Never thought I'd join this club

Clicked one of my own ads. Grr.

[JollyK]

Here I go. I guess we're going to find out how lenient Google is for smaller publishers. I've got a new mouse with these stupid buttons on the sides that I'm not used to, the result of which was, I clicked one of my own ads today while trying to click the scrollbar.

Arg.

I immediately emailed adsense support with the approximate time, the site, the ad, and the URL of the ad I clicked on, bowed down, apologized profusely, asked them to please credit the advertiser, and uncredit me, etc.

*sob*

I guess if they ban me, there's still YPN. :-)

I really, really, really hate this mouse.

JK

[Visi]

For all the neighbors of JollyK the unmarked black cars in the street are nothing to worry about. Google's enforcement services are not interested in you only your neighbor, We apologize for the late night noise that what created as we entered the premises via his windows. As an offender of the TOS we had to react to this situation quickly. The spread of this potential infection into the general population can not be tolerated.

[JollyK]

LMAO!

Dang, it would almost be worth getting banned from Adsense just for the opportunity to read that post.

:-)

JK

[Key_Master]

Excuses, excuses...;)

You'll be ok.

[JollyK]

Thanks for the encouragement, Key_Master.

I still hate that mouse.

By all that's holy, if I am banned from Adsense, I WILL have my VENGEANCE upon the mouse!

That mouse is seriously headed toward being the next chew toy for a Cocker Spaniel who can chew his way through a tin of Penguin mints.

Mark my words.

And let that be a lesson to any other uppity mice with the tricksy side buttons.

JK

[incrediBILL]

Accidental clicks happen, I'm sure they factor that into your "smart pricing" :)

[Hobbs]

Finally an explanation of smart pricing that makes sense!
Now I can put it all to rest.

[longen]

Were you using the mouse google sent out in their xmas gift boxes :(

[JollyK]

Hahaha! Now that's the most sensible explanation of "smart pricing" I've heard yet, incrediBill!

If nothing else, clicking my own ad is providing comic relief. :-)

longen: I *knew* Google had a motive for that stupid mouse!

Curse you and your clever tricksy mouse presentses, Google! Curse youuuuuuu!

JK

[bluegum]

I accidentally clicked an ad a few months ago and emailed Adsense support to let them know about it. I received a polite email back a few days later thanking me for informing them and basically telling me to be more careful in the future and that was the end of the matter as far as I know.

So you probably don't need to worry too much about one accidental click so long as you inform them as you have done.

[WallyWorld]

I've had the occasional mouse slip and clicked an ad, too. Don't worry about it unless your finger got spastic and you clicked it a bunch of times.

[LisaWeber]

I've accidentally clicked my own ads twice over the last few years. Each time I did it I sent an email to adsense and they said no problem, don't do it again, and that was it.

[JollyK]

Thanks, guys, that makes me feel a little better. Most of my sites are configured to show me only my alt ads and not print the google code, but this one part of this site doesn't have that code written in yet. That's the first thing I'm going to do this weekend, you can bet. :-)

JK

[joaquin112]

That's just wrong - you're wasting the Adsense team time by e-mailing them about that. If you are getting 100+ clicks a day, it'd seem pretty stupid if they banned you for clicking your ADS once. If they did, they'd be looking to BAN you anyway and they wouldn't have to wait for you to accidentally click on your ADS to do it. Makes me wonder how many e-mails they get from people saying that they accidentally clicked on their ADS. I have clicked mine about 2 or 3 times in the past four months and I didn't have to e-mail them about it...of course that if you get 2-3 clicks/day it'd be suspicious...

[JollyK]

joaquin112: I understand where you're coming from, but when you see story after story of people who say they clicked once (or NEVER clicked their ads) and were banned without notice, well, maybe not you, but it makes me a little nervous.

Plus, come to think of it, it probably wastes the cashier's time in the supermarket if she gives me too much change, and I go and hand back the extra 50 cents, but it still seems like the right thing to do. :-)

Maybe it's too many years of reading "12-step" programs and that whole thing about "when we were wrong, promptly admitted it" just got stuck in my head.

I'm corrupted, I tell you. Corrupted.

Side-button mice and 12-step programs will be the downfall of humanity.

