click fraud frequently asked questions (faq)
general questions
questions about click fraud services
subscription / reseller questions
How big a problem is click fraud, really?
The actual extent of the problem of click fraud is difficult to quantify. Estimates of the percentage of advertisers' clicks which are fraudulent range from 12% up to 20%, depending upon the industry. One thing is clear: the search engines themselves have acknowledged that click fraud is a problem. Google itself has plainly stated that click fraud is the "biggest threat" to the online economy. A recent $90 million settlement for a class action suit brought against Google for charging advertisers for bogus clicks supports this statement.
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How do I know if I need to employ click fraud services?
That's the problem: using the data provided by the search engines, you just don't know how much of your online advertising budget might be wasted every day on fraudulent clicks. But generally speaking, if you advertise in a highly competetive area, or advertise using moderate to expensive keywords, you could be prone to click fraud. Other factors that you might spot are low conversion rates on your PPC ads, or a sudden increase in the number of clicks that occur on your ads.
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How can
a click fraud service help me?
Normally, a click fraud service will act as a third-party monitor
of all clicks which occur on your PPC ads. By monitoring the clicks which
occur
on your
PPC
ads,
and
more
importantly, monitoring who is
clicking on your PPC ads, a click fraud service allows you to both detect
when fraudulent clicks occur, as well as prevent fraudulent clicks from
reoccurring.
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Don't the search engines already monitor my ads for fraudulent clicks?
Yes and no. The search engines do employ click fraud monitoring systems in
their PPC programs, but the level of tolerance for suspicious clicks is
surprisingly high. For example, in tests conducted by our staff, it was
found that clicking repeatedly on a single ad within a short time frame
did not
get
counted by the search engine. However, when clicking once, twice, or even
10 times throughout the day, every day for a week, every single click was
counted as a billable click by the search engine! If you advertise with
even moderately expensive keywords, a competitor could easily consume a
significant portion of your online budget with fraudulent clicks.
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How long does it take to get started?
This varies per click fraud service. Some services require the installation
of code onto your computer while others will in-house the click monitor process.
In many instances, you can get started monitoring your PPC ads in as
little as 20 minutes!
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How can I use
a click fraud service to recover expenditures on wasted clicks?
Most click fraud services will offer a convenient 1-Click
Audit of your ad clicks for a given date range. This click audit automatically
categorizes
your click
activity
into groups of clicks with a Fraud Potential Score (FPS), which you then
submit to the PPC provider with a request for a refund. These click audits
are branded with the company indicia and include a verification
seal. By submitting a report that has been verified by a 3rd-party service
provider, the PPC providers (search engines) are given much more compelling
data to support your request for a refund.
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What information
does a click fraud service provide me that the search engines
don't?
While the search engines report on the total number of billable clicks
each day (sometimes with delays of several hours), a click fraud service
will offer detailed, real-time data about each click and, more importantly,
about the
computer that
was used to make that click. A click fraud service tracks and stores
data such as: the exact time of each click, the web browser used, the IP address,
city,
state
and Internet service provider of the person who made the click, as well as
the campaign, ad group and keywords used for each click. This data is further
used to allow the click fraud service application to assign a Fraud Potential
Score (FPS) to each click. This cumulative data is in turn used by the 1-Click
Some companies offer audit
features that allow you to demand a refund, display a warning
message to repeat clickers, or both.
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How does a click
fraud service actually prevent click fraud?
In addition to providing reports which can be used to recover expenditures
on potentially fraudulent clicks, a click fraud service can actually
prevent fraud from occurring. Some companies offer real time monitoring and
can display a warning message
to the
suspicious clicker if a pre-defined Fraud Potential
Score is reached by that person. The warning message can be the default warning
message provided by the click fraud service, or it can be a completely
custom message written by you. Additionally, some companies will allow you
to receive optional
email alerts to one or more email addresses the moment a Fraud Potential Score
is reached.
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Can I easily monitor multiple ad campaigns, ad groups and keywords?
Check with the click fraud service of your choice but most do
allow multiple ad campaigns.
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Can I monitor multiple domains?
Research moultiple domain monitoring with the click fraud servce of
your choice.
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