Click Fraud – The Risks

Conspiracy theorists around the world have been fuelling speculation that Google could be artificially generating ‘fake’ clicks on online adverts, thereby boosting its online advertising revenue! Think about it for a moment… Google has a license to print digital money online! It’s a worrying thought isn’t it?

Here at Onvigil, we don’t subscribe to such a theory. As one of the UK’s leading Google Partners, we are constantly reminded of Google’s professionalism and commitment to ethics. If Google really was doing this, the Google brand would be ruined overnight. In effect, this would be brand suicide.

But what about your competitors? Can they be trusted not to click on your adverts in an attempt to waste your advertising budget?

And what about the robots? Could the electronic gremlins of the Internet really be capable of triggering false clicks on your ads online? Could they really be wasting your click budget too?

What is Click Fraud?

Click fraud is an unethical technique of falsely inflating the number of clicks on a pay-per-click advert. Some advertisers might try to sabotage their competitors by driving up costs and ensuring their daily budget caps are met early on during the day. Similarly, advert publishers (websites which host adverts) could be clicking on the ads displayed on their own sites to generate more revenue for themselves.

The fact remains that ‘fake traffic’ has become a commodity. Malware has been developed for generating it and there are brokers all over the world who sell it. Some companies pay for it intentionally. Others pay for it accidentally while most companies prefer not to ask where their traffic comes from. It’s a bit like the sweat shop analogy in the clothing sector. When it comes to search, many CEOs prefer not to ask too many questions…

What does this mean for you?

If your PPC agency has never mentioned the issue of ‘click fraud’ to you, they are arguably not keeping you very well informed! Be sure to ask your agency what they are doing to combat this unpleasant reality of today’s online world. When you think that some companies have reported up to 40% of their paid advertising budget is being squandered, it pays to remain vigilant.

Whilst there are a myriad of filters and software tools that promise to highlight and remove unwanted click traffic, they can produce inaccurate results and can also be expensive (normally paid on a monthly basis).

It certainly makes a strong argument to not put all your advertising eggs in the paid search basket. For this reason, natural or organic search is once again becoming a very important tool in the online marketing mix.

Here at Onvigil, we can help you navigate through the online advertising minefield. By remaining vigilant, you can make your precious online advertising budget go much further. So why not call us on 01730 77 66 33 to find out more about our comprehensive portfolio of online services.