Clickfraud

[Brian Turner]

I mentioned a couple of articles on it, and read a few comments on it here.

Click fraud gains momentum


I've no idea how prevalent clickfraud is - but I've noticed some interesting results via AdSense publishing.

Certain areas - such as security products - seem to have a rather high clickthrough rate on AdSense reporting. What's interesting is that other areas I have covered also seem to be developing a very similiar pattern of high click-through rate.

I've no idea if click fraud is involved - I figure it's up to distributor and client to ensure the tracking is adequate - but it does have me wondering how prevalent clickfraud is, and how bad it's going to get.

A big threat to Google's long-term profitability?

[Postmaster]

Theres always going to be computer programes out that make false traffic to your site, change ip address and cookie information for each traffic and click on the advert within an algorithm complex enough not to be traced, chances are there are many going round making a packet but since they are untrackable they dont exsist. Google do not need to worrie about it.. Its the webmaster.

[free0870numbers.co.uk]

I seemed to have alot of problems with adwords a while ago, eg my budget being used up all most instantly each day.

How ever I think that may have been a nasty competitor out to annoy me... but would google pick up on that sort of thing?

[rtroxel]

I ceased using AdWords several months ago. One of the reasons was Click Fraud. It's a sick practice, if you ask me.

[Brian Turner]

Originally Posted by free0870numbers.co.uk

I seemed to have alot of problems with adwords a while ago, eg my budget being used up all most instantly each day.

How ever I think that may have been a nasty competitor out to annoy me... but would google pick up on that sort of thing?

There's always the possibility of the ads not being targeted in an optimum way - but clickfraud, as reported, is apparently a real issue to be concerned about.

Although Google seem to have protections in place, they don't appear infallible, and the overall advice I'm hearing is that AdWords programs should be acocmpanied by clear tracking campaigns, and that its up to the user to be vigilant with regards to spotting odd-clickthough patterns.

[Brian Turner]

Here's an interesting article:
AdWords impression fraud

[rtroxel]

A scarey article. Here's a brief re-cap:

An AdWords fraudster will toggle Off his own PPC adverts, then repeatedly query Google to bring up the results page which will display your PPC advert. By making sure that your advert is displayed many times but not clicked, the activity causes your CTR (click-through rate) to fall rapidly and dramatically and this results in Google disabling your Campaign. Since Google ranks the AdWords ads according to a formula comprised of both click-through rate and bid price, the fraudster succeeds in obtaining the same or better positioning for his own advert for a lower bid-price (once they toggle their ad back On), since your click-through rate has been artificially reduced.

I've run into what appears to be impression spamming on a paricular keyword. The keyword can roll along nicely at 5,000 impressions per day, then one day it skyrockets to 30,000 or more. The kicker is, there are no more clicks, so it all appears to be some script that pings Google on that keyword relentlessly. So my CTR drops through the floor, and Google disables it.

...whenever impression fraud occurs, Google recognizes it is a problem but will not "credit your account" to reverse the damage done by bogus impressions. Your ad tanks and then you have to increase your max CPC to get 1st page ad status until your ad gets in a strong enough position where you can lower your CPC again and remain in the same position. Google apologizes profusely for the problem but does nothing to help me rehabilitate my ad or save me the money. Translation - Google knows I've been attacked but now I have to spend hundreds of extra dollars to keep my ad in place.

[rtroxel]

Here are some hints I found for preventing click fraud from Motley Fool:

1- Don't ever bid to be on the top position on any search engine PPC ad network. Skip positions 1, 2 or even 3. PPC fraudsters ususally only bother with the top positions because the top ones generate the most revenue. If you are at the 4th or 5th position, potential customers still see your ad.

2- Disable the Google's AdSense feature. You can do this in Google and stop your ads from being served on unknown 3rd party affiliates. Your ad still runs on reputable partners like AOL, AksJeeves, ets. Keep the "Search Network" and disable the "AdSense Network." You have to do this for each and every campaign on Google.

3- Do not point all your PPC ads to your home page. It makes it much harder to track potential fraud. Target your different ads to specific pages of your site with related merchandise or info. It is good PPC practice, plus it makes it easier to track sudden surges of clicks to one area of your site and you can track it back to the responsible ad campaign.

4- If you run PPC ads, make sure you sign up with someone like Orchin who trakcs your web site data and can give you detail breakdown of visitors to your site. Orchin provides me with IP addresses of visitors. Hundreds of click from the same IP address in one day is a big red flag. Of course, I know this and say it here, but have never actually had the time to use the data. But it is there and you can use it if necessary.

5- Try to optimize your site so you get free natural listings on Google and Yahoo and don't have to pay for PPC ads. Free is much better than paid, specially with all this fraud. If your PPC ad budget is $50 a day, make it $27 a day and pay the other $25 a day to an expert to optimize your site. I did it myself becasue of my need as an engineer to lear everything myself.

[Brian Turner]

This issue is going somewhere:
Class action against search engines over click fraud

This looks like it could become a very big story.