Today TechCrunch has a post written about the rise of click fraud in 2007. The article references a new report from a company named Click Forensics. The report states that click fraud rose 15% for 2007. If you are using PPC to help you make money online, then this news is obviously important to you!
The TechCrunch article notes the following: "According to this data, nearly one out of every three clicks on a Google or Yahoo ad is fraudulent." Yowza!
There are lots of options for software solutions on how you can track click fraud. Some options are more expensive than others. But how can you detect it on the cheap?
First, you need to make sure you track your incoming clicks. Usually this is done by sending the user to a specific URL when they click one of your ads. That URL will handle the tracking for you by making a note in a database. This is easily accomplished in PHP (and other scripting languages). If you aren't one for writing code, there are scripts available for download that are either very cheap or completely free.
The easiest — and most obvious — way to spot click fraud is seeing multiple clicks from the same IP address (or IP address subnet). There are companies out there who's sole purpose is to commit click fraud. They have multiple servers running 24/7 submitting phony clicks. So pay attention to the IP addresses and look for patterns.
So if you happen to notice that one of your campaigns has been the victim of click fraud, what do you do? For the big search engines the process is usually very simple. Give their advertising department a call and let them know about the trend you spotted. They will usually ask you to submit a ticket of some sort with the evidence you have as well as a URL where they can see the evidence for themselves. So if you keep your data password protected, you may need to add a new account for the search engine folks.
Some companies — like Google — issue a credit pretty quickly (48 hours or so) but it can take up to a week for them to investigate. I've noticed that Yahoo tends to take longer than most to issue a credit. I had one case with Yahoo open for nearly 3 weeks before credit was issued.
Since PPC advertising is so important to affiliate marketers, the trend of click fraud is costing you money (after all, time is money!) If it starts to become a serious issue for you it is probably worth the time and effort to submit the trouble to the advertising platform and get some credit issued to your account.
Even if the fraud isn't denting your pocket too much, it is a good idea to keep track of it. Removing fraudulent clicks from your over all tracking will help show you your true conversion rate.