How to spot PPC click fraud

March 9, 2008

As a PPC (pay per click) campaign manager running Google, Yahoo or other paid search advertising campaigns, you may find that you are experiencing extremely high and sudden Cost Per Clicks. You may be a victim of click fraud, something you need to deal with as quickly as possible.

My good friend, Gordon Choi, a respected PPC campaign manager and PPC blog author, posted the following tell-tale signs that you are a victim of click fraud:

Identical IP address: too many clicks from the same IP address are a time-tested sign of click fraud
Change in number of clicks: if you suddenly find an unexpected increase in number of clicks on a particular day
Sudden spike in CTR (click through rates)
Change in bounce rate (page views per session) - any major unexpected change is an indication of click fraud
Short duration of visits: if suddenly you find visitors are hanging around for less than a minute, and your average visitor duration is 2 minutes, you could have a click fraud problem

Report click fraud immediately and ensure your campaigns remain profitable.

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