Google Pay per Click fraud

Online retailers know that for online success marketing is King! One of the most used vehicles for marketing your products online is Pay Per Click, and the most popular company to use is Google AdWords.

For those who are not familiar with Google AdWords it is a way to advertise your site online. Through your Google AdWords account you can create a campaign around a set of keywords. When an internet user Googles one of your keywords your paid advertisement appears in the right hand column, next to the organic search results. When that internet user clicks on your ad they are directed to your landing page, and Google AdWords charges you a set amount for that click. That is why it is called Pay Per Click.

A challenge with Pay Per Click advertising is there is always the possibility that people with no intention of buying your product can click on your ad. This means you are out the cost of the click, without gaining a customer.

I found a great video interview with Shuman Ghosemajumder, the Business Product Manager for Trust and Safety at Google, in which he explains how a Google AdWords user may be defrauded, and how the user may detect the fraud.

Ghosemajumder explains that there are two main incentives for someone to fraudulently click on an ad. First, they may be trying to harm their competition, and second, an AdSense publisher may be trying to inflate their revenue by generating false clicks.

The fraudster’s techniques range from simple to complex: the easiest way for someone to defraud an AdWords user is to simply click on their ads one at a time, a more complicated way is to create botnets that click on multiple ads in a short period of time. More organized, but less tech savvy people, hire others to click on ads all day long.

Google tries to protect their AdWords users by working to detect fraud. Google utilizes simple rules to try to detect and prevent fraud. Simple rules include negating the second click of a perceived double click. What this means to the AdWords user is if an internet user double clicks on their ad Google will only charge the AdWords user once.

A second way Google tries to detect fraud is by monitoring their data for statistical anomalies. Google believes in the adage: More data is good data. Google takes their huge amount of data and analyzes it continuously. Their data gives them a range of online user behavior than can be considered normal. If they observe an event, or behavior that is not expected they will consider it as being fraudulent activity.

Ghosemajumder explains that the total number of invalid clicks, as detected by Google, is quite low, at less than 10%. And of those, less than 0.02% have been proven to be fraudulent. So, AdWords users need not worry, the probability that their ads will be clicked upon fraudulently is quite low.

But there is a way to protect yourself. Ghosemajumber explains that the AdWords user should always be monitoring their data. Create and gather as much data as possible. Understand what your expected results should be, and if you begin to see unexpected activity try to understand why. If you can find no other explanation you may be a victim of fraud and you should contact Google.

One of the best indicators of fraud is if your Return on Investment (ROI) drops unexpectedly. If you’re AdWords clicks are normal or higher than normal, but your revenue or the number of products you are selling is below what you consider normal, than you may be a victim of fraud.

The best way to avoid being a victim of fraud is to be diligent with your marketing analysis. You can protect yourself by monitoring your own data, and understanding the results of your online marketing strategies.

Happy selling!

Comments

[San Diego ppc services]

nice article, very well written.
i enjoyed reading.
thanks!!!

-faith-

[Joy]

This is one reason why we no longer use Google Adwords. Too much of a gamble.

[Affiliate promotion]

An internet affiliate program is used to sell different products and services to online customers. Due to the nature of this business it is also called performance marketing. Here the advertisers use registered online members as the virtual sales team.