If a fellow hubber clicks on Google ads

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   Bard of Elyposted 13 years ago

   Can it go against Google rules if they have deliberately done this thinking they are helping you? I am worried because I just had a comment posted saying "thumbs up and adsense."

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      rizwan_isriaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If any one clicks on the your adds it means they not helping you but they are creating trouble 4 u coz Google knows every thing, say them to dnt click on your adds if they are not interested n\on that add

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   2. 0

      Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      There have been hubbers in the past complaining that they lost their Adsense account this way. Whether they gave an accurate picture of what actually happened is difficult to say.
      
      Also, there have been recent discussion to the effect that clicking on other hubbers' ads is a no-no even if it happens out of interest and not for personal gain.
      
      If you are concerned, you could contact Google and/or keep a close eye on Analytics.

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      lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I had a similar comment several months ago, and I was not happy about it. One click from one IP address isn't going to raise any red flags with Google. But let's say that same person clicks on one ad on each of your hubs, or one ad on your hub over several days--then Google may take notice.
      
      Even if that person clicking the ads has the best intents, at the end of the day, Google is going to penalize you--not them. So why take any risks?

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      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I would recommend that you delete the comment, and then forget about the whole episode.

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2. 79

   Bard of Elyposted 13 years ago

   Damn - this is what I feared! This is the sort of help I definitely don't want!

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      kirstenblogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      From what I have heard/read if you contact google saying you think clicks you have gotten are unusual and could be fraudulent, could they look into it, you are in a much safer position with them as you have shown an active intrest in not earning from fraud clicks. Don't contact them and they find out about fraud clicks, you won't stand a chance. I have only had one instance of someone doing this on my hubs and I told them kindly that they could get both their and my account banned. I think HP must have gotten a few of those clicks as well so in the end I was ok but thats when I tried to find out the best way to protect my account and read that if you report possible fraud clicks then all they do is not credit you for those clicks, thats it and for me that is just dandy

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      thranaxposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Google isnt dumb, delete the comment and just go on with life. Getting a few rare clicks from a random person in the world isn't any different then having a normal visitor come by and click an ad. There is no way to tell the difference, that person looks like a normal visitor.
      
      Now if you randomly have 15-100 clicks on a hub that only got 5 visitors you have an issue.
      
      ~thranax~

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   Bard of Elyposted 13 years ago

   Thanks for all the advice here. I have sent the person concerned an email saying I am praying she hasn't been clicking on the ads and please don't do so in future. OK, Thranax, I will delete the comment!

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4. 67

   Peter Hogganposted 13 years ago

   Why shouldn’t other Hubbers click on your ads and why should that be seen a fraudulent? I could click on an ad all day and you wouldn’t see any financial benefit nor would you be in any danger. If it was that easy to get an account suspended open war between some of the protagonists in the religious forums would be declared.
   
   Google definitely isn’t dumb.

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      thranaxposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Actually it happens all the time. Large websites that use google must file reports to google because there competitors keep clicking there ads to get the account banned (and put them out of business). The only saving grace you have is if they also use adsense theirs a good chance google will track them down and cancel there accounts.
      
      ~thranax~

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         Peter Hogganposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         How do you identify competitors clicks that Google cant detect?
         
         Are you saying another Hubbers can get your account suspended by clicking your ad repeatedly?
         
         If so that is worying.

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            thranaxposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yup. But the good news is, if you try to go spam click a Hubber theirs a good chance most of the clicks go into Hubpages account impressions.
            
            Hubpages is a Premium user, there clicks are monitored better then say your little website with 2 ads a page.
            
            It is possible to get banned from these clicks though.
            
            ~thranax~

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      psycheskinnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It is fraudulant to clikc on a link for any reason other than spontaneous interest in the link.  Adsense is not paying us for clicks, but for potential customers.  Any "wrong" looking click may mean then when you account is reviewed just before pay out... well, you don't get paid.

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         Peter Hogganposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         psycheskinner, I wasn’t suggesting that anyone clicks on another’s ads just to help them make them money or in appreciation for a well written hub, that would be fraudulent.

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         Peter Hogganposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Is it just wrong then to click on another Hubbers ad even if I am interested?

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            Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I think you may find this prior thread informative, the issue was discussed at length.
            
            
            http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/44351

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   Richieb799posted 13 years ago

   Yes I would be upset if someone went around clicking on different hub ads of mine..it would annoy me that their ignorance could destroy all my hard work
   
   How could Analytics help you find out their ip address?

