How To Detect and Protect PPC Click Fraud and Make More Money From PPC Marketing
As pay per click advertisement is one of the most effective methods of advertisement on the web, lots of small and large web portals, small businesses, big companies and individuals are using it to drive highly targeted customers to their websites.
PPC marketing is so effective that you can easily get customers who are exactly looking for your products and services. And, more that ant type of advertisement on the web, you can drive traffic to your website instantly.
That is why lots of websites are using PPC marketing to a large extent.
But, there are some series issues that you need be aware of when you use PPC Marketing, especially for if you are focusing heavily on expensive keywords,
… PPC click Fraud.
That is …
Lots of ppc advertisers are losing thousands of dollars due to pay per click fraudulent activities.
Studies indicate that almost 16% of click in PPC advertisement are coming from fraudulent activities.
Expressed in simple terms …
if you are allocating daily budget of $1000 for PPC advertising, almost an average of $ 160 daily, which is $ 6000 per month is lost due to click fraud.
This is really huge especially for companies who spend thousands of dollars in PPC marketing.
The image below will show you, the study conducted on PPC click Fraud.
So, you must be aware of the problem and take necessary measures to protect your marketing budget.
As pay per click advertisement is one of the fastest and the most effective form of advertisement to bring highly targeted traffic to your website definitely, it is not wise idea to stop advertising in pay per click search engines. But, you have to device a way to protect your advertisement budget and make more money.
The best solution to this problem is to track any fraudulent activities and take appropriate measures to protect your money.
What is PPC Click Fraud?
Pay-Per-Click fraud is repetitive ad clicking by humans or automated scripts, which is aimed either to drain your marketing budget or generate revenue from the click.
PPC fraud is considered as a big threat to the pay per click industry. As a result, major PPC search engines like Google Adwords and yahoo search marketing are taking measures to protect their customer’s money, but they are unable to control the situation.
How is Click Fraud Generated?
As it has been mentioned earlier, Click fraud is generally aimed either to drain your marketing budget which is done by your competitors or generate revenue from the click by adsense publishers.
PPC fraud clickers use several techniques to accomplish this.
The most common once are:
- Automated clicks
- Hiring people to click on ads
- Proxy servers
- Networks
Let’s see these techniques briefly
a) Automated web Script and programs
This kind of click fraud is generated by webs scripts, which are specifically designed to click on a particular website’s PPC ads. Google clique is one typical example of these programs.
These programs or scripts are usually done by publishers who want to generate revenue.
This is unethical way if generation on the web.
But, the best thing about these is most of these programs are detected by PPC search engine providers like Google.
2. Hiring People to Click On Ads
Hiring a group of people specially employed to click adsense ads. Fraud. These kinds of actions are usually seen in third world country.
Some years ago, this technique used by unethical adsense publishers was the most common and highly devastating.
Just like in the above technique, it is done by publishers with the intention to generate revenue.
And, most of the publishers involved in such unethical practices focus on very expensive keywords.
3. Proxy Servers
Most of pay per click search engines monitor PPC fraudulent activities by tracking clickers IP address. To cheat anti fraud techniques fraud clickers use proxy servers.
This is usually done by alternating multiple proxies.
4. Networks
There are also networks of adsense publishers who are engaged in unethical business practices. The members of the network exchange clicks among them.
Most of the time, these networks are private where the members secretly involved in such activities.
These Networks of adsense publishers are usually aimed to generate revenue for its members. Each member of the network generates revenue by clicking other member’s adsense advertisement.
To wrap up…
Since the effect of PPC fraud is very bad to your pay per click campaign, you should take measures to track any fraudulent pay per click activities and request pay per click providers like Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing for refund.
How to Use Server Logs to Track PPC Click Fraud
The first step is to obtain your website’s server logs. If you don’t already have them, your web host should usually be able to provide them.
Using your website server log data, you should track for the following statistics:
- · IP address;
- · User session information;
- · User cookie information;
- · The time of the click;
- · The network to which an IP belongs;
- · The user’s browser information;
How to Analyze Server Log Data:
Once you are ready with your server log data, it is important to analyze the data.
Here are some points you should focus while analyzing the server data:
- If clicks are coming from anonymous proxy servers, this could be an indication of PPC click fraud, especially if coming from an alternating and multiple proxy servers.
- Repeat Clicks from the same IP Addresses. If some body is clicking your ads reportedly from the same IP, this could imply a suspicious activity.
- An irregular or large number of clicks coming from the same geographic region or country.
- Your click through have doubled or tripled without having had any bid changes or rank changes
- Strange click patterns in your ad
Third Party PPC Fraud Detection and Prevention Tools
There are also some good vendors involved in pay per click detection and prevention. It is recommended to use these tools to track any fraudulent activities and take appropriate measures to protect your pay per click marketing budget. One of the best tools is Ad Watcher.
Summary
If you are unable to detect and protect ppc click fraud, it is a treat to the success of your pay per click advertisement campaign. A lot of advertisers are losing thousands of dollars.
There fore, as a pay per click advertiser, you should be aware of the problem, track your pay per click advertisement campaign for any fraudulent activities and take appropriate measures to refund your money.
I highly recommended third party click fraud detection and prevention tools such as Ad Watcher. 
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