Click fraud is one of the worst nightmares of online advertisers. It eats up all the ad budget, deprives the advertiser of any meaningful analytics, and leaves the ad campaign useless. However dangerous, it can be detected and avoided using click fraud protection software available on the internet.

Let us first understand what click fraud is, how it works, and how to detect it.

What is a Click Fraud?

When a large number of clicks are generated on an ad campaign with the intention of depleting the advertiser’s budget, such a practice is called click fraud. This practice can be done using automated bots, or even real people with opposing interests like competitors. For such purposes, there are even farms available that provide such services of large-scale operations such as views generating, or depleting competitor’s budget by clicking on their ads. There is also a possibility that some of the clicks that do not convert into a conversion may be accidental. This can happen if the ad is poorly placed.

Different Ways of Doing Click Fraud

If someone wants to do click fraud, it could be achieved through several ways. It is important to understand the ways as well to stay protected from click fraud if any signs of click fraud are detected. Following are the various ways of doing click fraud:

• Manually Clicking on Ads Repeatedly: A group of people manually clicking on the ads repeatedly without making the purchase or generating a valid conversion. This will exhaust the budget of the advertisers as the pay-per-click advertising charges per click.
• Bots Trained for Click Fraud: Another possibility is that automated bots are created and trained to click on the ads. This way the perpetrator also stays hidden as the IP address of the bot is random and not real. 
• Software-Induced Click Fraud: There also exists some software on the internet that can target specific ads and inflate the number of clicks.

Effects of Click Fraud on Advertisement

Click Frauds are done with the intention of harming the victim’s business, and that can happen in several different ways. Let’s see how click fraud affects the advertisement campaigns of a business.

1. Budget Exhaustion

Most campaigns use a pay-per-click advertisement approach, and every fraudulent click on the ad costs the advertiser a certain amount of money. If the click fraud is done enough times, eventually the advertiser’s budget will run out and the ad campaign will cease to exist.

2. Meaningless Ad Analytics

As the clicks on the ad do not generate a conversion, the data collected from the overall ad campaign becomes meaningless and useless. Ad analytics are generally used for better-targeting customers, however, if the data is skewed, further advertisement campaigns will also be affected negatively.

3. Account Suspension

Services like Google advertising for small businesses often suspend the advertiser’s account if there are any signs of click fraud detected on the campaign. That is done for the security of the advertiser as it saves the budget from exhaustion. However, the process is annoying as the advertiser has to now create and launch another campaign which will obviously take time

Signs that will Help in Click Fraud Detection

There are a few signs to be aware of while running your ad campaigns. If any of the following signs are observed, there is a high chance that there might be click fraud happening on your ads.

1. There is a sudden rise in the number of clicks on the advertisement.
2. Repeated clicks are being done from the same location.
3. Click Through Rates (CTR) are high but the conversions are comparatively low.
4. Low session duration, meaning the viewer clicks on the ad but spends a significantly low amount of time on the target page.
5. Repeated clicks with the same behavior patterns as the above signs will surely indicate click fraud.

Protection Against Click Fraud

After the click fraud detection, the next step is to stay protected from it. Following are the ways to stay protected from click fraud:

1. Use a click fraud protection software that will automatically identify any activities associated with click fraud and take action to stay clear of it.
2. Target the ads to a specific audience where so that you can identify any access from the suspicious locations.
3. Block any IP addresses that are repeatedly clicking on the ad without generating any conversions.
4. Set a time limit on the number of clicks allowed by a single IP address.
5. Place your ads in a proper manner and place so that there are no accidental clicks on the ads.

Best Click Fraud Protection Software Available 

There are many click fraud protection software available on the internet. You can choose any one of them depending on the requirements. Here are the top 10 click fraud protection software available:

1. CHEQ Essentials: This software will block any bad bots that are hurting your ad campaigns on Google and Facebook.
2. ClickGUARD: This software cleans the target audience which will save the budget from any click fraud.
3. Affise: This software helps in tracking traffic and optimizing ad campaigns.
4. AppsFlyer: This software tracks your conversions and will help you notice any suspicious activity.
5. Clixtell: This software provides automated Google click fraud detection and protection.
6. Singular: This software claims to have next-gen attribution and the best fraud prevention system.
7. IPQS: This software is also a fraud prevention solution that detects any fraudulent activity in real-time.
8. Fraud0: This software used machine learning techniques to detect any fraudulent clicks on the advertisements.
9. Fraud Blocker: This software is optimal for small businesses with limited budgets as it offers basic click fraud protection.
10. TrafficGuard: This software has optimal features like campaign analysis, trend analysis, traffic filtering, and machine learning that will help protect the ads from click frauds and filter any suspicious audience.

Conclusion

Online Ad campaigns are vulnerable to click fraud from competitors to exhaust the ad budget of your business. To equip your business with click fraud detection, a click fraud protection software will be required. Choose any software that matches the business’s needs and stay protected from the fraudulent activities of competitors.