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The Click Fraud Problem

The Click Fraud Problem

By Christos Varsamis

Click fraudhas become a major problem for online marketers. If you participate onGoogle Adwords campaigns or Overture, you must already pay a lot foryour campaigns.

What is click fraud?

Click fraud is thedeliberate clicks to PPC search engine ads for completely other reasonsthan expressing interest for buying the related products or services.

Overturedefines click fraud as clicks arising for reasons other than thegood-faith intention of an Internet user to visit a web site topurchase goods or services or to obtain information.

Googledefines click fraud, or invalid clicks, as any method used toartificially and/or maliciously generate clicks or page impressions.

In simple words, Click fraud means that someone is cheating you and that you pay too much for your pay per click campaigns.

Who is doing that?

Three main groups click on pay per click ads, without real interest in the offered goods:

Peoplewho join Google AdSense or other per click affiliate programs click onthe ads on their own web site to make a little income. Often, thesepeople cooperate with other webmasters to click on each other’s ads.

Some unethical companies click on the pay per click ads of competitors to drive up their advertising costs.

Companies(often in India, Russia and China) hire people who are paid to click onads. Google and other search networks provide refunds to advertiserswhen click fraud has been discovered.

Google and Overture employ"fraud squads,"or teams of people dedicated to fighting click schemes.But at least two marketing executives say such countermeasures aremissing fraudulent clicks that are responsible for between 5 percentand 20 percent of the advertising fees paid to all search networks.

Thisis a huge problem. There is no"pay per click"Company denying thatclick fraud exists. Web analytics companies estimate that the 50% ofall click activity is fraudulent.

This means that your pay per click marketing activities are half effective as they could be because of click fraud.

Overturespokeswoman Jennifer Stephens refutes that in estimate, the numberslikely represent acts of fraud that are ultimately caught. She addedthat Overture filters most fraudulent clicks with the best antifraudsystem in the industry, which combines technology and human analysis.

Mostadvertisers are aware of the click-fraud issue but have not delved intoit because of the technical complexities involved. Others are concernedthat they could jeopardize their relationships with the powerful searchnetworks if they complain too loudly.

One of the best ways toeliminate click fraud is using anti click fraud services such asppctrax. They provide services like the below:

IP address capture.
IP address geographic Location.
User Agent (browser, bot etc.)
See exactly what keywords are generating your clicks
Date and Time stamp
System detects sudden click spikes from one or more IP addresses
Real-time email alerts at 80% and 100% of your account’s transaction utilization
IP address history - alert you to prior offenders

Another similar service is"who is clicking who".
Other way is the click fraud capture software like Click Auditor.

About the Author: Christos Varsamis is an internet marketing consultant and the creator and publisher ofhttp://www.settinglifegoals.com

Source:www.isnare.com