Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has become a necessity in today’s digital age. Its hyper-targeting capabilities and cost-effectiveness offer businesses vast opportunities to connect with high-intent prospects and boost revenue growth.
Unfortunately, malicious actors may compromise your PPC campaigns through fraudulent activities, leading to fewer genuine leads and wasted ad spend. Knowing how to detect and prevent fraud clicks can ensure a better return on investment (ROI).
In this article, we’ll cover:
• What Are Click Frauds?
• 4 Types of Digital Ad Fraud
• Effects of Click Fraud on Businesses
• How Is Click Fraud Detected?
• How To Prevent Fraud Clicks
Read on and discover practical steps for PPC protection.
What Are Click Frauds?
Ad fraud is a deceptive technique that exploits the PPC model. Dishonest individuals or automated bots pretend to be real users, simulating genuine impressions and engagement through fake links. This causes businesses to pay for invisible interactions that lack value. In fact, research shows that by 2028, businesses may lose up to $170 billion in ad spend due to ad fraud.
To automate this process, click fraudsters often use bots, click farms or ad stacking. Bots are software that can independently perform various tasks on the internet, from completing mundane forms to repeatedly clicking on ads. Interestingly, bad bots, proficient in high-speed abuse, misuse and attacks, contribute to 30% of automated online traffic (Imperva).
Digital ad fraud not only results in depleted budgets but also inaccurate performance metrics. Fake interactions can undermine the reliability of data, making it harder for advertisers to make well-informed decisions and meet their conversion targets.
4 Types of Digital Ad Fraud
Now that we’ve established what digital ad fraud is, let’s explore the different ways it can occur.
1. Click Spamming
Click spamming attributes false clicks to genuine users, making it harder to detect. When a user unknowingly opens a web page or app run by fraudsters, sneaky bots automatically start clicking on ads, often without the user realizing it.
In today’s saturated online world, some organizations will resort to unethical practices, like click spamming, to sabotage the competition. Fake clicks can distort a company’s performance data, lead to wasted resources and potentially tarnish its brand reputation.
Click spam comes in various forms:
Background Clicks
This occurs when clicks are generated in the background of an app or mobile website without the user’s awareness or involvement. It can be achieved through invisible buttons or hidden frames while the user is actively engaging with the content or even when the fraudulent program is running quietly in the background.
Impressions-As-Clicks
This form of click spam employs a malicious script to set impressions that automatically initiate ad clicks, even when users haven’t interacted with the ad.
Device Clicks
In this form of digital ad fraud, scammers send clicks to tracking vendors using counterfeit Device IDs. These clicks are falsely credited to user engagement, despite no genuine ad interaction.
Besides automated bots and code, click spamming can also be carried out through click farms. Picture a vast room filled with individuals sitting in front of computers or phones. These workers receive minimal pay to manually click on PPC ads, aiming to inflate clickthrough rates and deplete ad budgets.
2. Geomasking
Ad spend varies based on the geographical location you’re targeting. Geomasking is a click fraud tactic that conceals the location of the generated clicks. Fraudsters employ fake IP addresses, leveraging virtual private networks (VPNs) to deceive advertisers into overvaluing these deceptive clicks. This leads to payouts for clicks that do not bring genuine engagement.
3. PPC Phishing
In 2017, a report exposed a phishing scam that manipulated URLs of renowned financial firms. The scheme made use of a PPC campaign designed to mimic official bank or credit card brand ads. Because they trust the brand, users are likely to click on the PPC campaign without realizing they would be misdirected to a phishing site attempting to steal their personal information.
4. Ad Stacking
Ad stacking involves layering ads on top of each other in a single ad space, with only the topmost ad being visible to users.
Each click on the top ad registers as a click or impression for every ad beneath it. This leaves advertisers paying for extra engagement they never received.
Effects of Click Fraud on Businesses
Here are ways that click fraud can be damaging to businesses:
• Financial Losses
When fraudulent clicks occur, ad budget is wasted on interactions that do not yield actual returns. Moreover, PPC ad campaign management involves setting daily or overall budget limits to control spending. Fraud clicks can swiftly use up these limits, causing businesses to miss out on potential exposure to targeted users.
• Inaccurate Bid Automation
John Powell, a Paid Search Engineer at Thrive Internet Marketing Agency, says that conversions generated through ad fraud can mislead bidding automation, compromising its effectiveness.
