This may seem a rather odd question, but it has been puzzling me for some time.

I have read a lot on this forum about sites being banned for site owners clicking their own ads.

How does google know you are clicking your own ads? If, like me, you use a broadband provider which uses a range of IP addresses, and every time you start up your modem you get a different IP address, how does G know it's you clicking on the ads? (Or, someone else who has now been allocated the IP address you originally used to register the site)

Does this make sense? Maybe there is another way Google watches, but I had always assumed it was via ip address.....

I think you're confusing dynamic and static IPs. If you're using a cable modem, your IP will be the same for weeks at least, usually.

I think they either detect fraudulant clicks by IP addresses or by click to traffic ratios. Like say you normally get 4 clicks per every 1000 page views then if you mysteriously get 300 clicks per 1000 views that might set off a few alarms.

Even with a broadband provider, if your IP does change, it doesn't change dramatically. Usually last set of numbers in the IP will change, the rest will stay the same.

Google will have a lot of different ways of detecting frauudulent clicks. IP address tracking would only be one. The main way would be click patterns. IIf you have no lciks for 2 days, then have 15 within one minute its pretty obvious that you are trying to rip them off.

And even if your IP is dynamic it will still be within a range. The first two octets of the IP will stay the same, It's easy to track a user via thier IP even if thier IP is dynamic.

But you can be assured google will put a lot of thought (and money) into preventing click fraud, It's more than just a case of tracking singlle IP addresses.

Im freaked out by how easy it is to take someone out of adsense, its just clicking their ads a few times a day...

Originally Posted by zenanthor

Im freaked out by how easy it is to take someone out of adsense, its just clicking their ads a few times a day...

Not really. There is some link as to where you login from and from where the click to your adsense come from and also ratio to Google search link/Gmail links click to your adsense click. Clicking on some ones adsense will do no harm.