Click fraud is one of the most talked about issues affecting advertisers on Google and other Pay Per Click (PPC) platforms.
According to Click Guardian[1] $7.2 billion was lost to click fraud between 2016 and 2018. That’s a staggering amount that millions of advertisers are losing to fraudsters and click errors.
So what is click fraud? According to Google it is an illegitimate action such as an unintentional click or a click resulting from malicious software.
In fact, Google chooses not to call it click fraud and calls it ‘invalid clicks[2]’ instead. That’s understandable considering the confusion surrounding this topic and the various reasons why some clicks may be legitimate or an error.
Google uses a number of methods to fight click fraud. These include manual reviewers, automated filters, deep research and a global team of scientists and engineers.
In this article we will look at some common types of click fraud; examples of legitimate clicks that can be mistaken for fraud; what Google is doing to fight it and what you can do to prevent and report it.
What are the common types of click fraud?
1. Manual clicks intended to increase your advertising costs
This click fraud is one advertisers’ fear most. And some estimates report that it’s the most prevalent type of click fraud.
This is when other businesses that compete on your keywords deliberately click on your ads to drive up your costs.
Whatever keywords you’re bidding on, it’s almost likely you’re not the only one bidding on it. So that can often turn into a serious battle for clicks, customers and traffic.
One of the negative effects is that everyone’s