| Pay-Per click fraud dates back even from the time | | | | be able to capture the IP address from each click. |
| when Overture was still Only, it wasn't as serious as it | | | | Then, look at the quantity of the clicks from each IP |
| is lately since the pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is | | | | address, click behavior and click timing. Run a "reverse |
| becoming very popular for getting highly targeted | | | | IP address lookup" to see who is making those clicks. |
| traffic as well as making an affiliate-based commission. | | | | Basically, you want to be able to gather as many |
| So, what's pay-per click fraud? | | | | details as possible for each and every click. Whether |
| In an ideal world, you and I will pay a fee to a site that | | | | you will depend on the tool your webhost is providing |
| offers PPC program and hosts our ads whenever | | | | you, or you will install a software yourself, or you will |
| those ads are being clicked by a visitor. The visitor | | | | contract it out, make sure you have the capability of |
| then examines our site and eventually makes a | | | | capturing the IP address. |
| purchase. We make money. | | | | If the IP address was not captured, or cookies were |
| In click-fraud-world as it is nowadays, those clicks that | | | | not generated, that's an indication of clicks being |
| you and I pay for are not coming from potential | | | | generated by automated scripts known as "hitbots." |
| customers. But from scam artists, automated scripts | | | | 3. Start tracking the conversion ratio. You can choose |
| known as "hitbots", underhanded competitors, and | | | | to track conversions either by using your own |
| even affiliates that just click on our ads in order to | | | | conversion tracking system, or by using a third-party |
| earn commission offered by the PPC providers. We | | | | conversion tracking tool. There are plenty of low-cost |
| lose money. | | | | conversion tracking solutions. |
| Fraudulent clicks or "click spam" can be defined as any | | | | In some cases, the services offering to track your |
| kind of click that occurs with zero possibility for a | | | | clicks will have a sales conversion option available for |
| conversion to occur, or a website visit not being | | | | you. That's a service you definitely want to get if you |
| originated by a legitimate user. Fraudulent clicks happen | | | | don't want to deal with it yourself. |
| on a regular basis - even more than what we could | | | | But, if your sales ratio is very low or even zero, your |
| possibly imagine. | | | | chances are very high that you're being bullied by |
| Indiatimes published a shocking article about a mother | | | | someone. It could as well be the low demand of your |
| who gets down to work every evening while holding a | | | | product or a high competition, but if you're getting high |
| baby in her lap. She is clicking on PPC advertisements. | | | | amount of traffic from your PPC campaign and low to |
| She doesn't care about the ads, but diligently keeps | | | | zero sales, the chances are very high that you could |
| count it's $0.18 to $0.25 per click. | | | | be a victim of click-fraud. |
| "The trend is catching up in India," - says Goutam | | | | So, what do you do if you suspect that you're |
| Rakshit, chairman, Advertising Council of India - "It's a | | | | receiving fraudulent clicks on your PPC campaign? |
| numbers game as far as media buying is concerned. | | | | 4. Be meticulous - very thorough. Make sure you have |
| And anybody who can manipulate numbers gets the | | | | data that points to questionable traffic. You have to |
| edge. This is unethical, and needs to be curbed." | | | | have evidence of the suspicious clicks. Ensure that you |
| John Squire, the vice president for product marketing | | | | have a legitimate case even if you have to double |
| for Coremetrics, estimated that his company's clients | | | | check your records. The PPC provider will ask you for |
| are spending approximately $10 million a year on | | | | facts and not an opinion. |
| fraudulent clicks. They are spending about $10 million on | | | | 5. Carefully document your traffic analysis during your |
| consumers that don't exist. | | | | PPC campaign. Document anything related to the |
| How much are you paying for customers that don't | | | | campaign - handwritten notes, email exchanges, |
| exist? | | | | scribbles, reports, screen shots, etc. |
| If you think your PPC campaign funds are depleting | | | | 6. Be sure to record every one of the clicks, whether |
| due to a fraudulent click activity, affiliate-generated | | | | they're from your server logs or from a third party |
| fraudulent activity, or if you are simply suspicious of the | | | | processor that you might be contracting for this |
| traffic that occurs without any increase in sales - then | | | | purpose. |
| perhaps you need to start getting tougher with your | | | | 7. Document all relevant competitor positioning. Ever |
| PPC analysis. | | | | since Google changed its policy on PPC ads, there |
| You can always ask for refund from the PPC | | | | have been various reports on competitors of a same |
| provider running your campaign if you have suspected | | | | product manipulating Google's new system. |
| a fraudulent click activity. But, you won't get the refund | | | | It's the people with more technical knowledge |
| unless you have hard core facts to prove it. | | | | manipulating the system for their own good while killing |
| And now, let's get down to the facts. | | | | the campaigns of the people with no technical |
| 1a. On a less technical note, define a unique URL for | | | | knowledge. They're not breaking Google's rules, but |
| the sales page that will go through the PPC program. | | | | they know when to pause their campaign (knowingly) |
| Clone your sales page and save it under a different | | | | and when to reactivate it again. |
| URL. | | | | 8. On the other note, you might want to contact your |
| If your page is selling vitamins for an example, and lets | | | | competitors to see if they're experiencing click fraud. |
| say your URL is save it as Or, create a sub-domain, | | | | Your PPC campaign might not be the only one |
| such as | | | | experiencing these fake clicks. Two victims' cases |
| Then, use this "cloned" sales page for your PPC | | | | presented to the PPC provider will make a stronger |
| campaign. That way, the only traffic coming to that | | | | case. |
| page is from the PPC website. Only, do not link this | | | | 9. When feeling highly confident that you have a strong |
| new URL to any other website. You want to have | | | | case and clear facts that you've been a victim of click |
| 100% pure PPC traffic so you can keep an eye on it. | | | | fraud, contact your PPC account representative and |
| 1b. For more technical people, you can assign unique | | | | submit your data with a request for refund. Their |
| session id to each of your URLs within your PPC | | | | investigations can, and do take time. |
| campaigns. I'm seeing both techniques being used. | | | | 10. Meantime, continue to monitor your click activity and |
| 2. Use a basic log analyzer program to begin to | | | | record any additional data. |
| investigate the data on the received clicks, including | | | | It's unfortunate that we have to be so much involved |
| date, time, referrer, page views, URL, IP, etc. Your | | | | to protect ourselves. We pay for advertising so we |
| webhost should already provide you with a log | | | | can free up our time and let someone else do it. But |
| analyzer program or a "Site Statistics Tool." | | | | with the seriousness of PPC "click spam" nowadays |
| If not, maybe it's time for you to change your webhost, | | | | ........ you snooze - you lose. |
| or you have to install log analyzer software yourself. | | | | If the PPC providers don't solve this problem, perhaps |
| What you want to do at this stage is look for anything | | | | there are other ways of bringing highly targeted traffic |
| suspicious. Based on how comprehensive your "Site | | | | with less stress. |
| Statistics Tool" is, at the end of the day you want to | | | | |