|
Pay Per Click
Fraud
Pay per click fraud is a big problem within the pay per click search
engines. It can cost advertisers a lot of money and possibly
placements in listings. But it's not all bad news if you know how to
recognize it and what to do about it.
So, what is pay per click fraud? Unscrupulous competitors repeatedly
click on your ads in order to drive up the cost of bidding on
keywords, eating up your advertising budget and possibly pricing
you
out of listing the same keywords. Or, in the case of affiliate
advertising, it can be a attempt by the fraudster to set up fake
websites to display ads they can make money from.
How is pay per click fraud avoided? Unfortunately, avoiding it
entirely might not be possible if you are in a competitive market.
You can recognize it by following your ad
campaigns and looking for
unusual patterns of clicks ¡V it might be that a larger than normal
amount of clicks are made in a short space of time. On closer
inspection they come from the same IP address, which can be
discovered through your server logs or through some campaign
management reporting tools. You may also notice that a keyword which
normally doesn't get many clicks suddenly has a burst of interest
over a very short period of time.
What can I do if I suspect pay per click fraud? Firstly, report it
to the search engine managing your campaign. You might be able to
get back money you have spent on the clicks which were not
legitimate if you can show good reason to believe you've been the
victim of pay per click fraud. If you have access to the IP
addresses involved, look them up with a WHOIS type search to find
out who owns the domain and therefore hopefully their contact
details. Threaten them with a ¡§cease and desist¡¨ and hopefully they
will then leave you alone. If not, report them. Some programs which
help protect a against pay per click fraud will give you the
information needed to track these people.
Enter ¡§pay per click fraud¡¨ into any search engine to find a number
of programs which can help detect click fraud. Even if it costs a
little to start with, it may save a lot more in the long run.
|
