Identify and Stop Malicious Click Fraud
Prevent Financial Loss as Part of an Internet Marketing Strategy
Nov 4, 2008
Many small businesses include pay-per-click marketing strategies as part of their internet marketing plan. Many are equally frustrated by reports showing high rates of click through but few sales. If your cost per click keeps rising and your sales continue falling, click fraud may be at the root of the problem.
What is Click Fraud?
Both Google and Yahoo define click fraud as any click-through on an online ad that is not part of a good-faith intention on the part of customer to buy or learn more about a product or service. The artificial clicks inflate the response rate and use up marketing budgets for companies on a pay-per-click campaign. Click fraud, according to ClickForesnics, a company that monitors and reports on click fraud activity to companies, reports that although the overall industry rate of click fraud fell slightly in 2008, activity from botnets increased. Botnets are malicious computer code loaded onto consumers' computers without their knowledge or consent. Botnets are picked up in much the same way as adware or spyware is picked up. Botnets turn an unwary user's machine into a click fraud ally. Every time the user turns on his or her machine, the botnet automatically begins clicking, thus wasting companies' marketing dollars.
According to Tom Cuthbert, president and founder of ClickForensics as reported in DM News, "This [increase in click fraud] has been a trend over the past five quarters."
Current estimates from ClickForensics put the rate of click fraud at 16%, while some pay-per-click marketing companies estimate it much higher at 50%.
How Small Businesses Can Identify and Stop Click FraudClick fraud will always exist, whether it's malicious computer programs automatically clicking through or someone training a parakeet to sit and click. Affiliate marketers may continually click through on ads, hoping to raise earnings. All of these dishonest practices hurt businesses.
Small businesses can identify and stop click fraud by taking the following steps:
1. Avoid signing up for ad networks. Although many of these promise to earn companies money, the rate of click fraud is much higher for companies that participate in ad networks than for companies that rely upon search engine marketing, as reported by Marketing Sherpa.
2. Learn how to identify the IP address of competitors. Monitor click-through campaign reports for competitors' IP addresses. If competitors are at the root of the problem, contact them to get them to stop. Consult an attorney if the problem persists.
3. Warn employees not to click on ads for your company. Some disgruntled employees have been known to do this to hurt the company's budget.
For personal computer users, look for the following warning signs that a botnet has been installed on your computer without your permission:
1. Be sure to install top-notch virus protection software on computers, especially PC's which tend to be more vulnerable to attack. Virus programs may infiltrate computers with botnet viruses.
2. Watch for slowed performance and slow startups. These may be a sign that other programs such as botnets are loading behind the scenes.
3. Schedule frequent updates for Internet browser software, virus protection, and other patches.
If you believe your company has been victimized by click fraud, report it to the major search engine companies along with the IP addresses of the click throughs. This will help them identify and stop future fraud.
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