Hello, buddies. What a nice day outside, eh? Anyways. A reader of my weblog told me recently that he often is interessed in all the four banners my website displays (you know, the ad configuration that shows 4 banners, it's a skyscrapper if I'm not mistaken), and that alarmed me greatly. Isn't that putting me at risk of getting my account cancelled? What to do? I told him never to do that, but he said he was interessed in all four banners
Seriously though, this guy clicking an all four banners could put me in trouble, right? This is making me worried.
He can't and won't. Google will at the most ignore the clicks. I'm sure if Google should mind what he does, they'll send you an email and ask what's going on.
Don't discuss the advertisements at all. Don't acknowledge that they are there. When you are a small-timer, the momement word gets out that you want people to click on the ads, some idiot is going to get you into trouble. I find it odd that someone would just "bring this up".
I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that someone is "often interested in all four banners". My guess is that this "someone" is one of your little click buddies!
I think I'm not the one who needs to relax, it's you guys. What's with the accusations? No, it isn't "weird" that someone would bring it up. My website is actually a blog, with a comments system. Not only that, but my email is displayed on the website, and anyone knows that weblogs tend to generate TONS of feedback - specially one that has been quoted on a radio show and has over 1000 pageviews a day. Anyways, one guy told me on MSN that he usually clicks on all four banners because he thinks they are interesting; and that concerned me. The reason why he said that is probably as if he were saying "see, I'm giving you a hand". Needless to say, I never asked him or anyont to click on the ads. I'm doing good on Adsense, why risk it? Let's think for a secong before pointing fingers, shall we? If I were indeed making these clicks, or having "click buddies", the fact that I show concern about that would indicate that I DO know TOS, and that I DO know that it is wrong. Therefore, why would I bother posting? I would already know it's wrong, and I would already know it would get me in shit with Google. Therefore, it makes no sense. It's like a robber asking someone if robbing is wrong. Assumptions, assumptions... when did I say the person was a "random" visitor? The guy is my friend. I met him thru my website, and we've been talking online for the past year. He visits my website, i visit his. And no, he doesn't have adsense, so we're not in some sort of brotherhood of clicks like some of you accused. I do know the TOS, and I know what I can and can't do. Let's just drop the pointless accusations, shall we? I believe we're all adults here.
And by the way, I do know posting information such as page impressions are illegal on TOS. BUT, I have another counter (Nedstat), which is of public access. Anyone who clicks on the Nedstat icon on my website can see how many pageview I have, so I'm not divulging anything that isn't already public (I thought I'd mention that. Apparently some people really like pointing fingers. Its a shame, really. This is the only forum I post on where there's no flamewars, I guess that's changing.)
I assumed he was a random visitor for your sake. If it is someone you actually know, that is a fairly reasonable problem for you. You asked a question in your original post worried that your account might get canceled.. then you follow up by saying you know the TOS. Since you know the TOS you know that if a friend of yours is clicking on 4 of your ads every time he visits your site, you are potentially in jeopardy. You could just wait it out and hope Google does nothing, you could bring it to their attention, throw yourself on their mercy and hope you didn't stir a hornet's nest.. but that is ultimately up to you. I would suggest you make sure all of your friends know to never click on any ads on your site. Again, you asked a question about the TOS and then you said you know what you can and can't do... So it is not clear what the intent of your original post was... Regardless, I suggest you do what seems right to you in order to protect your business and your income now and in the future. My personal opinion is nothing will happen, as long as your friend only did this once or twice. If he did it every day for a month, you will probably have a problem. If you think you might have a problem, I definately suggest being proactive rather than reactive.
I think otherwise. Him being my friend, I can dissuade him from this behavior. If he were someone I didn't know, he would've never told me, and would keep doing so, and then I'd be in trouble. I shall talk to him as soon as possible and tell him not to do so. Although I'm a bit worried about telling him why. I never told anyone anything about AdSense, because I collected a couple of enemies ("a couple" being "dozens") over these 5 years of "public life" on the internet. I receive spam daily on my hotmail account, and often gay men add my email to their MSN because "someone posted it on gay chatrooms". Now, this is just a minor hassle. Imagine if these stalkers knew that I can get in trouble if they click on my banner repeatedly. That would cause REAL damage. For my own sake, I never mention anything regarding AdSense that on my website. Anyways, that's why I'm not so sure about going and telling someone (being them friends, or not) that them clicking on my banners repeatedly could get me in trouble. That's the kinda information I rather not divulge, you know? I never know, this guy could hate me tomorrow, or the day after that, and then what? He now knows something that could screw me big time. Worse comes to worse, I'll block his access to the website altogether. And the worse thing is, deep down he actually thinks he's helping me...
Which makes me wonder, wouldn't it be MUCH easier if Google simply blocked people from double-clicking altogether?
I'm a little confused. So is this person "often interested in all four banners" or is he tryng to help you by padding your Adsense account?
You might be in a trouble, because your "friend" might threaten multiple clicks from your website which is quite unusual and may trigger Google's attention to your account. How competitive are your keywords? If they aren't competitive, don't worry.
He says he's interested in all four banners. But the way he tells me that, it's as if he wants to let me know he's helping me (maybe I'm mistaken, but it's the impression that I get). This is obviously besides the point, since I never asked him to "help me" with adsense. I can't control my readers actions, you know.
"Hey, click buddy, each click you do is costing advertisers money. So please don't click on them unless you're interested in the product/service being advertised."
I think a lot of visitors legitimately click on 2 or more ads. I also have a feeling that G has a way of detecting artificial click patterns, but that's just speculation. Tell your friend that he isn't helping, he's risking getting your acct banned.