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      lucieanneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      However........ when I first joined hubpages and didn't have a clue what I was doing, I inadvertently clicked on ads on the information hubs, thinking that I was going to gain knowledge (I was a bit dumber a few weeks ago than I am now) The thing is, on the educational hubs I (or someone else like me) might click on an ad thinking that it's gonna be beneficial to our learning the craft, so why do google put ads on which us fellow hubbers might use? You'd think they'd know they're gonna get internal clicks surely?

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   habeeposted 13 years ago

   I've wrestled with this, too. I've seen ads on other hubbers' hubs that I really wanted to learn more about! I resisted the temptation, however, as I didn't want to cause problems for anyone. But hey, why can't we be seen as potential customers, if we're genuinely interested in purchasing something from an ad on a hub?

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   mega1posted 13 years ago

   Almost all my traffic lately is from other hubbers - which explains why I'm getting no ad revenue!  Who the heck is gonna click on the ads, then?  I can see it would be a problem if one hubber started clicking a lot on all your ads just to "help", but I don't see why it should be bad if hubbers use this site like any other viewer and when they see an ad they are sincerely interested, why not click on it?  I don't think that would get you in trouble.  But I am beginning to see how this site mainly makes the money for the owners, not the writers and readers!  Wht about if someone is a hubber but also a member of some other site and they come to your hub from this other site, like RedGage and click on an ad?  This is all getting very ridiculous.

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      lucieanneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      most of my traffic is from other hubbers too and I've only had something like 5 clicks. How are you supposed to make money if there's only other hubbers reading and they're not allowed to click on ads?

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         ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Learning how to win search engine traffic, which is the whole point in the site. 92% of my traffic is from search engines, 5% from direct sources, 3% internal. You need to learn basic SEO and how to identify and analyse keywords. Thankfully all you have to do is use the search box above, a gateway to hundreds of greats hubs about these very topics.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         This is a common misunderstanding on HubPages. Many Hubbers join, get absorbed in all the community aspects of the site - Hub/Hubber scores, following and commenting etc - and think that's how you make money.
         
         Although that's all very warm and fuzzy, you don't make any money from the community. You earn money by attracting visitors from search engines, who are looking for an answer to a problem, or searching for a product or service.
         
         It takes a few months for your Hub to rank well enough in search engines to be noticed.  That's why you're not getting clicks yet.

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      thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Personally this risk of losing your account is very slim because of other hubbers clicking your ads, but I think it is still there. 
      
      You should be aiming to get more organic traffic than anything else, a lot of my hubs get little hubpages traffic, but huge amounts of organic traffic. that is where I make my sales, and my ppc earnings.

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   Spirit Huggerposted 13 years ago

   I had no idea this was a problem, but am REALLY appreciating all the insight gained on this thread, so thank you Bard of Ely for asking in the first place!
   
   Perhaps I am naive to the ways of big-business (and especially this new frontier of internet Big Business), but it seems absolutely insane to me that other Hubbers cannot legitimately constitute some part of each other's "impresssions" and click-throughs for AdSense. I mean, really! We are on here for hours at a time, reading each other's writing and commenting and thinking about all our own To-Do lists and world peace and whatnot while trying to write something fantastic and thought-provoking ourselves... Isn't it possible I might actually BUY something, if I see an ad that looks truly interesting? And is that somehow wrong?  Do they only want people to click or buy who somehow don't "know" the Secrets of AdSense? Like the rest of the world are unsuspecting sheep, and thus fair game, but somehow we are in the grey-zone of The Initiated, so we can't actually spend a shekel or two on each other's pages?
   
   That would be like banning people who own a stall at a convention, trade show, or farmer's market from patronizing any of the other booths. Ridiculous!
   
   I appreciate (now) that I somehow missed the fine print on this rule, and will not click on anyone else's ads ever again (I admit, I have followed one or two interesting ones before... THE HORROR). I don't want to cause anyone any trouble (and am pretty sure my one or two honest expressions of curiosity cannot possibly have been harmful). I knew better to click on my own Ads, of course. But it never occurred to me we weren't SUPPOSED to be reading each other's pages. Including the advertisements!
   
   Does anyone know if this includes other ads as well, or just AdSense? What about a particularly intriguing Ebay item or hand-selected Amazon stuff? Can we not pursue those links on other Hubber's pages either?

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      Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You have to look at it from Googles POV.  There are people who put up websites designed to attract high paying ads and then hire other people to click on them.   That devalues the ad for the advertiser and also hurts the rest of us - if advertisers know that some percentage of clicks are fraudulent, they lower their bid prices to compensate.
      
