I accidentally clicked an ad! :(

I don't even know which ad it was...

[Elijah]

I was right clicking on one of the adsense ads on my site so that I could see where it would send go to just like google says to do at: [google.com...]

Well clumsy me! :( While trying to copy the target url out the adsense ad I accidentally clicked on an ad. I immediately hit stop on my browser but it was too late I saw my browser saying "waiting fof pagead2.googlesydication.com etc..".
The problem is that I don't know which ad that I accidentally clicked.
I've decided from now on to never right click on the ads to find out the advertisers url but to just manually type in the domain name.

I just was approved for adsense today and have had only 1 click on so far. I've only had 2 visitors to my site since I accidentally clicked on the ad so I'm guessing it's registering my accidental click.

I'd be happy for google just to reset my clicks or just take away my only click. Anything to keep from getting thrown out of adsense.

What should I do?

(Sorry if this has been addressed before)

Elijah <== In need of help. Very worried!

Thanks for all the help you guys have given me so far!

<edit>Grammar fix.</edit>

[Blue_Fin]

Since you were just accepted today and it's your only click, I'd email them and let them know and tell them you will insure that it will never happen again.

[jbinbpt]

Don't worry..... It's only one click. Relax and watch your traffic. Since you have already owned up to it, I'm sure you will get a pass.

If they kicked everyone out that made on click, they would have nobody left to kick out.

jb

[finer9]

I dont think they would even look at your account until it is over a certain level of traffic...off of their 'radar screens'

[Marcus Aurelius]

One click is no big deal, accidents happen.

[Chndru]

Elijah,
first off, nice that you are accepted into Adsense :)
Dont worry too much about the single click. G's algo must be sophisticated enough not to trigger for things like that. Typing in the ad's url by hand is more robust.

[ChrisKud5]

When I was first accepted into Adsense and I was showing one of my buddies what it was all about from my computer, he went on to click about 100 ads from my home internet connection that night.

I emailed google and went through all that and explained to them the situation, they simply said thanks for telling us, next time just copy the URL or write it manually if I wanted to see what the ads were.

Google never revoked the amount from my account, and never withheld payment for the ads clicked from my cable modem IP.

I think they are more worried about automated programs which register clicks (obviously a lot more than 100 clicks) than they are the petty offender.

I would not even waste your or Googles time with an email over 1 click.

[Blue_Fin]

Google never revoked the amount from my account, and never withheld payment for the ads clicked from my cable modem IP.

Gosh, if I were the advertiser, I wouldn't be happy to know that at all. Google was told the clicks weren't valid yet they kept the money anyway.

[ChrisKud5]

Maybe it will be reflected in future payments?

I know why I don't pay for Adwords!

[dkoller]

I know why I don't pay for Adwords!

Google handles fradulent clicks pretty well, but even for the small percentage that slip through it natuarlly evens out. Advertisers bid on ROI, so for example even if, on average, 50% of clicks would be fradulent and recorded, the net effect would just be for advertisers to reduce their bids by 50%.

Since the actual percentage of fradulent clicks is so low, and it is very difficult for anyone to get more than a couple clicks past the system for any given account/ad, I don't see any reason to avoid adwords for fear for fradulent clicks.

[Kinitz]

One click is no big deal, accidents happen.

I don't agree!
Please report this fraudulant click immmediately to Google!

[RobbieD]

Yes report it. They will thank you for it and it shows good face. Better to be safe then sorry.

[jomaxx]

Just to keep the terminology straight, this was an inadvertent click, not a fraudulent one.

Anyway, I agree with the above. It may seem like small potatoes, but Google is probably aware you clicked on it as the site owner, so it wouldn't hurt to do a quick mea culpa.

[Elijah]

Just for future information, I reported this accidental click to google and they thanked me for telling them and assured me that my account is in good standing.

So for anyone wondering whether to report accidental clicks, I would suggest that you email google about it. It's worth telling them not only because it's the honest thing to do but because it puts your mind at rest!

Thank you all for your helpful replies!

Elijah

[Lil_Red]

It also floods them with unnecessary email so someone who actually has a real problem may get overlooked from all the trivial I clicked an ad emails.

[loanuniverse]

It all depends on the point of view. In the big picture, it would probably be best to just let the click go by and forget about it. But for the publisher specially after being in the program only one day, the matter is not trivial so it is up to him to decide wether or not the email to Google is necessary.

[powerstar]

>>>Just to keep the terminology straight, this was an inadvertent click, not a fraudulent one.

For the advertiser it might be the same. He have to pay for it one way or the other.

