When you work to improve your business awareness, website traffic, and product or service ordering then it is normal to think first of the powerful Google Ads campaigns to gain effective and immediate results, however, to get that you should protect your Google Ads campaign from any fake clicks that drain your budget and decrease your results.
You should consider Google Ads click fraud despite the campaign budget as this actually will not be a key factor in the fraud happening or not.
In this blog we are going to discuss Google Ads clicks fraud, who do it, its bad effects, types of click fraud, steps to protect your campaign, and way more.
What is Google Ads Click Fraud?
Click fraud or fake clicks is a black hat technique used to attack Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns with clicks that do not aim to cause any actual traffic and results, and as the campaign budget is attached to the PPC number then the budget will be lost to these fake clicks.
The Google Ads click fraud is normally done in different methods, like:
- Click Farms: this refers to a group of people with the only task to click on certain ads just for the act of clicking with no intent to buy.
- Click Bot: a programmed system to access a web page and click on a PPC ad, moreover, more advanced bots simulate legit users’ movements to avoid being detected.
- Bot Net: or malware-infected devices where the click fraud campaign is done using several devices with different IP addresses to appear like normal users.
On the other hand, we also have what is known as Google Invalid Traffic (GIVI) which are real users, automated web crawlers, or bots that accidentally click without an intention to buy.
Who Do Google Ads Click Fraud?
A big yet simple question, that finding its answer helps you to know how to deal better with these fake clicks:
· Competitors:
Unfortunately, most Google Ads click fraud are done by competitors, especially the ones who cannot spend a lot on their Google Ads bidding strategy, so they attack the highest bidding competitors to weaken their campaigns.
· Webmasters:
Who your PPC ads are displayed on their website, as they do fake clicks not to actually target your campaign, but to increase their profits from displaying Google Ads with high click rates on their website.
· Disgruntled Advertiser:
Normally this happens due to the act of impatient people who wants to get through the ad immediately, so they do several clicks causing many PPC clicks and costs.
Or, this also could happen by people checking the ads several times before taking the purchasing decision.
· Fraud Rings:
A Google Ads click fraud campaign that is running by a group of fraudsters, who use a bot to hack and inflect devices, and use them to generate unreal clicks, while, they are selling what appears like a winning Google Ads campaign to the targeted business, with many discovered Ad fraud rings, there are still others, so always hire a reliable digital marketing agency.
Why Fake Clicks are Bad for Your Company?
Usually, you run a digital marketing campaign, and particularly Google Ads campaign to reach your targeted market with direct ads that cause results, and traffic, however, when your campaign is a click fraud victim then you will lose a lot of your campaign budget without any results.
So, click fraud turns your campaign budget from a winning and cost-effective one to a one just draining money from your marketing and overall business budget.
5 Types of Click Fraud:
Knowing the problem is not enough, but you also should know about the fraudsters’ used techniques and methods to know how you should fight the Google Ads click frauds effectively:
1. Bad Bots:
Click fraud bots usually attack a Google Ads campaign causing a large and quick number of clicks which could lead to a losing PPC campaign, furthermore, some advanced bad bots do some extra moves like clicking around and moving the mouse pointer to look like a real user.
On the other hand, there are many types of bots that are considered good bots and used to provide services, like booking tickets.
2. Click Farms:
Done in the old fashion way, the manual fake clicks with people using their devices to target by hand PPC ads with a lot of fake clicks causing a lot of unreal clicks through and eventually a lost PPC campaign.
3. Data Center Traffic:
The firewall tool for fraudsters, where they usually use these centers with the available fast networks to lunch a hidden automated click fraud software without revealing their actual IP address or location.
4. Click Spamming:
A kind of hacking technique, where fraudsters hack someone’s device after he/she installs an application or software, then they do unreal clicks through the use of this real IP address.
5. Geomasking:
In this click fraud type, the fraudsters use a technique to hide their fake clicks’ location, especially when they target PPC campaign with specific location targeting and different PPC clicks costs.
How to Detect Google Ads Click Fraud?
If you are planning to run an effective Google Ads campaign then you need to know how to detect frauds, and this could happen by strong observation of the campaign and its indicators.
However, if you noticed the next signs then you probably are a click fraud victim:
- A big number of PPC Ad clicks, yet, a low conversion rate, a high bounce rate, and a decrease in page view.
- Traffic from unusual audiences whether in demographic, gender, language, or even location.
- A large amount of click-through in a short time.
So, if you noticed any of the previous warning signs then it is time to take effective steps to protect your Google Ads campaign and its budget.
Steps to Protect Your Google Ads Campaign:
After knowing all about Google Ads click fraud, it is now time to know how to stop this fraud process and get the actual end of digital marketing funnel results:
· Run Only Remarketing Campaigns:
If you aim to run a campaign with zero risk rate, undetected by different bots’ types, and a high ROI rate then you can customize your Google Ads campaign to only target and be displayed to people who already visited your website and are interested in your business.
· IP Exclusions in Google Ads:
An effective step if you already caught an IP address causing fake clicks, then you can block this IP address permanently from your Google Ads account, however, finding these bad IPs means always monitoring your campaign results and indicators.
· Set a Maximum Daily Budget:
Setting a daily PPC budget protects your Google Ads entire budget from being lost in one click fraud attack, moreover, gives you time to notice and stop this attack with minimum side effects.
· Manage Placements in Google Display Network:
In this step, you can choose where to place your ads, as you can choose the website you find more effective, especially for a small business marketing campaign, however, by choosing reliable websites you can minimize fake clicks possibility.
· Monitor and Understand Targeted Clicks:
Usually, you are targeting a specific audience, and knowing your consumer behavior would help you to expect clicks, immediately notice any fake clicks, and take effective action.
· Know Your Competitors:
Study your competitors and used keywords to know who is competing against you, and what are their techniques and results, moreover, work on finding specialized brand keywords to increase your own clicks and conversion rates while decreasing the competitors’ numbers.
· Invest in a Click Fraud Software:
A valid and cost-effective investment that works on detecting click fraud and protecting your Google Ads budget from being lost to fake clicks.
As this software monitors your Google Ads traffic and blocks any click fraud resources.
Finally,
Google Ads click fraud is not something to ignore not only for the money’s sake but also for the whole Google Ads campaign work and efforts.
Contact us to protect your Google Ads campaign and all your digital marketing work.