How to Identify and Tackle Click Fraud Google Adsense

Identifying and tracking examples of click fraud is step one to eradicating the problem.  Click fraud is an enormous drain on the resources of advertisers operating on a national and international scale, estimated to occupy around 30% of all ppc advertising spend.  With so much at stake, its no wonder the various search engines are investing so much time and energy into devising solutions.

One method by which Search Engines and other pay per click programme providers have attempted to curb the growing click fraud problem is through introducing IP address repetition algorithms.  These formulae are made to detect suspicious click patterns emanating from a singular IP address, which can help to uncover the presence of click farms and competitor-led sabotage, along with identifying potential fraudsters at source.

However, there is an array of problems with this method of attempting to identify the fraudsters.  Firstly, fraudsters logging on through a dialup modem, DSL line or cable modem can almost completely bypass this check, as with every new online session, a new IP address is generated.  Furthermore, we have an extensive range of software available to alter IP addresses, which again may be used for 'cheating' the algorithm.  Cookie and session tracking are other methods by which search engines can attempt to uncover potential fraudulent activity, but again there are methods around these for the fraudsters.

More comprehensive software is being developed which profiles and reports on the browsing habits of each click-through to enable companies to track and monitor suspicious behavior, although this can be seen by many as intrusive and ineffective as anything on a small scale is still likely to go unnoticed, using the vast coverage of ads across the internet.

The problem of click fraud recently hit the headlines with a class action raised against Google, prompting Google to offer $90million as a potential settlement.  Perhaps an acceptance of their responsibilities, Google's offer goes some way to suggest the extent of click fraud, and its vast costs to the internet economy.

There are numerous of self-help remedies that could be implemented to keep an organization out of trouble.  The first of these remedies is the reliance on seo and organic listings.  If a site is well and fully optimized, it could eventually realize a ranking that another site is willing to pay $2.50 a click for.  Similarly, with organically high rankings there are no clickthrough rates, therefore the expenses associated with PPC are not applicable.  Although the process is significantly more laborious and takes significantly longer to see results, the SEO process is much cheaper ultimately, and with an estimated 25-30% of all clicks being performed fraudulently, an organically high listing can save money which would otherwise be drained by click fraud for more beneficial reinvestment.

Year on year, as the pay-per-click advertising market is maintaining growth and expand, surely click fraud will follow suit.  Unless an effective means of preventing click fraud is developed and successfully implemented, buyers will steadily lose confidence in the advertising medium and turn to more effective, less wasteful marketing methods, which would seriously hit the search engines and could potentially threaten the online economy overall.