What is Click Fraud?

As subscriptions and readership for print media is declining, pay per click advertising opportunities through companies like Google and Yahoo are steadily growing. However, these programs are not without issues; ad click fraud is a serious problem that has prompted Google to take a zero-tolerance stance as the web giant tries to maintain the integrity of its AdSense and AdWords internet advertising programs. What is click fraud? It is the act of clicking advertisements on the internet in order to earn money or with the malicious intension of draining a competitor of its advertising budget. Click fraud has become a major issue for all companies that provide pay per click advertising programs, undermining the integrity of the company that provides the service.

A large portion of fraudulent clicks come as a result of users trying to make money off programs such as Google’s AdSense. The AdSense program allows websites or bloggers to display contextual ads on their web page or blog and each time the ad is clicked, the website owner or blogger receives a certain percentage of the revenue. To counter this issue, Google tracks each and every click with IP address logging, among other methods. Accounts are investigated when abnormal ad clicking patterns emerge over a period of weeks or months, whether it is a suspicious pattern of ad licks from a particular IP address or an unusually high number of clicks on the advertisements displayed on a web page. Another form of click fraud is click exchange. This is when two or more bloggers or website owners agree to click on ads displayed on each other’s websites or blogs so that they can both earn money off the ads that are displayed. Again although these users may think that they outsmarted the ad service, any unusual clicks or activity on the ads are monitored and appropriate action is taken.