Click Fraud: The Scam Faisal Abidi Believes Costs You Thousands

Click fraud has been around since the early days of online advertising, and while it may not be as common as it used to be, it’s certainly still prevalent. In fact, click fraud isn’t just something that can only happen to small-time bloggers or webmasters; big businesses and even some international companies have fallen victim to this scam.

We understood the nature of click fraud by having a conversation with Faisal Abidi, who has more than 10 years of experience in the marketing and advertising industry. If you want to know what click fraud is, then read on! 

What Is Click Fraud?

Click fraud, also known as click spamming, is a scam in which someone purchases clicks from fake traffic sellers (such as click farms) for your website or an online ad. These fraudulent clicks are then used to make it appear that your website has more real traffic than it actually does. As a result, you may be lured into paying for traffic that is actually fake and therefore worthless.

Top Ways To Protect Your Website From Click Fraud

Click fraud can cost you thousands in lost revenues, time, and wasted resources. Moreover, it can be quite difficult to detect if you don’t have a dedicated marketing team to keep track of your marketing metrics regularly. But as experts like Faisal Abidi have pointed out, one can steer clear of them by blocking traffic from locations that are notorious for housing click farms.

In addition to this, one of the ways to protect yourself from click fraud is by ensuring that your site doesn’t have any glaring technical errors, such as pop-ups or hidden links that could be enticing to potential click fraudsters.

In addition, many websites are equipped with spam filters designed to pick up spambots and block their activity. These filters work best when they’re paired with user education—the more people who know what spam looks like, how it works, and how to report it, the better your chances of staying safe from click fraud.

How Much Does It Cost Businesses?

According to Forrester, cyber-criminals stole $6.5 billion in 2014. Over 70% of fraud is attributed to click farms and other fraudulent means of fake traffic acquisition. Facebook lost over $50 million in a single quarter due to click farms creating accounts and generating fake likes. It’s estimated that ad networks lose as much as $6 billion every year due to click fraud.

How Does Google Combat Click Fraud?

Google is trying to combat click fraud by charging advertisers less to run their ads if they don’t click through often. If a company is paying $10 per click and only getting one or two clicks on average, Google will discount the price of the next ads it shows that same business, to get the ad shown more often. Another tactic involves filtering out fake traffic.

Google also tracks what people do on its sites, so it can identify when bots are clicking repeatedly without reading an ad. It then flags those clicks as potentially fraudulent and charges advertisers accordingly.

How To Prevent Click Fraud?

The best defense is a good offense. In order to fight the menace of click fraud, businesses must enhance their ability to track traffic activity on their web assets. Use a tool like Google Analytics to detect spikes in traffic and to investigate IP addresses. If someone is clicking on your website nonstop and each click leads to $5 in additional advertising costs, it won’t take long for you to realize something isn’t right. 

In conclusion, when it comes to keeping your business safe from click fraud, there are three main things you can do:

1) Always monitor your site’s analytics and watch out for unusual traffic patterns;

2) Keep an eye out for changes in search engine results;

3) If possible, verify every incoming link that goes into your site.

Be vigilant about preventing fraudulent clicks from occurring on your sites. It may seem impossible at first glance, but trust us when we say that nothing is better than knowing what is going on with your own website. By doing so, you can take preventative measures to keep yourself safe from being scammed by unscrupulous parties.