Competitor Asking Visitors to Click on Ads

[mysticalsock]

If one of your competitors was blatantly telling their visitors to click on the google ads what would you do?

[AndyA]

I'd probably turn them in to Google.

Breaking the rules helps no one. Advertisers lose money, and cut back on future ad budgeting because they feel it doesn't produce results. It compromises the entire AdSense program.

If the ads are targeted properly, and are relevant to the interests of your site visitors, you shouldn't have to "encourage" them to click on the ads. Google allows a lot of options to make the ads stand out, blend in, or whatever works best to make people notice them.

There are enough junk sites around running AdSense, and no doubt they are partially responsible for the lower EPCs many of us are seeing right now. Your competitor should know what the rules are, and if they choose to break the rules they should be prepared for the consequences of their actions.

[OnlyToday]

A no-brainer. The "no-snitch" rule may make sense and be used for self preservation on the playground, in prison, or on gang-infested streets but anywhere else it runs counter to everything civilization stands for and is itself immoral.

[nomis5]

Tell Google by all means, but be realistic. Nothing is likely to happen. So walk away from it, forget the moral dilemma, save your time and end up with exactly the same result.

The moral dilemma isn't one really. A site that blatantly asks visitors to clickon its ads is not professional and likely won't last very long. They will get their just rewards in the long term.

[fredw]

Here's another alternative. I have a friendly relationship with one of my closest competitors, see him at industry functions, etc. When I saw he was doing something on his site to promote clicking of the ads (affiliates and Adsense) I sent him a note saying that was against Adsense policy. He emailed me back saying thanks, he didn't know, and he stopped doing it.