Adsense Mistakes #3: Clicking Your Own Ads

Have you heard the phrase “self-praise is no recommendation“? Well, whether or not you have, it’s true. If you are intent on becoming President or Prime Minister, then you are not going to get very far by wandering the streets saying “I’m amazing! Vote for me! Ask me about how fantastic I am – you’ll be stunned by what a good account I give of myself!“.

By the same token, you are not going to make much money on Adsense by consistently clicking your own ads. This has less to do with the fact that it takes a lot of clicks to make any real money, and more to do with the fact that Google are not stupid. You’re not going to get any money from clicking your own ad – Google knows where the clicks are coming from and it will rule out any that you make for yourself.

Now, there is a difference between inadvertently clicking on your own ad – or trying it just to see what will happen – and consistently and regularly clicking on it. In the first case, Google doesn’t bother much about it because such things can happen by accident or be put down to curiosity. But if you try to game them by repeated clicking on your ad, they will know – and not only will they not pay you, they will ban you.

There is a double punishment for anyone who tries to hoodwink the system in this way, which makes it doubly stupid to even try. Firstly, you waste a lot of your own time for no gain at all. Secondly, you won’t be allowed to use the service anymore. So it’s not worth trying to see if you can do it – do you think they’re about to hand out free money to everyone?