If you use AdWords or AdSense, you've probably heard of „click fraud,“ a new trend in the underground computer world. But what is click fraud, and how is it carried out?
AdSense, on the other hand, offers a payment mechanism whereby a publisher (someone who has an AdSense banner on their page) receives a specific amount of money each time someone clicks on the advertisement. Click fraud, therefore, refers to the practice of inducing people to click on ads in order to increase their revenue.
Many people create websites solely with the aim of earning money through Google's AdSense programme. These users achieve an astounding number of clicks by employing a variety of techniques, some of which are complicated and sophisticated, while others are simple and straightforward.
The use of so-called „hitbots“ is one of the most complicated. These are computer programs that pretend to click on the links in AdSense ads (there are also those that actually click on the banners).
Google's AdSense protection method is far from ideal, and almost anyone can figure out how to bypass it – ironically, by simply performing a Google search.
Another, more primitive method is to hire a large number of people in a poor country to click on your website's links. This means that these people sit all day clicking on links so that you can earn a fortune. They come from impoverished countries like India and are willing to work for as little as $0.50 per hour.
Naturally, this method has a catch. If Google receives a large number of clicks from a single address, that address and the website containing the AdSense banner will be blocked, and the scammer can be sued.
As a way to prevent this, many users employ a large number of proxy servers to avoid clicks. These are essentially trojans found on computers all over the world (though predominantly in the USA). Even more alarmingly, these clicks appear to be coming from a legitimate computer, making such scams extremely difficult to detect.
And don't assume that something like this only happens now and then. There is a lot of criminal activity in this area.
There are even so many that the illegal activities could cause even more damage if the search engine providers do not improve their security with programmes such as AdSense.
Google pursues a strict policy against click fraud and has already sued those who have resorted to such tactics. While the search engine giant does everything in its power to reduce the risk of click fraud, there is still plenty of room for improvement.
Man geht davon aus, dass mehr als 20 % der Klicks, die auf einen AdSense-Link folgen, nur erfolgen, um Geld von der Person zu erhalten, die für die Anzeige bezahlt hat. Einige Experten sind der Meinung, dass die Zahl der falschen Klicks wesentlich höher ist.
There are many more click fraud tactics, such as groups of AdSense publishers clicking on each other's links (so-called „click rings“), or spamming individuals to get them to click on such links.
Despite Google's efforts to control click fraud, the situation among AdWords customers is concerning. Nevertheless, advertising via Google's AdSense is still more profitable for marketers than traditional, untargeted advertising strategies.
There are ways to protect yourself from such methods, and all advertisers should be aware of this. Out of fear of click fraud, many marketers decide to avoid the content network entirely.
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