      I don't know about you, but I am seldom interested in ads.  Once in a great while I do see something I want to follow up on.  I doubt that once a year click matters, but if it's on my site, I right click to extract the advertiser and go directly to their site rather than clicking.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Spirit Hugger, the point is that you're saying two different things here.
      
      If a Hubber clicks on ads with the intention of "constituting some part of each other's click-throughs", that's called click fraud.  Clicking on an ad purely to benefit the publisher is against Google's TOS.    Google can see your IP address - if you're clicking repeatedly on ads on a site over a short period (and remember, HubPages is all one big site), they'll see it as suspicious.
      
      So in general, to avoid any possible risk, you should never click on an ad purely to do anyone a favour.
      
      However, if you see a genuinely interesting ad - and it's not on your own Hub! - I don't see any reason why you shouldn't click on it.  So long as it's very occasional, with a reasonable intent to buy, I don't think it would do any harm.

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      darksideposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Avoid the Ebay ads, as they are now PPC. But Amazon is fine to click thru.

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   allpurposeguruposted 13 years ago

   I agree with Spirit Hugger and others who have taken a similar viewpoint.
   
   Surely there is a difference between clicking on an ad because it looks interesting and clicking on an ad just to click on an ad. This thread got started because someone apparently clicked on a random ad or two or three and then commented to the author about it. Clicking just to click is apparently fraud, and if someone gets caught at it, someone else is likely to share the punishment.
   
   It appears to me that I get a fair amount of search engine traffic, but very little AdSense benefit. I have started to tweak under-read hubs to attract even more search engine traffic. Maybe that will help. But as far as who clicks on ads is concerned, I don't care if another Hubber is genuinely interested in exploring an ad. I don't suppose Google is, either.

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      Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I agree: if the click is genuine, the advertiser is happy to pay for it and Google is happy to pass on the percentage to the website.
      
      It's the old story of Caesars wife needing to be above suspicion. There should be no reason at all why I can't click on an ad on your hub if I really am interested.  If I did that once a year, nobody would ever notice.  If I did it every day, it would look suspicious regardless of my real intent.
      
      If there were not so many dishonest people, we wouldn't have to even think about this.

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10. 79

    Bard of Elyposted 13 years ago

    Thanks  everyone for all the comments, advice and discussion here! I am naturally paranoid about such matters as I need money coming in from here so want to keep within the rules whether I like them or not! For people who didn't realise this I am glad I have alerted you! There is a lot we need to know to make a success of our sites and I am learning all the time!
    Ryankett, I deleted it and am going to forget about it now! Thanks for your advice!

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    Karen Nposted 13 years ago

    A random click here or there won't cause a problem. Now if there is a pattern, that will definitely get your account banned.

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       Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I wonder how often people actually get banned here on HubPages for this reason, it would be helpful if there was some statistics available.

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    Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

    @ Spirit Hugger -  Reading one another's Hubs is not the problem.  In fact, it is quite welcome.  If you read a Hub that you like, by all means mention it to others you know.
    
    It's the clicking on ads that is the problem.  All of us have done it innocently at some time, but the points that pcunix and others have made are really important.  Google actually does have the ability to know where the clicks come from, and it's best to be above suspicion.  So, if you are genuinely interested in an ad, enter it from a different route, not by clicking on the HubPage where you see it.
    
    Since Amazon and eBay revenue comes from actual sales rather than from the click-through rate, clicking on those links has a different meaning; and therefore, it should not be a problem to check out those items from a Hubber's page.  [But, if a more experienced Hubber tells you otherwise, listen to them!  I'm pretty new at all of this myself.]
    
    @ lucieanne - If you have 5 clicks in your first two months, you are really not doing so badly.  It probably seems very slow, but if you stroll through the forums, you'll see that experienced Hubbers usually say it takes about 9 months to reach the first Adsense payout ($100).  It really all depends on exactly what you have written about and whether the Hub is geared towards selling or whether it is more informative; and also a huge factor is how you are getting the word out about your Hubs - backlinks and all.
    
    Take some time to Search on HP (especially in the Help section, FAQs, and the Forums) for what others have written recently about keywords, Adwords, Adsense, and backlinks.  You seem to be picking everything up faster than a lot of us (like me), so don't get discouraged!

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    darksideposted 13 years ago

    This is why I never click on ANYONES ads, no matter how interesting they might look.
    
    All IPs are tracked. So what would happen if it shows that I've clicked on their ads? It would be look like collusion.
    
    So them doing it as a favor or like leaving a tip in a jar is not right, but not as suspicious as clicks going both ways.

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    rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

    have you ever accidentally rolled over those new ads that are under our avatar?
    
    that doesn't count as a click, does it?

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