Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be a cost-effective way for a business to get its marketing message out to the customers most likely to buy its products or services. Unfortunately, PPC is also a tool that scammers can use to rip off advertisers. And when they succeed, they end up eating an advertiser’s marking budget.
As an online advertiser, how would you know? More and more companies these days are purchasing ad fraud detection software. They are working with companies like Fraud Blocker to continually monitor their advertising campaigns in hopes of detecting and preventing ad fraud.
If you wanted to handle things yourself, data would be your primary tool. You would analyze the data from your ad campaigns and look for three anomalies in particular. These anomalies suggest something is wrong.
1. Odd Geographic Distribution
The easiest and least detectable way to commit and fraud is to establish a fake publishing platform through which the scammer can sell ads. He then creates a website on which those ads are placed. Then he uses either a click bot or human employees to continually click on the ads, thus raising revenue.
Even though scammers can spoof IP addresses or use VPNs to hide their addresses, their activities still show unusual clusters in certain geographical locations. Your ad data may not show exactly where clicks are coming from, but it will show general areas. An unusually high percentage of clicks from one geographic region suggests you are an ad fraud victim.
2. Unusually High Ad Costs
As you probably know, PPC advertising is billed by the click. The more clicks your ads get, the more you pay. Keeping track of your daily ad spend can help uncover click fraud by comparing multiple ad campaigns and their costs. If your latest campaign seems excessively expensive compared to past campaigns of a similar nature, you may have a problem.
When considering this potential anomaly, you do have to consider the amount you bid for the ads in question. If your bid were 25% higher than average, you would expect your expenses to go up by roughly the same amount. But if your current ad campaign is 50% more expensive, now there is something to be concerned about.
3. A Lack of Conversions
The third anomaly to look for is a lack of conversions in relation to the number of clicks your ads are getting. To figure this out, you also need to compare the current campaign with previous campaigns. You also want to compare conversion rates pre and post each campaign you use in your comparison.
The simple way to explain this is to say that your conversion rates should be fairly consistent across the board. PPC advertising only drives traffic to your site. It doesn’t necessarily lead directly to conversions. So, your conversion rate on a per-click basis should be fairly stable.
Seeing your conversion rate cut in half after launching a new PPC campaign is a big red flag. It suggests you are getting a lot of clicks but customers are not purchasing your products or services. That could be because customers aren’t actually landing on your site. All those clicks could be generated by click bots or click farm employees.
Companies that want to monitor for click fraud themselves can do so by paying attention to ad data. Still, it might be a better idea to invest in ad fraud detection and prevention service. Having a professional on your side goes a long way toward protecting your marketing budget from being eaten by scammers generating tons of fake clicks.