SEM Tools > Click Fraud Monitoring & Detection
Name
Update
Type
Publisher
Price
AuthentiClick
2006/10
Solution
Michael Leonard
Click fraud is the premeditated act of clicking on a PPC link with no intent to browse or purchase anything from the website. Click fraud is usually committed for one of two primary reasons: Competitor Fraud:
One of your competitors may be clicking on your PPC links to deplete your advertising funds or skew your search results. Every dollar you spend on worthless advertising is a dollar off your bottom line. And if you set a daily spending limit for your PPC ads, every fraudulent click brings you closer to that limit. As your daily budget is exhausted, your ads can sink lower in the rankings, thereby reducing the number of potentially productive clicks. Affiliate Fraud:
Search engine website affiliates are paid every time someone clicks on a PPC link posted on their page. Dishonest affiliates generate returns for themselves by directing phony traffic to your site.
The sources of invalid clicks are both manual and automated. The manual clicks may come from an individual, working on his own, or an organization with a global network of workers hired to make fraudulent clicks. In some cases, the workers are compensated as a direct function of the amount of fraud they commit.
Another vexing source of invalid clicks is automated robots, or "hit-bots." These sophisticated software tools are designed to maximize fraudulent clicks while minimizing detection.
The Scale
The scale of the click fraud problem is widely debated. Estimates range from 15 to 30 percent of all PPC activity. Until industry standards and definitions are established, precise figures will elude us.
Nonetheless, a broad spectrum of industry analysts agrees that over the last few years, hundreds of millions and likely billions of dollars have been billed to advertisers illegitimately.
The Solution
Just as there are currently no fool-proof solutions to email spam or viruses, there is no way to prevent every form or instance of click fraud. The search engines, themselves, do employ filtering techniques to limit somewhat the impact of click fraud. That being said, with estimates of over a billion dollars of fraud perpetrated each year, their efforts remain grossly inadequate. Because they are paid for every instance of fraud, they have a powerful conflict of interest.
The responsibility for vigilance, therefore, lies squarely on the shoulders of the advertisers and the consultants they engage to work on their behalf.
A variety of tools are available to advertisers looking to be alerted to the fact that click fraud is taking place. After an alert, there is an option to block out an individual IP address. Some of these tools interfere with legitimate traffic and others do not. But just as hackers are able to stay a few steps ahead of the firewall coders, fraudsters are one step ahead of these tools, as well. Some automated "hit-bots" create new IP addresses with every click. Our function at Authenticlick is not only to identify, verify, and document sources of fraud, but more importantly, to obtain, on our clients’ behalf, maximum refunds from the search engines for those advertising dollars spent on invalid clicks.
The complete and ongoing solution to click fraud is Authenticlick Audit & Recovery Services.
- publisher-author
- Michael Leonard
- License
- Monthly Subscription
- Created
- 2005/02/14
- Updated
- 2006/10/30
- Money Back
- n/a
- See too
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