Ward Off Google Adwords PPC Fraud Using These Tricks

It has been noted that there is an increase of click frauds taking place with Google Adwords and other PPC campaigns. A lot of researchers have estimated that as of 2008, there were about more than $1.6 billion that occurred. Click fraud arises when a competitor may be clicking on your ads to crack your ad budget, or when an individual installs a web robot or spider to generate fraudulent clicks on your ads.

Search engine companies and PPC providers, which includes Google, claim that click fraud exists and are taking steps to correct the issue. Even though it can be difficult to track down the source of deceptive activities, there are a number of ways to reduce the risk of it happening with your campaign. Here are some important tips for preventing PPC fraud with your Google Adwords method:

1. Frequently monitor click-through rates. You can effortlessly review your conversions and click-through rates with Google. You can keep an eye on any odd activity by printing out a daily or weekly report. It is also great if you would be able to see traffic reports, and determine the websites and IP addresses that visit your site.

2. A daily budget must be maintained. The price on daily Adwords programs should be restricted, which is why you need to set a budget. You should be able to determine a budget, which for several months, you will be able to keep. This will help in minimizing your risk for click frauds and you will be able to track your Google Adwords expenditures more easily.

3. Set a click limit daily. In the book, ‘The Complete Guide to Google Advertising’, written by Bruce C. Brown, it advised that a daily click limit should be set up by every Adwords manager. This will help you to recognize the number of clicks that are generated over a period of time, that way, your ad is not just ‘exposed’ for anybody to click. Your ad will then disappear once the click limit is attained.

4. Make use of the feature that establishes geographic location. You can safeguard yourself from fraudulent activities by limiting your ad to particular markets. Why would you be spending money on Adwords to show up in countries where you don’t do business? Find out where your best market its. Do some research. Concentrate in these regions or countries.

5. If the PPC program is giving you something for free, don’t sign up with it. There are a number of PPC companies that offer free products, services of downloadable tools as an incentive for you to sign up. Be careful about these, especially if it involves downloading something to your computer that 'monitors' your keyword campaign. However, obtaining a Google Adwords 'credit' when you sign up with a hosting company or domain name registrar is safe; as long as you're working directly with Google Adwords, you don't have to worry about fraudulent actions that would affect your funds.

You have to report the issue to Google immediately if you think that you have been a victim of click fraud. You can get your Adwords campaign back to normal through the help of the fraud protection team of Google.