Please note that under no circumstances should you intentionally click your own Adsense ads but occasionally accidents do happen and generate Adsense invalid clicks.
I am usually very careful and protective of my Adsense Account and try my very best to abide by Google’s policies and guidelines. I had just finished publishing an article and was previewing the article after publishing it to make sure everything was OK and to my surprise on clicking the article title from the summary on the blog main page, I looked up to see the cursor on the Adsense ad, it seemed the Google custom search engine box had loaded slowly which was above it and pushed each element of the page down one level placing the Ad right beneath the my cursor.I mean this is the stuff that haunt the nightmares of bloggers the world over and here it was in reality.
I felt time stop and my heart melt, my pulse was racing and I was thinking what the crap Am i going to do, in a split second my brain scrambled together close the browser windows and before anything loaded, I close the entire browser window down. I was unsure of what to do in the situation so I went to the Adsense control panel and logged in, hoping the Adsense accidental click did not register. After a while it did show up and I was really crapping myself now. I went online and began educating myself and I found the solution,this is what I learned from the entire experience.
Yep it finally happened you made the big mistake.
What you should Know about Adsense Invalid Clicks
What you need to know about accidental clicks
From Google themselves:
I accidentally clicked on my own ads. Will this cause a problem for my account?
Although publishers are not permitted to click on their own ads for any reason, we do understand that accidental clicks may occur. We therefore don’t require that you contact us every time you click on your ads. Rest assured that your account is being properly credited for all clicks and impressions we consider to be valid.
You can read more about accidental clicks and keeping your account in Good standing here
What does this all mean?
Well for one you can stop panicking like I did, and realize that the Adsense team actually have realistically looked at the problem and do realize that even once in a while you may accidentally click your own ads, so as long as you are not clicking your ads on purpose to inflate your earnings (Click fraud) and it was a random accident that may happen every once in a while the system will flag it and automatically adjust your figures.
In my case after a while the amount that was credited based on the Adsense invalid click was automatically removed. But as was said you do not need to report it simply be extra careful not to make it happen often or appear as if you are trying to game the system.If you would like to take extra precautions read on.
What to do if you accidentally click your own ads or get click bombed?
If you get clicked bombed you should definitely report it as soon as possible (See the link Below), however if you are like me with an accidental click and you would still like to report it, although the system will most likely flag it and make corrections, to be on the safe side you can report both concerns in the same way, but the form is really intended for click bombing incidents or suspicious activity that may threaten you account:
Here is the link to the form for reporting Click Bombing incidents and Invalid clicks: Click here
If you have a horror story as mine, think of this as bloggers therapy and share your story, before this incidence I had a few nightmares about accidentally clicking my own ads and I know you too have had them so go ahead and share your story in the comments below.
