Tracking for a novice

Advice please!

[sammyp]

Ive got problems with PPC fraud. Ive been told I need to track the IP addresses. The tracking provided by my host is not great, so I want to get some other tracking software. 1st question, I dont have my own server, does this affect what tracking software I can buy? Second, am I right in thinking that your IP address changes every time you log on. If this is so, whats the point in tracking the ip address if its going to keep changing, or is it only the last part of an ip address that changes. If so, is it possible to identify a range of IP addresses for one particular organisation i.e. the competitors that I suspect of click fraud? How? Lastly, I use about 100 key phrases on three differnet PPC engines. All now have their own tracking url inserted. What I really want the tracking software to do is to show that on any given day, one particular IP address (Or range of) has clicked on one particular search phrase x amount of times. Is this possible? Sorry if this is all obvious stuff to you guys, but it isnt to me and I could realy do with some help. At the moment I reckon click fraud taking all my profit away.Oh..one last thing, as Im in UK, should I be looking at UK tracking software or doesnt it matter.

Would be really grateful for any help. Cheers.

[onlineleben]

Even without logging software or access to your logfiles, you can implement some simple tracking.
In this thread [webmasterworld.com] I have introduced a little PHP script that basically does what you want. Logging IP adresses together with date/time and referring URL (includes the search phrase).
I have it on one of my sites and it works very good.
Put the script into the header of your landing page and you get all the information of browsers accessing it.

Good luck.

[Mardi_Gras]

There are no doubt others here who are more expert at this than I, but I'll give you some direction to start:

1st question, I dont have my own server, does this affect what tracking software I can buy?

No - although it may affect your ability to use specific features, such as setting cookies from the server, supported by some programs. Should not stop you from addresing this particular IP tracking problem.

Second, am I right in thinking that your IP address changes every time you log on.

Yes and no. Most dial-up users do get a different IP address with each connection. But even worse, AOL and others who connect through proxy servers may get a new IP address with every page request - that complicates things.

is it possible to identify a range of IP addresses for one particular organisation

Should be - at least if you know what the range is, you can tell if the visitors are coming from that network (assuming they are connecting through the network and not dialing up.)

What I really want the tracking software to do is to show that on any given day, one particular IP address (Or range of) has clicked on one particular search phrase x amount of times

Most tracking software should let you view visitors by IP address.

I'm sure others here can give you more specifics. In the meantime, you may want to check out these related threads:

Fradulent clicks:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Fake IP Addresses
[webmasterworld.com...]

Tracking software
[webmasterworld.com...]

Good luck.

[enriqueo]

Hello,
I have been using a program called extreme tracking since January and it's given me excelent information about my traffic. They have free and paid version of the tracking system. Stats provided are very useful and easy to understand.
You can check it here:
[extreme-dm.com...]

Wishing you the best
Henry Ochoa

[edited by: rcjordan at 10:18 pm (utc) on July 8, 2003]
[edit reason] sorry, no references to your sites, please. [/edit]