Click Fraud

Another strong advantage for advertisers is that they can appear where publishers
promote their service. An example of this can seen if you consider a publisher who
is discussing the benefits of new IT software. If a software retailer appears on the
website then inevitably they will be the likely source from which the web surfer will
purchase the product. If the surfer is not interested then you could argue that they
would not click on the advert.
The service which Google provides has created an opportunity for businesses of all
sizes to advertise. Although the issue of click fraud still plagues the service it is till
widely regarded as the best. New businesses attempt to promote themselves on the
web, whilst established brands alike choose to attract interest in their service using
the same technique.


If you're using AdWords or AdSense you must have heard about an emerging
practice in the underworld of computing called "click fraud". But what exactly is
click fraud and how is it accomplished?
Well AdSense uses a payment mechanism that awards a certain amount of money
to a publisher (someone who holds an AdSense banner on their page) every time a
person clicks on the said banner. So click fraud is the attempt to have people
clicking the ads just so that they can earn a greater income.
There are people setting up sites for the sole purpose of fraudulently generating
revenue through Google's AdSense program. These users achieve an incredible
number of clicks through many methods, some complex and sophisticated and
some rudimentary and simple.
One of the most complex is through the use of so called "hitbots". These are
automated programs who emulate clicking the links in AdSense banners (there are
some that actually click the banners as well).
Google's AdSense protection scheme is by no means perfect and nearly anyone can
find the details of surmounting the protection mechanism, ironically just by doing a
Google search.
Another, more rudimentary method is to hire a lot of people in a poor country to
click the links on your site. This means these people will actually sit all day and just
click links so you can earn a fortune. They come from very poor countries like India,
and they're prepared to do so for just $0.50 an hour.
Of course, there's a problem with this mechanism. Once Google receives a large
number of clicks from a single address, the address and the site that had the
AdSense banner will be banned, and the illicit behavior might even get the
fraudster sued.
To prevent this from happening, many people use a large number of proxy servers
for the purpose of clicking. These are basically Trojans, located on computers
throughout the world (though mostly in the US). What's even more daunting is that
these clicks will appear to originate from an actual computer so such scams are
really hard to detect.

And don't think this happens only in isolated instances. There is a great deal of
illegal activity in this domain.
In fact there's so much that if search engine companies don't increase their security
with such programs as AdSense, such criminal behavior could become more
become even more damaging.
Google has a very strict policy regarding click fraud, and it has sued those
employing such techniques in the past. But while the search engine giant tries its
best to minimize the risk of click fraud there's certainly room for a lot of
improvement.
It is estimated that more than 20% of the clicks that follow an AdSense link are just
done in order to get money from the person paying for the ad. Some people believe
the number of fraudulent clicks to be even twice as large.
There are a great deal more schemes involving click fraud, such as groups of
AdSense publishers clicking each other's links (which is referred to as "clicking
rings", or spamming people so that they click such links.
Despite Google still holding click fraud on a leash, the phenomenon is certainly
raising concerns for the advertisers on Adwords, but despite this advertising with
Google's AdSense still remains more profitable for the advertiser, as opposed to
traditional untargeted advertising schemes.
There are some means of protection against such schemes and all advertisers
should be savvy enough to employ them. Many advertisers choose to avoid the
content network all together for fear of click fraud.

Ways to Identify and Tackle Click Fraud
Identifying and tracking examples of click fraud is the first step 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 pay per click advertising spend. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder the
search engines are investing so much time and effort into devising solutions.
One way in which Search Engines and other pay per click program providers have
attempted to curb the growing click fraud problem is through introducing IP address
repetition algorithms. These formulae are designed to pick up on suspicious click
patterns emanating from a singular IP address, which can help to uncover the
existence of click farms and competitor-led sabotage, as well as 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, there is an extensive range
of software available to alter IP addresses, which again can 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
ways 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 could be seen by many as intrusive and
ineffective as anything on a small scale is still likely to go unnoticed, based on 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 a number of self-help remedies that can be implemented to keep an
organization out of trouble. The first of these remedies is the reliance on search
engine optimization 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 costs 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 in the long run, 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 continues to grow 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 as a whole.