Arrr!!! Schools/colleges/unis have the same IP?!?!

Hi all!

i'm working at a school on placement right now, in the tech/IT dept.

Anyways, i've shown the kids my site to play games at break, but another guy who works there told me (after i explained that i lose my adsense account if ads are clicked-and reclicked), that schools all use the same IP.

I dont get many hits to my site - but on avarage google says i get about 2000 page views, and about 7 clicks a week. I get an avarage of 40 uniques a day.

Im just worried that all the clicks have been by the same IP from the kids on my site.

Is this too low to worry about? My site has been made for unis/college students - i dont know what to do???

Google hasnt said anything, but i've only made $8, i dont want to get to my first 100 only to be told that right at the begining my account was doomed!

Damn i wish google just blocked reclicks to ads

Thanks for any advice - or anyone who tells me to stop worrying about nothing.

Regards

 

My site is aimed soley at Nottingham students - no probs.

 

Cheers man, thats a huge relief!

I just hope google sees it the same way.

Have you had any cheques from google yet, with so many clicks from the same ip???

 

I think it would be smart to mail Google about this.
Another solution would be to filter that ip from your website, in other words, if someone from that school visits your website, then it doesnt show any ads.

 

Be sure you *never* log in to your adsense account from school. Also, if too high a percentage of clicks comes from the same IP, you might get in trouble, even if you aren't connected to it. (You might not get banned, but the clicks might be reversed)

 

I agree, but wouldn't Google notice that the ads are being clicked from different computers by using the Google cookie?

 

how would you implement the filter ip thing?

 

The filter ip thing:

<?php
//Insert ip here
$ipthatyouwanttofilter = "255.255.255.255";

if($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] != $ip) {
echo 'insert google ad script here';
}
?>

 

i think this could be a problem. google knows the geo location (you can buy databases who translate ip adresses to a locatation, quite accurate up to city level) and a "fingerprint" of each computer (screen resolution+color depth+browser version+os version+...), which may also be the same in a computer room. i dont know how much they give for cookies, because everyone can edit them.

 

I doubt they will check the screen resolution. The GEO ip thing could be true. But that wouldn't be anymore usefull than checking the ip.
I know cookies are editable, but so are the resolution, OS etc. They can't know for sure it's really another pc that is clicking the ads.

 

if you have access to php & mysql:

php:

$ip = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];

$ip_query = 'SELECT * FROM filtered_ips WHERE ip = "' . $ip . '"';

if(mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($ip_query)) == 0) {
print "<adsense stuff here>";
}

PHP:

Mysql:

CREATE TABLE filtered_ips (
id int(3) NOT NULL auto_increment,
ip varchar(16) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id));

Code (markup):

Use phpMyAdmin or similar to update the mysql db.

No mysql?

php:

$ip = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];

$ip_array = ("xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx", "xxx.xxx.xxx.xx");

if(!in_array($ip, $ip_array)) {
print "<adsense stuff here>";
}

PHP:

I didn't test either, but should work.

 

I would use the non-mysql one. Using mysql for ip-tracking purposes is very heavy for the server. If you would generate one query for every visitors, and you have 200 visitors at the same time, think what would do that to your server load.
The non-mysql thing is better, because all the checking for ip's is done within the scripts, and no other processes have to be called.

 

php solution is better for a small number of IPs. But once the list gets large then mysql is better. The solution could be improved so only one mysql query per session using cookies. use "setcookie" after checking the ip is allowed and then set a long duration for the session. you would now just need to check the correct cookie value is set.

 

I login from the uni network and no problems. Chances are i've probably logged in from the same computer which people have used to click on ads, again no problem.

 

Another point - sometimes whole streets have the same ip

 

have you gotten your first check, notting?

 

Yes, but what are the chances that a whole street will all be on your site at the same time clicking on multiple ads within a 24-hour period?

 

only a point of interest. (unless you have a very very niche website!)

 

I recommend being overly cautious. Google can dump you if they suspect you of fraud. You don't have to actually commit it. (read the ToS)

 

You still haven't answered devin09's question yet. Have you gotten your first check from Google yet?