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There’s a lot of game playing that goes on in digital advertising. It’s easy for unscrupulous advertisers to manipulate their metrics and trick the system in their favor. This article looks at some common ways that advertisers game the system, as well as measures you can take to prevent Google Ad Click Fraud from happening in your accounts. Virtually any advertising medium has the potential to be gamed by someone with a malicious intent and an understanding of how the system works. The challenge with digital advertising is that it involves automated processes, where there is not always a lot of visibility into how those processes are executing. Digital advertising fraud occurs when an advertiser manipulates their performance metrics to make them look better than they are. There are many ways this can happen, but there are two primary types:Self-Click Fraud and Third-Party Click Fraud.
Self-Click Fraud happens when an advertiser or their employees click on their own ads for purposes such as increasing impressions, clicks, or conversions that wouldn’t otherwise have happened naturally. This type of fraud can happen in a few different ways: - Advertiser Internal Monitoring: If a company has internal monitoring software in place, it is fairly simple for an employee to click on the advertiser’s own ads. This can be done manually or programmed to happen automatically. - Manual Installation of Cookies: Some advertisers set up cookies on their websites for the purpose of tracking their ads. If those cookies are manually installed, it’s possible for the advertiser to click on their own ads as well. - Programmatic Buying: This is a little different from above, but can still fall under Self-Click Fraud. If an advertiser uses a programmatic buying platform, they can set up rules for their ads to be served. If they set up rules that serve their ads to themselves, their own users, or otherwise click on their own ads, it’s self-click fraud.
Third-party click fraud occurs when an unscrupulous third party, such as a competitor or agency, clicks on your ads. In some cases, they may use a software program to do this, in other cases it could be an employee. Third-party click fraud can be done manually or using automated software. The software is used for clicking on your ads as well as for loading your ads onto their own websites to make them appear more frequently in your campaign. There are many ways for an advertiser to game the system. The best way to prevent these techniques from affecting your account is to monitor your metrics and watch for any unusual activity. If you are seeing unusually high conversion rates, impressions, clicks, or a large increase in cost per action (CPA), you may be experiencing third-party click fraud.
Google Ad fraud happens when an advertiser manipulates their performance metrics by using Google’s own ad platform to serve their ads. One of the most common ways this is done is using ad stacking. Ad stacking is when an advertiser loads more than one ad into a single ad space. If a single ad receives a high click (CTR) and a high conversion rate, an advertiser can increase their overall performance by stacking additional ads into that ad space. In theory, this sounds great, but the problem lies in the fact that Google Ad stacking is an automated process and doesn’t give the user any indication that more than one is being served in that ad space.
Google Ads injection and shadow ads' fraud occur when an advertiser loads their ads into other websites. They can do this by clicking on their own ads, clicking on competitors’ ads, or clicking on unrelated websites. Once they have an ad code or tracking ID, they can simply inject their ads into other websites. Depending on the software they are using, they may also be able to make their ads appear as if they are coming from the host website. This is sometimes referred to as“shadow ads” because advertisers are loading their ads onto other people’s websites and making their ads appear like they are coming from those websites. It is important to note that the advertisers are still responsible for paying for any clicks that are received from these ads regardless of where they are being served.
Google Ads bid rotation fraud occurs when an advertiser clicks on their own low-value keywords in order to make them appear higher up in the advertising rank. Advertisers who are familiar with the Google Ads platform know that they have the option to use a percentage, fixed dollar amount, or bid range. A bid range is when you set a minimum and a maximum amount you are willing to pay for a click. While this option is great for advertisers who want to optimize for value, it also gives unscrupulous advertisers another opportunity to manipulate their metrics.
As you can see, there are many ways that advertisers can game the system when it comes to digital advertising. The best way to protect yourself is by monitoring your metrics and looking for signs of unusual activity. If you suspect that you are experiencing ad fraud, you can report it to Google. Reporting fraudulent activity to Google helps them improve their algorithms and detect bad actors. For tips on how to prevent Google Ad Click Fraud from happening in your accounts, scroll up and read the article again!
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