It happened two days back, just before noon. I was updating my blog and reading some other blogs at the same time when I noticed a very interesting AdSense advertisement. It was about Anwar Ibrahim, the next Prime Minister (at least that’s what the advertisement stated). So naturally, I was curious. I ended up clicking it.
I see nothing that interests me in the blog. There were a few videos in it but they didn’t generate enough curiosity for me to view it. I personally dislike politics. It’s like a 4 letter word to me, maybe worse. After all, it is 2 times a 4 letter word (“poli-tics”), isn’t it? Then I realized that the ad was actually from my own blog. I panicked.
Will I be banned by Google for my genuine mistake? Will I lose the 50 cent ad revenue that I’ve generated so far? OK OK, that’s not a lot I know. Haha. Anyway, I googled for more information on what to do next and this is what I did.
After I log into my Google account, I went to Google Support. There’s a list of category for things you can contact Google for. I look for a category that was about “invalid clicks“. In the subcategory, I chose something like “I accidentally clicked on my ads“. I fill up the details in the form. Wrote them a message telling that I ACCIDENTALLY clicked on my AdSense ad and that it was a genuine mistake from me and submitted the form.
(Notice that I sound a little uncertain of what I’m talking about here. That’s because on the time of writing, I can no longer reproduce these steps. Somehow Google removed the invalid clicks category, or I just couldn’t find it. So, there won’t be any screenshots for this post)
Just moments after submitting the form, I received a mail from Google AdSense Support team. This is part of what is in the mail:
Thanks for letting us know about the clicks on your ads. We appreciate
your honesty and your efforts to keep your account in good standing.
Although publishers are not permitted to click on their own ads for any
reason, we do understand that accidental clicks may occur, so we don’t
require that you contact us every time you click on your ads.
I guess you don’t have to inform them every single time you accidentally clicked on your own ads. However, I recommend you notify them at least once. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
For more information, check out these links:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=23921
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=62472
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/topic.py?topic=160
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=9876