Click Fraud

With an enormous portion of the advertising on the web now being places on a PPC (pay per click) basis, click fraud is a significant concern. Click fraud is the practice of clicking on PPC ads with the primary intention of increasing the click numbers.

Why would someone click a PPC ad, perhaps multiple times, with no interest in the linked content? The two major reasons are to damage a competitor and to increase click revenue.

Competitive click fraud is primarily intended to drive up a competitor's costs or to exhaust his ad budget or ad funds. A competitor can simply search for the relevant terms, and when they spot a competitive PPC ad (such as those from Google Adwords), click the ad to cost the competitor whatever his per-click cost is.

Revenue-driven click fraud occurs when a site owner is carrying PPC ads (such as those from Google Adsense) and seeks to increase revenue by clicking on those ads.

Of course, click fraud can take forms far more sophisticated than a single competitor or owner clicking on ads. Automated programs using multiple proxy servers can click ads while appearing to be different users connecting from different IP addresses. Rings of human clickers are also reputed to exist, mostly in low wage countries.

Advertisers can employ a variety of tools to reduce click fraud, including PPC management software that tracks the timing, quantity, and conversion performance of each keyword. Google and other PPC program developers also work hard to avoid false clicks by tracking click patterns, IP addresses, etc. Advertisers often find unexpected credits on their statement after the detection of click fraud. See also cost-per-click (CPC).

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