3 Reasons Why You Should Never Click On Your Competitors Ads

If you’re running a PPC campaign on Google’s AdWords (the world’s premier PPC network) then it can sometimes be frustrating to see your business competing with your direct competitors who may always seem to be getting the top spot. This can seriously impact the amount of new business that you bring in and could even harm your business in the long run.

Some companies can be tempted on clicking on their competitors ads with a view on depleting their daily advertising budget. Once exhausted, this would result in their competitive ad disappearing for the rest of the day, leaving less competition for that crucial top spot on Google. Is it a legitimate tactic? No. Is it effective? It isn’t. We take a look at three reasons why you should never click on your competitors ads.

It’s Against Google’s Guidelines…. And It Could Get You Banned

The first and foremost reason not to click on your competitors ads is that it is against Google’s guidelines and could result in you being banned from the AdWords program. If you’re a user of AdWords then you will be aware just how effective it can be in terms of bringing business in. Are you really prepared to risk this highly effective sales channel? Getting banned from AdWords will almost certainly harm your business far more than your competitors ads will. And such policies are not just limited to AdWords either. You’ll find such activities are banned from most if not all advertising networks.

You Could Be Funding Criminal Activity

If you decide that you seriously want to try and damage your competitors PPC campaigns then you may be tempted to look into such things as click farms or bot networks to fraudulently click on your competitor’s ads. Click farms are where a large group of people, usually in a poor country where pay is very low are paid to click on ads all day. Bot networks are similar but all of this is done virtually, malware infecting people’s computers around the world that secretly click on ads without their knowledge. Click farms and bot networks are often associated with other forms of criminal activity so your money could be supporting a host of other, more serious crimes.

Easy to Stop When Using the Right Technology

The third reason why it’s not a good idea to click on your competitors ads is that if your competitor is using an effective piece of software such as Click Guardian then fraudulent clicks are very easy to detect. Your clicks are simply wasting YOUR time and money and not theirs and they’re easily trackable too. If this information is given to Google, it could result in your AdWords account being suspended.

What You Should Do Instead Of Clicking On Your Competitors Ads

A far better way to outshine your competitors AdWords is to look at your AdWords campaign and see where it can be strengthened. There are a host of areas you can look at where simple changes can make a real difference. If you’re not sure what can be done, employing a reputable PPC agency to help you can be one of the savviest investments you can make.