings at the notebooks of other family members.

[jomaxx]

Most of these replies are missing the mark. The OP already knows about the hosts file and presumably wants to be able to view the Google ads on his or her own site. I have two suggestions, both of which ultimately fall short of what specifically you're trying to do, but they may be helpful...

1. If your goal is to work on the layout of your site while seeing the same kind of ad block anyone else would see, you can use PHP or whatever to serve up default ads to your specific IP that mimic the appearance of typical ads on your site.

2. If it's enough to be able to switch between viewing modes easily, you can do so by creating (for example) a hosts2 file, that contains the AdSense server, and a hosts3 file, that doesn't, in the same directory as the hosts file. Then create 2 simple .BAT files like this...

adsense-off.bat:

copy /Y hosts2 hosts

adsense-on.bat:

copy /Y hosts3 hosts

Then drag the icons for the 2 .BAT files onto your desktop. Fairly trivial. The only thing I've noticed is that you probably will have to close your browser and re-open it in order for the change to take effect.

[jomaxx]

P.S. The .BAT files would have to be in the same directory as well, or alternatively you could include the full path when specifying the files.

[heyday]

Found a fix that works for me....I use IE

1. Tools/Internet Options/Security/Restricted Sites/Sites 2. Add the following site to the list

pagead2.googlesyndication.com

3. Close all browser windows and then re-open Internet Explorer.

4. It should allow you to see ads but not click on them....

It worked for me

heyday