Will I be Banned for Clicking on my AdSense Ads?

I Did it Over 15 times in May

[VedranKovac]

Hi All,

I opened an adsense account back in February and had almost no clicks until September when I revamped the site and the traffic started to roll in.

So, from Feb to Sept I made less than $10 and I really did not care about the program.

Yet, out of those 10 bucks that were made during that time ~$5 is in my clicks (i.e. I clicked the ads from school - probably ~15 clicks).

It was plain stupid yet I've done it and I am not sure if Google will ban me now (this took place sometime in May) that I am ready to receive my first check.

I also remember visiting my pages extensively (i.e. 50 times / day for a couple of days in order to increase impression #) and clicking on my own ads on my home computer (the same IP/machine that I use to check my adsense balance) which is even more stupid (Google figured out that and i got no money for those hits.

So, here is my questions:

1) Do you think they will close my account?
2) Do you get penalized if you visit (not click on links) your own page?
3) Is there anything I can do to fix this (i.e. let Google know)?

Best,

Vedran

[emodo]

1) Do you think they will close my account?

No, it looks like you were damn luck. They are crazy at banning people like you.

2) Do you get penalized if you visit (not click on links) your own page?

No

3) Is there anything I can do to fix this (i.e. let Google know)?

Absolutely tell Google.

[jahfingers]

Absolutely tell Google, for clicks in May? No. If they didn't ban you then, I highly doubt they will wait this long to ban you.

Unless of course they are as evil as many think. Wait until publishers get first check, then ban and keep all the revenue. Not a great business model.

I wouldn't do anything, except stop cheating advertisers, and be extra thankful this thursday that you still have an AdSense account.

[aeiouy]

Actually the standard procedure seems to be an investigation before they cut a check. You will often see people complain about getting banned right before they get their first check.

They don't spend the time or resources tracking down such things and dealing out punishments before then because a significant portion of publishers never get to the $100 threshold to begin with.

I think if you would have addressed it at the time you would have no issues now. This much later, not really sure. Crossing your fingers and hoping they didn't notice is probably not a very effective strategy.

I would contact google and explain your situation.