“Bidding automation relies on conversions as a signal, coupled with audience data, to bid higher and lower on an ad auction when it thinks someone is closer to converting. Fraudulent conversions, therefore, can teach bid automation incorrectly,” Powell said.
• Damaged Brand Reputation
If your brand becomes associated with Google ad fraud or spammy content, customers may lose trust in your business. Trust is a critical element of brand reputation, and once eroded, it can be challenging to rebuild.
Ad fraud also reflects the efficacy of your PPC campaign management strategies. It raises concerns about the safety and reliability of your marketing efforts, negatively impacting your brand’s credibility.
• Distorted Performance Metrics
Google ad fraud skews the data acquired from ad campaigns. This makes it nearly impossible to conduct A/B tests, optimize PPC ad campaign management strategies and accurately measure return on investment (ROI). You might end up allocating your budget to the wrong strategies, leading to suboptimal outcomes and a decline in sales.
How Is Click Fraud Detected?
Google Ad fraud is challenging to tackle as it’s designed to resemble real user actions. Additionally, perpetrators can be located anywhere globally and frequently use tools like VPNs to conceal their locations. This makes it even trickier to hold them accountable.
Early ad fraud detection is vital for successful prevention. Here are key signs to watch out for:
• Suspicious Traffic Sources
Large amounts of traffic coming from low-quality websites or locations outside your target audience is a giant red flag. Moreover, multiple clicks from the same IP address are likely generated by bots or click farms rather than genuine human users.
• A Spike in Clicks Without Results
An abnormally high volume of clicks, particularly during specific times or days, may indicate ad fraud. Additionally, a consistently low conversion rate amid this surge could suggest suspicious activity.
• Drained Ad Budget
If you’re spending a significant amount on ads but seeing little or no return, you could be dealing with ad fraud. Malicious parties aim to exhaust your budget quickly so they can dominate the ad space and prevent you from making money.
• High Bounce Rates
Bounce rates measure how many visitors exit your website after viewing only one page. A high number of users abruptly leaving your landing pages may suggest the presence of bots targeting your campaigns.
• Low Page Views
If your recently launched ad is receiving no response, there’s a possibility that users are unable to see it. Malicious parties might use tactics like ad stacking or pixel stuffing to hide your PPC campaign from its intended audience.
• Low Session Duration
On average, genuine human visitors spend 54 seconds on a page. A significant number of sessions lasting one second or even less may indicate bot activity.
How To Prevent Fraud Clicks
Google has implemented robust security measures to shield businesses from fraud clicks. These include automated detection systems to keep ad platforms clean. In cases of suspected or reported invalid activity, manual reviews are conducted.
Nevertheless, it’s best to monitor suspicious patterns and proactively enhance your PPC campaign management strategies. Here are actionable tips to minimize the risk of ad fraud:
• Review Your Advertising Networks
Certain networks, such as Search Partners and Display, are more susceptible to ad fraud. Powell advises brands to exercise extra vigilance in monitoring campaign metrics and promptly address any questionable activity.
• Monitor Billing Statements
Powell recommends tracking credits that appear in billing statements, showing fraudulent clicks that were filtered out. Monitoring for discrepancies prevents unnecessary spending and lets you quickly halt ad fraud before it escalates.
• Integrate reCAPTCHA on Website or Landing Page Forms
reCAPTCHA is a widely used security technology that safeguards websites from fraudulent form conversions. It typically presents challenges, such as image recognition or checkbox verification.
Employing reCAPTCHA can maximize PPC protection and help you distinguish between human users and automated bots.
• Create Exclusion Lists
Exclusion lists can help prevent your ads from being shown on specific websites or to users with certain characteristics. This helps avoid low-quality or fraudulent placements.
Rely on Thrive for Results-Driven PPC Ad Campaign Management
PPC campaigns are substantial investments and the impact of ad fraud on returns should not be underestimated. If you suspect any fraudulent activity, it might be time to reach out to PPC campaign management specialists.
At Thrive, we help you implement measures to maximize PPC protection. We aid you in optimizing your conversion funnel and improving your targeting efforts. Our team specializes in all types of PPC campaigns, from Google Shopping Ads to Amazon PPC solutions.
Contact us today to see how we can help amplify your reach and grow your bottom line.
