Family computer - are two adsense users allowed?

[Henrys_Cat]

HI

Apologies if this has been answered before but your answer may prevent a family argument.

We only have one computer in our home and most of the family use it.

I am having modest success with my sites and my son is wanting to add Adsense to his site too.

Are we able to run two Adsense accounts on one computer? I have told my son that we aren't but I want to be sure.

Hope you can confirm either way.

Many thanks

[Fuzzyfish1000]

I don't think there's any problem running two adsense accounts from one PC - you just have seperate usernames and passwords... Don't think it really matters where you login from - I login from all over the place.

[Henrys_Cat]

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

I guess I am just too paranoid not to contravene Google rules and I really was convinced that only 1 account could be run from an individual computer.

Thanks for putting my mind at rest :)

[fredw]

Many users of this forum believe that while what you describe is not against Adsense TOS, you would be taking a big risk in doing so, in that, by both accounts using the same computer, there is a high probability that this would "associate" the two accounts in the eyes of Adsense, and this could be a bad thing because if your son's account is banned for invalid clicks, your account could easily be banned along with it.

[edited by: fredw at 5:27 pm (utc) on Mar. 31, 2006]

[jomaxx]

Read your son the riot act before allowing him to put AdSense on any of his own sites. The situation you are talking about is allowed, but if he gets kicked out for any reason then you will too.

[LifeinAsia]

You could quite easily put an end to the paranoia by simply writing to Google and asking them. Give them your shared IP address so they'll have it on record as having 2 accounts using the same IP address. Make sure you keep a record of the response that you get back just in case someone screws up and actually does ban one or both of your accounts in the future.

[jomaxx]

Good point, because I think it IS against the rules for one person to have 2 accounts. I don't think it's necessary to give them your IP address, if you even have one, but having an email on record describing the situation could be helpful.

The accounts will still be associated, though, and if one person messes up then both accounts could easily be terminated.

[Garfieldt]

I login from all over the place.

I would watch out with that. Logging into your adsense account from many different pc's is asking for an invalid click ban.
If anybody clicks on one of your ads from any computer you ever logged into your account from, google wil think you clicked on your own ads.
If this happens once it might not be a problem, if it happens regularly, it can be a big problem.

[Henrys_Cat]

Thanks for the very informative replies.

I think that I will write to Google to find out there opinion as suggested.

I trust my son and he is very responsible but I have worked too hard to risk losing the account.

If Google do allow me to do this then I certainly will ensure that he is fully understands the importance of not messsing round with the Adsense account.

Thanks again

PS. I am not computer literate but would it be an option to buy another computer and link the computers up via a router or would that not make any difference? It would be too expensive to buy another telephone line in for a different ISP account.

[msbasher]

i contacted google earlier about a similar situation. infact my brother wanted to use my adsense referral link to sign up for adsense for his site and google said it is okay for him to do so even if the IP/physical address is the same as long as he has a different name

[imstillatwork]

I emailed google a while back on something similar....

I check multiple peoples adsense accounts.

Multiple people check MY adsense accounts.

Google stated that as long as you have permission to check anothers account, and that the owner of the account has access to check their own account (you don't change their password on them effectivly stealing their account) then there is no problem.

[fredw]

Once again, yes, there is nothing wrong with this, and G will give you permission to do so. Just don't be surprised, someday down the road, if one of those accounts you check gets banned, when your site gets banned too...

[rickagain]

I'm involved with three seperate businesses - each one has its own adsense account... as each has its own bank account.

I often log on to all three accounts in a row... as do other people who are involved.

There can't be anything wrong with this.

[david_uk]

My wife and I have separate adsense accounts, and both use the same computers on the same home network. I did email Google to ask if it was OK to have separate husband / wife accounts before applying and they said it was OK.

I would wholeheartedly endorse the advice of making sure he knows how to keep the account above suspicion in all respects - clicks from his freinds as well as the rest of the advice, and make sure he knows that you will both be banned if he screws up.

[Jafo]

If your really that worried about it, set your son up with a different profile on your PC. Make his profile use a proxy and then Google will not see your IP (if done correctly).

[Alex_Miles]

I vote for Jafo's suggestion.

People tend to screw up. If your son so much as mentions Adsense to his mates they are going to click on his ads, either to help him out or to get him banned for a laugh. Even if none of those parties screw up, Google might.

I like to factor in other peoples screw-ups. Any plan that depends entirely on other people not being morons, is doomed.