[Brett_Tabke]

Any link on your site is your business and PROPERTY. Of course you can and SHOULD click on them to see where they will go. You simply can not take people inserting content onto your site in blind trust. They could be serving off topic content that runs counter to your own TOS.

If not, save yourself the trouble and just sign your site over to larry and sergey today.

[Blue_Fin]

Brett, the Adsense FAQ (which is incorporated by reference in the Adsense Terms) says:

Please note that clicking on your own ads for any reason is prohibited, to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs.

so your comments are promoting a violation of the Adsense Terms.

Any link on your site is your business and PROPERTY.

Affiliate links are the property of the merchant, not the website promoting them and the merchant can demand their removal at any time.

[Brett_Tabke]

No, if it is on your site, it is your property. All of the "don't link to us" suits have been eventually won by the site owners.

[Marcus Aurelius]

"If not, save yourself the trouble and just sign your site over to larry and sergey today. "

I just needed a good chuckle, thanks brett.

[tombola]

if it is on your site, it is your property

Only the Adsense code is on my site.
The Adsense ads are located on another site/server, they are displayed in an iframe.

Conclusion: it's not on my site, it is not my property, I have no right to click it (see Adsense TOS).

[loanuniverse]

I was going to say that although it is my site and it is my property, you are entering into an agreement by participating in adsense. If you can not live with the rules, don't put the code in your site.

However, Tombola's post makes a slightly better argument so I am going to go with his position first, then I am going to go with my argument as a back up.

[freeflight2]

It's like giving somebody permission for selling candy in your frontyard: yes, it's on your property and you may throw him out of there anytime, still you can't open all the wrappers just to check if there's really candy in there (you might do that but then he would move his store to somewhere else ;)

[Marcus Aurelius]

"Conclusion: it's not on my site, it is not my property, I have no right to click it (see Adsense TOS). "

If its not on your site then you have no reason to be paid for the ads you are not displaying.

Can we please stop this nonsense already. It is your site, it is on your site, and it is generating YOU money. Google is a great company and they are doing a lot of things right. But can we at a minimum keep a small sense of reality. Google like everyone else has their own threats and they are significant. They were/are the internet darling child, that fades in a heartbeat. They are now in a league with sharks, big ones.

Technology can be bought and or the people hired to create a powerhouse: Example: Oracle dominating db's, gates hires the big guns in db design and boom sql server is born and its one hell of a db and getting better. Underestimating the 50 billion dollars bill gates is toying with is not a smart idea.

When longhorn arrives and if it become the dominant automatic searching tool it claims to be, google may be in a world of hurt, if ms can match googles relevance. 50 billion buys a crap load of supersmart techies, heck 1/4 of that can probably just buy you MIT.

MS does one thing better than any company in history, and that is play catchup and kill.

Lastly, have some pride in your own site for heavens sake. Google is big because they stuck to their ideals, shouldn't you?

[Marcus Aurelius]

No one is advocating stealing, everyone is advocating watching your own house because in the end you are responsible for it.

Google should provide a way you can opt in and discount any clicks you make on your own site. This way a webmaster can test and make sure that junk isn't being served without costing the advertiser anything and creating less hassle and fear in the first place.

Google wants to guarantee integrity of search results and clicks, and we as honest webmasters want to guarantee the integrity of the ads served on our SITE.

[loanuniverse]

Lastly, have some pride in your own site for heavens sake. Google is big because they stuck to their ideals, shouldn't you?

Woooooahhhhh, what does that mean exactly? How do you know other people's ideals? Do you mean your ideals?

Edit:

Another thing:

Google should provide a way you can opt in and discount any clicks you make on your own site. This way a webmaster can test and make sure that junk isn't being served without costing the advertiser anything and creating less hassle and fear in the first place.

That exists already is called the right click -> copy shortcut -> delete everything but the target url -> go to site

[jomaxx]

I'm afraid Brett's argument makes no sense to me. There are hundreds of ads that run on my sites - I guess I should click them all to make sure they're clean? And by the same reasoning AdWords advertisers should expect to have their ads clicked on by the owner of every site worldwide on which they may appear? Needless to say that would be the end of AdSense.

[Marcus Aurelius]

"That exists already is called the right click -> copy shortcut -> delete everything but the target url -> go to site "

And if you screw up and accidently click, you are in the same paranoid boat as when this thread started. The point is you should be able to click without fear and have those clicks discounted automatically for the advertiser.

[mack]

Tend to go with Brett on this one. No one tells me what to do on my site.

Mack.