JK

P.S. Adsense wrote me an email thanking me for letting them know, and telling me that I should note that clicking on my ads is prohibited. Good thing they added that part. I mean, who ever would have thought?

Heh.

[Scurramunga]

I work with a pressure sensitive tablet and accidently cause an invalid click whilst trying to copy urls. I emailed Google and they responded. They thanked me for being forthright and reminded me to be a little more careful net time by using the preview tool. Trouble is I am mac based most of the time but I think I have learnt by my mistake because I take things much more slowly now.

Mind you my hair is standing on it's ends when I'm working this way.

[dcheney]

Of course, if you really want to make sure you don't accidently click an adsense ad - just block 'em. (That's what I do, I show a placeholder graphic instead - not so much because of accidental clicks, but I keep a local copy of my website that I use constantly and its just easier to keep that ad free.)

[Sobriquet]

I am getting an adsense saver software patent . it would be used only by adsense members, after they add their adsnese pub-id into it.

it would disable the mouse click function when it sees a link from google syndication with thier own PUB-ID ...

working on the software these days .... and wud distrbute it free. coming soon :)

[Xena]

I've never clicked on one of our ad's, but being clumsy it will prolly happen eventually.

I encourage you not to take vengeance on your mouse. I did that once on a newfangled 3d mouse which was being uncooperative and ended up with a broken wrist for my trouble. Pay someone else to inflict pain on it instead.

[JollyK]

I encourage you not to take vengeance on your mouse. I did that once on a newfangled 3d mouse which was being uncooperative and ended up with a broken wrist for my trouble. Pay someone else to inflict pain on it instead.

Good point, Xena, but of course, that's where the Cocker Spaniel comes in. Heck, he'll probably think it's a new kind of treat with a crispy coating. That dog would eat a bar of soap if you held it out of his reach and sounded excited and happy about it.

:-)

And -- dcheney: I do block them from myself on almost all of my sites. I actually hadn't intended to leave this particular set of ads on there as long as I have so I never put the blocking code in. Bad me. I've learned my lesson, though. :-)

JK

[creativepart]

I've clicked ads on my page before. Not very often but to check out an advertiser... to see what they were promoting because it looked shady. I've clicked on ads because I was trying to highlight the URL to add to my filter list and gotten an accidental click instead.

I've never emailed Adsense to notify them. It was no biggy.

Hey I get a hundred+ clicks a day at my site for going on 2 years, if I can't, for good reason, be one of those clicks every .000001% of the time then Adsense is set up on a hair trigger.

I'd never click to increase earnings, but come on, it is my website.

[frox]

Good point, Xena, but of course, that's where the Cocker Spaniel comes in.

The dog must be thinking you are very possessive about that mouse, having it tied up to your desk with a cord, and nevertherless always keeping you hand over it..

Once he'll have the licence to kill, he will get addicted...

[eeek]

but to check out an advertiser... to see what they were promoting because it looked shady

You should copy the url and remove the google glue to check out advertisers. Otherwise you are running a risk and it just isn't worth it.

[Jafo]

That mouse is seriously headed toward being the next chew toy for a Cocker Spaniel who can chew his way through a tin of Penguin mints.

Well, this might lead to another hillarious thread:

I told google that I didn't click my own links, my dog did!

I accidently click on my all the time when I am editing the site. I finally set up a script that always displays adsense_test ads when I am viewing the site.

[JollyK]

Heheh. Or, my CAT clicked my ads! That'd almost be more likely ...little buggers get into everything, and they do love mice.

Okay, that's my next trick.

"Silent be! It was the Cat!"

JK

[Publisher1]

Well, here is the standard adsense form reply when you email them. I inadvertently clicked on an ad today, and managed to do the same thing yesterday.

"Thank you for your notifying us of the click that has been made on one of your Google ads. Please note that clicking on your own ads for any reason is prohibited, as it has the potential to inflate advertiser costs. We appreciate your efforts toward avoiding such clicks in the future.

For future reference, to check the destination of ads on your page without the risk of invalid clicks, we suggest using the AdSense Preview Tool, available here:

[google.com...]

For additional questions, we suggest you visit our AdSense Support site at [google.com...] . If you're unable to find an answer to your question on our site, please feel free to reply to this email.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team"

Of course I have the preview function and use it -- these were true accidental clicks. It happens.