Click Fraud - Why It Shouldn't Scare You Away from Search Advertising
Click Fraud - Why It Shouldn't Scare You Away from Search Advertising
Click fraud is out there. It is a serious problem. And you should know everything you possibly can about it. BUT it should not keep you out of this valuable marketing outlet. First, let me tell you a story from personal experience.
My Story of Pain and Profit Loss
I had been running a client’s AdWords campaign profitably for some time when things suddenly died. It was like hitting a brick wall. He went from a steady stream of orders to none. Overnight. The strange thing was that he was still getting clicks on the ads, just no sales.
It took a while before the mystery was solved. We finally figured out that most of our clicks were now coming from competitors. Being the competition, we knew they had no intention of buying. This was a clear case of click fraud. So what did we do?
We were able to successfully contest the fraudulent clicks with Google. Our documentation was organized and solid, so they saw things our way. We then fixed the campaigns to block the competition. They were also put on notice that we were now watching them. Sales came back. What a coincidence.
Believe me, there were times when we were climbing the walls seeing our revenue flatline. The client was ready to pull the plug on his AdWords campaign. I had to reassure them to keep it alive, but I didn’t blame him for feeling that way.
The Silver Lining That Outlived the Dark Cloud
As bad as that was, we were able to finally see that, despite being a big blow, it was temporary. We were able to identify the problem and fight back. Today, income is not only back to pre-fraud levels, we’re doing better than ever. Remember, quitting lock, stock and barrel is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
What can you do to fight, and even prevent, click fraud? Pay attention to your web stats/metrics. Look for suspicious trends, like a lot of clicks from one specific area suddenly. In addition, get click fraud detection on your site – there are free services such as Vericlix (Vericlix.com) and Click Sentinel (ClickSentinel.com) that are very good. They’ll provide you with the data you need to detect click fraud as well as to use when requesting refunds from Google.
Accept click fraud as a price of doing business, like shoplifting. Is it frustrating? Yes. Should you do everything you can to stop it? Yes. Should you let it run you off? Absolutely not. Especially if you’re still making a profit. Keep in mind the Big Picture, which is what truly matters at the end of the business day.
Click Fraud Why It Shouldnt Scare You Away from Search Advertising - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Cook's Website.
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Is the click fraud problem too big? Short answer: No. For the long answer, and to understand why it isn’t, read on.
Click fraud is out there. It is a serious problem. And you should know everything you possibly can about it. BUT it should not keep you out of this valuable marketing outlet. First, let me tell you a story from personal experience.
My Story of Pain and Profit Loss
I had been running a client’s AdWords campaign profitably for some time when things suddenly died. It was like hitting a brick wall. He went from a steady stream of orders to none. Overnight. The strange thing was that he was still getting clicks on the ads, just no sales.
It took a while before the mystery was solved. We finally figured out that most of our clicks were now coming from competitors. Being the competition, we knew they had no intention of buying. This was a clear case of click fraud. So what did we do?
We were able to successfully contest the fraudulent clicks with Google. Our documentation was organized and solid, so they saw things our way. We then fixed the campaigns to block the competition. They were also put on notice that we were now watching them. Sales came back. What a coincidence.
Believe me, there were times when we were climbing the walls seeing our revenue flatline. The client was ready to pull the plug on his AdWords campaign. I had to reassure them to keep it alive, but I didn’t blame him for feeling that way.
The Silver Lining That Outlived the Dark Cloud
As bad as that was, we were able to finally see that, despite being a big blow, it was temporary. We were able to identify the problem and fight back. Today, income is not only back to pre-fraud levels, we’re doing better than ever. Remember, quitting lock, stock and barrel is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
What can you do to fight, and even prevent, click fraud? Pay attention to your web stats/metrics. Look for suspicious trends, like a lot of clicks from one specific area suddenly. In addition, get click fraud detection on your site – there are free services such as Vericlix (Vericlix.com) and Click Sentinel (ClickSentinel.com) that are very good. They’ll provide you with the data you need to detect click fraud as well as to use when requesting refunds from Google.
Accept click fraud as a price of doing business, like shoplifting. Is it frustrating? Yes. Should you do everything you can to stop it? Yes. Should you let it run you off? Absolutely not. Especially if you’re still making a profit. Keep in mind the Big Picture, which is what truly matters at the end of the business day.
Click Fraud Why It Shouldnt Scare You Away from Search Advertising - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Cook's Website.
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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