Definition of Click Fraud

Google Ads click fraud can be defined as the activity of a competitor, person or bot intentionally and maliciously clicking on a competitor’s ad with the sole purpose of inflating the advertisers spend. The desired effect for the person perpetrating this behaviour is to try and stop their competitor’s ads from showing to hand themselves a business advantage.

Another definition of click fraud is when someone hosts ads, commonly from the AdSense programme and then repeatedly clicks on the ads on their own web site in attempt to earn a small portion of the cost per click. This type of click fraud is also known as AdSense Fraud.

These kind of underhand tactics are common place in competitive markets where cost per click can be very expensive.  It can be perceived as more damaging for competitors yet more lucrative for people committing AdSense fraud.

Another definition of click fraud can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_fraud

How to Prevent Click Fraud

Preventing click fraud is something that many savvy pay per click managers are focusing on increasingly in order to manage their pay per click campaigns more effectively.  When in a competitive market with high cost per click, protecting campaigns from click fraud can save not only money but skewed statistics as well.  It’s these vital statistics that decisions are made upon to enhance the performance of campaigns, if CTR for example is raised and this is perceived incorrectly by a PPC manager, it’s likely a bid may be adjusted when in reality the decision would not be made had the statistics not been affected by click fraud.

Many PPC managers are turning to 3rd party software applications such as Click Guardian that monitors for excessive ad clicking and then makes an IP block when such behaviour is detected.  This additional layer of protection means Google Ads advertisers can ensure they are not allowing competitors, bots and people to excessively click on their ads - try Click Guardian Pro free for 7 days.