Blocking our own 'false' impressions

[apprentice]

Is there any legitimate way for us to block our own IP address for AdSense in order to prevent counting impressions from our own visits to our sites? By legitimate I mean anything that alters the actual code generated by AdSense and violates the ToS. So far, I have read about using PHP and a simple condition for disabling the ads and a suggestion of adding "127.0.0.1 googlesyndication.com" to the Windows host file.

Isn't there any way to do this properly from within the AdSense account i.e. block by IP address or create a blocking cookie (for dynamic IP addresses)? If it is, I just couldn't find it.

Regards

[ogletree]

No there is no way to do it with anything google provides. What you said is the best way. I would not worry about it. Google is not going to come after you if you accidently click one ad.

[apprentice]

Thanks ogletree,

My concern was mostly the impressions, as my presence would generate false impressions and therefore, lower my earnings when actually someone clicks on an ad. I haven't actually spend the time to read how the earning per click relates to the number of impressions but I guess there is got to be some formula for that. Hopefully I will have some time to learn more issues surrounding AdSense, but that was my key concern at the moment. My other concern is how to track any abusers (those who try to sabotage a site by clicking on the ads). I guess there is no easy way to determine that either, but this is for future reference.

Regards.

[ogletree]

Your impressions do not factor into your earnings. If you have low traffic on your site there is not enough data for you to make any conclusions about anything. All that matters is the amount of money you make at the end of the day. That is the only important stat. Get more traffic. Blend your ads into the site. Use a wide skyscraper on the left side or put a wide banner across the top. I heard an Adsense rep say the other day on Jenstars new radio show that she was personally going to buy adwords to send traffic to her adsense site. Try that. Don't waste your time on silly things like impressions. Next thing you know people will say you need to have your site validate to earn more or if you wear a green shirt.

[anton23]

I have the impression that google already discountes your own impressions.

[apprentice]

That was useful, but I forgot to mention that I do not expect (at least not in the near future) to make serious money using AdSense. Curretly I am using it so that I get to know it better for when it really matters (that is when I get some serious traffic!).

>Blend your ads into the site. Use a wide skyscraper on the >left side or put a wide banner across the top.

Currently I use a 120x240 vertical small banner on the right. I am aware of guidelines that can help to make the most out of AdSense i.e. put them at the top, or between paragraphs, blend them as you said, by using similar color for background and text etc. I am sure that works, but I do not want to shadow the content of the site completely, especially because it is very little as yet. Just to give you an idea, I have even placed the ads in a box with a title "sponsored listings".

>Next thing you know people will say you need to have your >site validate to earn more or if you wear a green shirt.

Do you mean W3C logos? If yes, I got most of them. That was my first thing even before the site went online;)

To anton23: How? Is it via IP? What if someone is on a dynamic connection? In such case, the only way they can possibly know its me, is if I login to my AdSense account (I guess).

Thanks for your input towards my queries.

Regards.

[northaqua]

ogletree

That's a good post!

Now where ya get the green shirts?

I visit my own site several times each day as I have a news feed on a topic that I am involved in offline.

If I don't read the news on my own site then I can't really complain if no one else does.

My own page views haven't had any effect upon my earnings as far as I can determine.

I at one time worried about it, not anymore. I have a site that people read. In fact many visitors make 4 - 10 page views.

The thing about having adsense on your site, is the same as having a website, you need to get traffic, if the visitors see an ad of interest they'll click on it, if not they'll read another page or leave.

That's the formula.

[Andrew Bassett]

Apprentice, yes you can do it. In fact, I do it on my own site.

Anton, Google tallies your impressions just as they tally your own clicks.

[northaqua]

apprentice

No Disrespect to your question intended.

All I can say is work on getting traffic, the issues and concerns of today will be mute. Build a site that people want to see, start with a few people and give them what they seek. That few will someday become many!

Many people forget that as Publishers we are also doing advertisers a favour. If we own legit domains and we have real content, they'll want the hits that we send.

The people that build MFA sites will get killed by internet users and advertisers alike. That is just a matter of time.

It does hurt when you get discounted due to all the bogus sites, but visitors will decide what is real or not.

Don't worry about your own page views.

[apprentice]

Thank you all for your contributions. And yes, my main concern at the moment is getting some traffic. The content of the site is little; partly because of the way the information is compiled but also because I try to be a bit original. That takes time, but hopefully I will get there one day.

Regards.

[Sweet Cognac]

Just to give you an idea, I have even placed the ads in a box with a title "sponsored listings".

Just wondering if there is a specific benefit or reason for doing this since adsense already says "Ads by Google"

[Knappster]

ASA has explicitly stated in the past [webmasterworld.com] that publishers can view ads on their own sites without worry (although "excessive reloads" are warned against [webmasterworld.com]).

[apprentice]

I know - I agree that I might have been a bit paranoid on an attempt to ensure that the ads will not be confused for site content even by the newbie surfer. Although it is quite acceptable from a ToS perspective not to indicate the ads as 'sponsored listings', I thought I should go and be completely honest of what 'ads by google' means. Besides that is written in a really tiny font size which might even be overlooked if the ad itself is irresistible:-( Your observation is perfectly valid however.

Knappster: That was a good thread you supplied, thanks! It seems I wasn't the only one who was getting worried about generating false impressions, but considering the numbers of false impressions some other people mentioned there, mine is relatively nothing. Still it would be a good feature to be able to block ourselves by using IP, or when not applicable, a cookie. Even free services like StatCounter offer such feature - I am sure Google will consider offering such functionality sooner or later. It would be unfair by any means not to be able to browse our own site at our leisure!

Regards.

[Sweet Cognac]

I realize it's not against TOS, but I'm just curious as to whether you think visitors are more apt to pay attention to links labeled Sponsored Listings, such as, take the time to read them and/or click them.

I have the phrase sponsored listings at the bottom of my page over my affiliate ads. I have adsense at the top of my page with no Sponsored Listings phrase.

I guess it's personal preference, or depends on your layout?

It seems like an easier way would be to just not "blend" them in to your site.

[apprentice]

More towards personal preference I would say. The ad layout fully blends with the rest of the site, expect of course the notice "sponsored listings".