We always hear that Google has a sophisticated system to detect the invalid clicks, and result in termination of the cheaters’ account. But, how can Google do that? In this post, I summarize those ways that Google depends on to detect whether the clicks on your site are invalid or not. Google will not first ban your account immediately. Rather, they will first flag your account and Google will keep a closer eye to your account. In some occasion, they may send you a warning letter to notify your situation; but sometimes not.

1. IP Address

It is the easiest and must be recognized by everyone. If those clicks on your ads are originated from the same IP Address as the one used for accessing your AdSense account, your account is flagged.

2. Click Through Rate (CTR)

Normally, Click through Rate should not exceed 10%. Otherwise, Google will flag your account. For your information, normal CTR should ranges from 0.5% – 10%.

3. Physical Location

Google has good tracing software and technology.They can trace traffics origin down to the small town. So, using different computers with different IP address does not secure anything. So, don’t try to click your ads in various internet cafes. That will kill you.

4. Cookies

Most home users do not use static IP Address for Internet connection. In most cases just disconnect and reconnect will give you a new IP Address. But don’t forget, Google has set cookies on your computer. They can trace these cookies and see whether they originate from the same computer.

5. Click Pattern 1

It is also suspicious when people click on their clicks and then run away immediately (hit-and-run). But normally, people will surf for a while inside your pages and then click on the ads they want.

6. Click Pattern 2

why this computer / IP address / person is so trigger-click-happy on this particular website but never click on the ads on other sites?

7. Click Pattern 3

And why is it that people accessing these sites direct (type-in URL or from bookmark) tend to be very active ad-clickers compared with those referred from search engine or other sites?

8.Other Google Services

Apart from Google Adsense, Google also provide a series of services to us. Don’t just think that it is safe if you do not log in your adsense account and click on your ads. What other Google services do they provide to us? Here are some: Gmail (most people are using it), Google Earth, Google Calendar, Google Search, Google Toolbar, Google Talk, Google Sitemap, Google Desktop, Blogger, or even Youtube (because Google has just recently acquired it).

10. Search Engine Ranking

Your website is not indexed on any search engine, not linked by any prominent website, but get consistently high traffic? How come people can access your website and click your ads? That will make Google to smell a rat.

11. Design Of Webpage

How about the “Please click a link below” or “donate us by clicking the ads”? These kinds of encouragement is not in line with Google’s TOS. Google can use their winning search engine, or even human eyes to check your sites from time to time.

12. Advertisers conversion rate

Ad click is one thing. But does it bring value to the advertisers? If none of the clicks on your site translate to conversion to the advertiser, you are in trouble. First the Smart-Pricing hits, then your AdSense account disabled.[Via]

Here are some useful applications from the Google Apps Marketplace that have a free version and you can consider them installing to your Google Apps account.

1. ManyMoon – This is an online project management software that is free and will integrate with Google Calendar as well as your Google Docs storage.

2. Aviary – This like adding a stripped version of Photoshop to your Google Apps. With Aviary, you can not only created and edit photos online but the app also has an audio editor for recording / editing podcasts and music. Aviary will save your file into a designated Google Docs folder.

3. Offisync – With Offisync, you can edit Google Documents right inside your Microsoft Office programs. It can also save documents from the desktop to your online account right within Office.

4. Zoho Projects – This is a more mature web-based project management app for Google Apps that also includes a wiki. Its a premium app but you can create one project for free – see more project management apps.

5. Google Short Links – If you don’t want to use bit.ly or tinyurl.com for shortening URLs, use the Short Links app from Google. It lets you setup your own redirection service on your personal Google Apps domain.

6. Spanning Backup – If you ever wish to backup your Google data (like documents, calendar and contacts) to the cloud, this app will come handy.

7. Time Report – This will add timesheet related features to Google Calendar so you track the time spent on various activities.

8. SlideRocket – Not happy with the presentations module of Google Docs? Try SlideRocket, this is one of the best online presentation apps on the Internet today.

9. Mail Chimp – Gmail has a strict daily sending limit so if you want to send bulk emails from Gmail account, use MailChimp – the service is free for lists up to 500 emails.

10. Survey Monkey – You can use the build-in Google Docs for Surveys but it you want something more personalized and customizable, try Survey Monkey – the basic version is free.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this creative video from Box.net that demonstrates how their service integrates with Google Apps.