Stay Alert of PPC Click Fraud: Detection and Prevention Strategies

PPC click fraud is different from invalid clicks. The purpose is to keep illegally clicking on PPC ads. This happens with pay-per-click advertising and is done intentionally to increase site revenue.

The process of PPC click fraud involves either a human or a computer program and they pretend to be a legitimate user who keep clicking on paid search ads with no intention of purchase.

Understanding the PPC Click Fraud

Many websites and other platforms act as hosting sites and display the ads by companies. These companies pay them to advertise their product or services on this website. The payment scheme is that the company will pay the website depending upon the number of visitors to click on that ad. 

In PPC click fraud, the ad is clicked in a duplicitous manner. The person or bot that clicks on the ad has no intentions or interest in visiting that company’s site or buying any of the products being advertised.

Most Prominent Types of PPC Click Frauds

Here are the most prominent types of click fraud that you may come across.

Automated Programs or BOTS

Fraudsters design botnets which are automated programs designed to click on ads. These bots are in the network of thousands and millions that mimic human behavior and run click fraud software. 

Ghosting by Data Centers

Data centers comprise a vast network of computers but there are no people included in this scam. Data centers have computers that click and extract information from ads. These clicks look real but in reality, there are no users browsing.

Paid Humans or Click farms

Similar to botnets, these are the several underpaid people using their devices like computers and smartphones to click manually on these ads. 

Competitor Abusive Clicking

It’s rather a mean trick by your competitor who clicks on your ads to deplete your budget. By clicking on the ads without purchasing anything, they make it seem like your campaigns are not working and are of no use to the company. By doing this they damage your work and reputation.

Proxy Server Traffic

These are the servers that route your traffic before sending it to the destination website. This interferes with the marketer’s job of gathering data and hiding the location and identity of users who visited the ad. They even alter the process of gathering data about potential customers.

Incentivized Clicks

Here people are offered with reward or money to click an ad. The process seems like a standard marketing strategy but since the users have no interest in the ad’s content, they are of no value to the company.

Ad Stacking

Here a hidden ad is used to drain your budget. The fraudsters hide various other ads behind the visible one and when the user clicks on the visible ad, it will register the click on hidden ads too, thus charging you with ads that weren’t meant for interested users.

What is the Purpose Behind PPC Click Fraud

After getting an idea of different types of click fraud, here are the reasons why fraudsters do it.

Click Fraud to Reduce Competition

When two advertisers compete and one of them chooses PPC click fraud, the purpose is to reduce competition or generate more revenue by gaming the PPC advertising system.

For instance, two advertisers compete and one of them engages in click fraud to use up its competitor’s all-budget. By spacing on irrelevant clicks, he will become the sole advertiser of the product.

On the other way around, the fraudster may maliciously attempt clicks and make it look like the publisher is clicking on its ads. This act will damage the relationship between the publisher and the advertiser and they end up the contract.

A publisher’s friend or family members also click on the ads on the website to generate more revenue for the publisher and vandalize the advertiser without any particular financial motive. 

Click Fraud to Artificially Boost Revenues

Site owner commits click fraud to increase their ad revenue. The process of publishing any ad on a website involves three parties, an advertiser, a site owner (or publisher), and an advertising network like Google AdSense or Yahoo. To commit this fraud, the site owner clicks on the ad that is published on his website.

Determining and Eliminating Click Fraud

An advertising budget is important to generate more sales and achieve the goal of selling products or services. If that budget is being wasted through click fraud and instead of reaching the actual potential customers, end up in waste, the result is devastating for the advertiser. 

Therefore, it is necessary to detect and eliminate click fraud. Although many providers help to prevent click fraud, what to do when a business is determined to fraud itself? 

So, here’s how you can detect and eliminate the risk of PPC click fraud.

• By Analyzing the Traffic Patterns

Check for the spikes in clicks within specific timeframes and regions. Also, check the user patterns. If there are sudden surges in clicks that are out of regular pattern, it could be a click fraud. 

• Monitor the IP Addresses

Several clicks from the same IP addresses or a narrow IP range are suspicious and suggest a click from botnets or farms.

• Exclude the Fraudulent IP Addresses

After identifying these fake IP addresses exclude them from Google Ads to prevent further fraud activity.

• Compare the CTRs with Conversion Rates

If the click-through rates or CTRs are abnormally high with a low conversion rate then it indicates fraudulent activity. 

• Segment Your Data

This process will allow you to pinpoint anomalies more accurately. So segment your data by location, device type, and time of the day and detect a surge in clicks during peak hours. Check for the clicks made through low-quality mobile apps as they are known for click frauds.

• Use Ad Fraud Detection Tools

These are automated tools and are specialized to analyze vast amounts of click data. 

Conclusion: 

In today’s fast-paced world of advertising, it is essential to secure your budget and take precautionary measures to prevent fraud. Therefore, take a brief note from given steps and use it to secure your investment.