Let’s say you’ve launched a Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing campaign. This is a way for you to pay only when a visitor clicks on your ecommerce store’s digital ads. You’re seeing a lot of clicks, which is driving up your costs, but you’re also noticing low engagement on your site. This could mean your site is loading slowly or has design issues, but it could also be a sign that your ad campaign is being affected by click fraud.

With the global cost of fraud in the digital advertising industry expected to reach $172 billion by 2028 , and one in five U.S. marketers citing ad fraud and invalid traffic as a top issue, you need to understand how to protect your PPC campaigns.

Below we explain what causes click fraud, how to recognize it, and some click fraud prevention strategies you can apply.

What is click fraud?

Click fraud is the practice of people or bots repeatedly clicking on paid digital advertisements maliciously in order to generate revenue for the ad network and drain the advertising budgets of competitors. Click fraud targets PPC marketing campaigns, causing merchants and advertisers to charge for invalid clicks on marketing channels such as websites, search engine results pages (SERPs), and social media sites.

With the average cost-per-click (CPC) rate for ecommerce ranging from about 20 cents to $5, fraudulent clicks can quickly add up and drain a company’s advertising budget. Click fraud also affects your search engine visibility as invalid traffic consumes the daily budget of your paid advertising campaigns and reduces exposure to real users.

In addition to wasting time and money with no return on investment (ROI), click fraud can distort user data about your advertising campaigns and damage your reputation with customers, advertisers, and publishers.

Sources of Click Fraud

• Click Farm
• Botnet
• Advertising fraud
• Competitors
• Domain spoofing
• If you clicked by mistake

Here are some of the most common sources of fraud in PaperClick advertising:

Click Farm

Click farms use workers who are hired to click on specific ads and links. Businesses, content creators, advertisers, politicians, and scammers hire click farms to commit click fraud against their competitors. This is done by artificially inflating their online metrics so that their accounts are reported as spam, or by repeatedly clicking on their PPC ads to drain their competitors’ advertising budgets.

Botnet

A botnet is a network of computers infected with malicious code or malware, controlled remotely by an attacker. Click fraud bots on these infected devices act like real users, scanning websites and clicking on links, ads, and buttons.

While some bot traffic is harmless, like search engine web crawlers that index information on web pages, bots designed for click fraud can quickly deplete your PPC advertising budget by generating high volumes of fake engagements.

Advertising fraud

Ad fraud, one of the most prevalent types of click fraud, refers to the use of fraudulent clicks to generate revenue for ad networks. This involves a fraudster hosting paid ads on a website and pretending that the clicks are organic. Advertisers end up paying for the bulk of the clicks generated by the website without knowing that the website operator is a fraudster.

Competitors

Competitor click fraud occurs when a business competitor uses fraudulent practices to drain a competitor’s PPC advertising budget and lower their website’s search engine rankings. Competitors can do this by using click farms, botnets, or employees to click on their ads.

Domain spoofing

Domain spoofing is a phishing tactic where scammers create fake websites that mimic legitimate websites. Scammers use the domain names of premium websites to sell fake advertising space, misleading advertisers about where their ads will appear.

If you clicked by mistake

Most click fraud comes from malicious third parties, but there are also cases where people accidentally click on ads displayed on search engines, websites, and social media platforms. This type of traffic usually generates a small number of clicks, but it can still negatively impact your advertising budget and indicate problems with your online advertising targeting.

How to Recognize Click Fraud

Here are some factors to watch out for when identifying click fraud:

High churn rate

Bounce rate describes the percentage of website visitors who leave your site after viewing just one page. A high bounce rate can indicate technical or content issues, but it can also be a warning sign that you’re experiencing click fraud.

Bots can quickly crawl through websites and links, which can increase bounce rates. A high bounce rate can lower your search engine rankings, decrease organic traffic, and negatively impact your company’s bottom line.

low conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who perform a desired action on your website, such as purchasing a product or signing up for a newsletter. When analyzing user behavior on your website, a high click-through rate and low conversion rate can indicate fraudulent clicks.

Abnormal IP address

An IP address is a unique number assigned to a device connected to the Internet. High traffic from the same IP address or from an unusual location outside of the advertised area can be a sign of click fraud. You can monitor IP addresses that visit your ecommerce site to detect unusual traffic that may indicate click fraud.

How to avoid click fraud

• Paid Advertising Targeting
• Monitor and exclude suspicious IP addresses
• Advertising Budget Management
• Use click fraud prevention software

Here are some strategies to prevent click fraud:

Paid Advertising Targeting

One of the best ways to prevent click fraud is to target your paid ads to specific locations, users, and time zones. Pay-click platforms like Google Ads and Meta Ads allow you to define where and when your paid ads appear to your target audience. Managing your PPC campaigns can help reduce bot clicks from malware that scans digital advertising links extensively.

Monitor and exclude suspicious IP addresses

Another way to reduce click fraud is to monitor IP addresses and identify the difference between when a legitimate web user clicks on your PPC ads and when a botnet or click farm clicks. If you see multiple clicks coming from the same IP address or from an unusual location, you can block that IP address from your PPC advertising platform, such as Google Ads.

Advertising Budget Management

Set clear limits for your budget on your PPC advertising platform and monitor your daily spending. If your daily limit is reached too quickly, investigate whether the clicks are coming from legitimate users. If you find fraudulent clicks, you can request a refund from your PPC advertising platform by providing specific evidence of invalid traffic to your site.

Use click fraud prevention software

Another effective way to reduce invalid traffic in your PPC campaigns is to use click fraud detection software programs. This type of computer program monitors website traffic and analyzes user behavior to identify fraudulent activity. Using anti-fraud software, you can set click limits and automatically block invalid traffic generated by bots.

Click Fraud FAQs