Click Fraud from Competitors?

[Kristin]

Couldn't Google make it so that you could only get charged for one click per day from the same URL? Wouldn't that help eliminate click fraud from competitors?

Thanks,

Kristin

[AussieWebmaster]

Many people surf within a niche and may click on a couple of your keywords - want to deny that access?

[Chris_D]

Yes Kristin - that would be one method.

However -the issue becomes one of logistics -out of all the IP addresses that clicked on your ad - which of these IPs are your competitors?

The other issue to bear in mind is that competitors who click on your ads are ignorant of how Google ranks your ads. Its a function of many things - including the click through rate.

Ad placement is based on a combination of maximum cost-per-click (CPC -- how much you are willing to pay per click) and clickthrough rate (CTR). This means that if you earn a higher CTR, you are rewarded with a lower actual CPC. https://adwords.google.com.au/select/pricing.html#campaign2

A competitor clicking on your advert is effectively improving your click through rate - which effectively lowers your bid cost. So although an ignorant competitor may think he is doing you harm - he is in fact doing you nearly as much good....

[socceruci]

You might think that competitors clicking on your link is helpful, but when clicks cost $$ and they click 100 times a day it starts to hurt your ROI.

[Chris_D]

Hi soccerucci, and welcome to SEW forums. I see from your first post here that you've now been using adwords for 4 days.

I'd just like to clarify that Google does claim to filter invalid clicks http://adwords.blogspot.com/2006/03/about-invalid-clicks.html

I'm sure that any single IP clicking on the same ad 100 times in one day would trigger that filter.

Real-time systems filter out activity fitting a profile of invalid behavior (such as excessively repetitive clicks)
https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6114

YSM is, however, another story...........

[abbottsys]

In this business there are lots of things to worry about. I worry about increasing my conversions and making even more money on adwords. (I already make a lot!) I don't worry about competitiors clicking my ads. Let's face it, if they have nothing better to do than go around clicking my ads then they are not very good competitors at all. I prefer to go up against real competitors, not a bunch of ad clicking second stringers :)

[Kristin]

In this business there are lots of things to worry about. I worry about increasing my conversions and making even more money on adwords. (I already make a lot!) I don't worry about competitiors clicking my ads. Let's face it, if they have nothing better to do than go around clicking my ads then they are not very good competitors at all. I prefer to go up against real competitors, not a bunch of ad clicking second stringers :)

Good point.

[fspezia]

However -the issue becomes one of logistics -out of all the IP addresses that clicked on your ad - which of these IPs are your competitors?

I have no doubt Google can easily sort out competitors clicking on competitors. It can be as easy as seeing an Adwords user's IP or IP block showing up in the clicks of another Adwords users with the same keyword. Speed and capacity is not an issue with Google.



I'm sure that any single IP clicking on the same ad 100 times in one day would trigger that filter.



I'd say they'd catch it by the second click based on what I've seen tracking clicks from the Adsense side. They appear as if they don't give publishers credit for more than one click from a visitor even if the clicks are going to mulitple advertiser (not clicking on the same ad over and over).

[AussieWebmaster]

Guys I love modding this space because even when I am at the conferences there are a lot of knowledgable people helping out... thanks you know your stuff!!!