Blog Post

What is PPC click fraud and how can it affect my business

  • by Steve Taylor
  • 12 Nov, 2017

Pay-per-click marketing can be expensive by its very nature of being an auction of costly keywords and competitors.

The last thing you need on top of that is ad fraud.

PPC advertising fraud will make your reporting inaccurate, interactions with genuine customers difficult and budget get out of control.

What do we mean by PPC ad fraud?

We’re talking about the fraudulent clicking of PPC adverts to generate false charges for advertisers.

There’s a few ways this can be done – competitors repeatedly clicking on your adverts is one example.

By clicking on your ad, your competitors can waste your advertising budget and turn your advert off for the day. Although this might not cost small businesses too much as they’ll set a daily budget, many bigger companies don’t set limits and can lose thousands per day with this kind of click fraud.

Webmasters using AdSense have been known to get in on the act too.

Anyone can have Google ads on their website, and earn 68% of the cost of the click. Not bad going really!

Obviously, some are going to be tempted to earn even more and will click on their own adverts to drive the cost of the click up. It’s small-scale fraud but can still hit your pocket.

Organised PPC ad fraud is a much bigger concern and something you do need to be aware of

Generally, we’re talking about bot traffic (non-human traffic) used by fraud rings.

They’ll target specific advertising networks to get the most amount of money in a short timeframe. Using automated software, i.e. ‘bots’ to generate millions of fraudulent clicks and views each day.

The bots are used to scan the website copying traditional human behaviour. They trigger impressions, click on your ads and then leave your site immediately. We’re talking thousands of fake IP addresses clicking your ads here, repeatedly.

No one is immune from click fraud – with it occurring in every industry

Usually, the more competitive the industry the higher the level of click fraud there will be – but as you can see from the examples outlined above any business can be hit.

It’s been estimated that 25% of your PPC marketing budget will be lost to click fraud.

So, what’s being done to tackle the problem?

Google AdWords have set up their own click fraud team to deal with the problem in an attempt to prevent advertisers from leaving their service completely.

Using a traffic control centre that actively monitors the clicks made on their user's adverts, Google determines if a click is fraudulent and will refund the advertiser. This sounds great but it hasn’t worked well.

We could get cynical here.

When Google is making money from each click regardless of it being genuine or not – how interested are they in addressing the problem?

There is third party software available that will blacklist IP addresses known to be fraudulent, preventing them from clicking through to your website. This is a better approach to take when protecting your advertising budget than relying solely on Google to intervene.

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by Steve Taylor 21 December 2018

Amazon has taken the world by storm with its range of products, drone deliveries and streaming services, but one aspect you might not have considered before is its pay per click marketing, otherwise known as “sponsored products”.

If you sell products, then advertising through Amazon is an effective way of reaching a bigger audience and increasing your revenue. But how do you get started with one of the world’s largest retailers?

Sponsored product ads appear in both Amazon’s search results and product listing pages

Although you will find that the PPC ads on Amazon are discreetly marked as ‘sponsored’, they do fit in seamlessly within the rest of the search results, dare I say it far better than on Google where it’s obvious to many that the advertisement has been paid for.

It’s also easy to get started with Amazon’s PPC system.

Any seller with a professional selling plan can place ads, although not all of Amazon’s categories are currently available to advertise under. You can quickly get started and find the answers to your questions under Amazon’s helpful service pages , and as always, their customer service is easily accessible for support.

Just like Google Ads, Amazon’s PPC works as an auction style system where you place bids for where you want your advert to appear, and the highest bidder wins the first position.

There are several key reasons why you should be considering Amazon for your PPC advertising

Amazon is fantastic at running seasonal promotions. Like many people, around those all important dates of the year – Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Mother’s and Father’s Day and Valentines, you probably head straight to Amazon to either buy gifts or garner some inspiration.

Amazon advertising can be found everywhere, from billboards to television ads, so you know that your PPC campaign can tap into some of that marketing magic too, something that Google still struggles somewhat to achieve.

It’s also perfect for boosting a single product you might be struggling to shift from your warehouse. Where Google is best for landing page campaigns and sales funnels, when you just have a product to clear or a new line to introduce to the market, Amazon is perfect for giving an instant boost exactly where you need it.

Don’t forget about the “accidental effects” to your organic SEO either .

The more your products are viewed online, along with visits to your website, positive reviews and that crucial “social proof” is in place, you will find that your organic SEO is given a boost and the effects of an Amazon PPC campaign will be found elsewhere in your digital marketing.

We think that giving Amazon sponsored products advertising a try in 2019 is certainly worth a try if you’re an e-commerce or drop shipping business owner looking for a new marketing tactic. As always, for advice and support with all things pay per click marketing, get in touch with us here at Bargainarena Limited, and we’ll be delighted to help.

 

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