hello, i was recently looking over my own website and an advert caught my eye, obviously my site shows ads that are related to my interests. i clicked on the ad to read more then realised that this was my own ad and i was not supposed to do this as it is breach of ToS. now i am worried that i will be banned. i did not click it to make money i was genuinely intersted. is there anything i can do? would it be advisable to contact adsense and explain?
One click doesnt really matter. But to be on the safe side, you can inform adsense support about the same.
To my knowledge the adsense team once said you shouldn't contact them if you accidentally click your own ad. adsense.blogspot.com/2007/05/accidents-happen.html (I can't put links in my posts) "However, we do understand that an accidental click may occur from time to time, so there's no need to contact us each instance this occurs."
They have a contact form to contact if you should accidentally click one of your ads. Contact them because it's better safe than sorry
what about 4 times in 2 months? few times I was drunk and clicked by mistake. I didn't get any money for those clicks.
I feel that accidental clicking is really a minor thing, you really do not need to start a thread on this, just be more careful in the future. If I am a Google staff handling your email saying that you accidentally click your Adsense once, I guess I would be quite piss off, they have better and more important things to do.
I have done it before, nothing really to worry about but if you are still a little worried then just contact adsense support and let them know.
i have heard that they are no longer punishing webmasters clicking on their ads, when they are really interested in the ad. so, one click should be ok.
i am pleased to hear that most people think google will turn a blind eye to one click i started a thread as i just wanted some advice, as i am new to adsense and managing a site and people here seem to have good understanding and have given me some good advice. as most people think it is not important i wont bother contacting google about it.
If you want to, you can inform google about it here google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py?search_ask=1&subtopic=&contact=rpv&main_topic=other&contact_type=11&contact_topic=Report+a+policy+violation&Action.Search=Continue
One accidental click or two doesn't matter. If you have mistakenly clicked several times, you may then need to report them to Google.
Dont worry google dont mind 1 click as this possible would mean that user had not clicked intentionally...but if the click amout is more than 2-3 times then there certainly is a suspicion....and google may look in to the matter more seriously