According to studies, Google is slow to respond to click bots and fraudulent traffic.
Traffic is what keeps pay-per-click advertising alive. Bots have been “clicking” PPC ads for almost as long as they have existed. They can also game the system.
This is a secret. It’s more common than most digital marketers think. Some estimates suggest that fake users account for almost 40% of all web traffic.
PPC Fraud Is Big Business
The University of Baltimore has estimated that ad fraud will cost businesses around $35 billion in 2020.
PPC fraud is one of the most popular ways it’s done. Website owners use automated clickers or click bots, to target Google Display, YouTube, or responsive text ads on their site.
These clicks can be fraudulent if they aren’t identified, which often is not. The fraudster then collects the click fee from the advertiser. This fraudster not only inflates the performance of ad campaigns but also siphons money from digital advertising budgets to pay for nonexistent traffic.
Fear of dropping performance, Reactiveness, and Embarrassment may facilitate the proliferation of bots.
Google can detect and block bot traffic. Users can tell Google Analytics to exclude all hits from bots and spiders by using the search engine’s automated filter.
This raises the question, “Why doesn’t Google automatically block click bots?” An unnamed publisher offered this opinion.
Google has a long history being reactive against fake clicks. Google developed rules against fake clicks to counter schemes publishers used to exploit its advertising platform.
Publishers were allowed to use colors and fonts to style ads until they were prohibited. This resulted in up to 50% clickthrough rates and revenue paid to the publisher.
Another example of Google being reactive is the person who, in the early days, was well-known for his click bots and partnered with people to share revenue-sharing ad clicks. It was a very successful partnership that allowed this person to continue doing it for quite some time.
Google has been scrambling for a method to catch up as click bots come up with new strategies and workarounds. Privacy policies currently prevent servers from accurately tracking what browsers are seeing. The servers are blind.
False clicks are a common scam that deceives advertisers. Either they want to keep their traffic numbers artificially high, or they don’t want to be embarrassed that they bought ad space that generated fraudulent clicks.
Failed Musk Twitter Deal
Elon Musk, currently the world’s richest man, stated that concerns over the number of spam accounts on Twitter were a significant reason for his decision to stop buying Twitter in May.
Musk claims that Twitter underestimated the number of fake accounts by millions. This claim was supported by testimony from Peiter Zatko (the former head of security at Twitter), who claimed that executive bonuses were linked to daily user numbers.
Twitter responded to the lawsuit against the Tesla CEO, who claimed less than 5% were bots.
The Delaware Chancery Court is expected to hear the lawsuit on October 17. Musk will have to purchase Twitter for $4 billion if he loses.
Click Bots to Protect Your Ad Budget
Although it is impossible to completely prevent bots from influencing your ads campaigns, you can reduce the exposure of your ads by following a few simple steps.
- 1Set up IP exclusions for Google Ads that are derived from click farms.
- To exclude fake clicks, adjust your ad targeting.
- Create placement exclusion lists to prevent your ad from appearing at questionable or fraudulent sites.
Click fraud prevention is a continuous process. While it may affect your performance, it will ultimately save you money.
