I think the engineers are so hard working and so protective of what goes on there that they don't have completely clear and objective reviews of their systems.
I know AWA does put in work to address things, but even he can only go so far. Then it will be left up to the individuals deep on the inside as to whether they can step out of the ego suit (if wearing one) and truley treat the fraudulent click through issues.
I actually find myself hesitating to click on *any* Adwords ads, like ones that are unrelated to what I am advertising, but that I am interested in, for fear that it will look like I am trying to defraud someone else. Because if they have flagged my IP or whatever as an advertiser, does that mean I should not be clicking on anyone else's ads, even non-competitors? And how could they determine if that person is a competitor of mine or not anyway?
Then I suspect something may be amiss.
I've turned off international as well as content ads and that seems to have helped.
<rant>
I actually doubt it is a competitor, just some careless lowlife who thinks it's funny to flush someone else's money down the drain.
And no, it's not "foolish" to systematically click on a competitors ad, although it pushes them up, when they are paying big money for fake clicks, it can easily dry up an entire months budget in one day, as well as demoralizing a competitor. It's basically the same thing as walking into someone elses store, stealing the cash register, and dumping the money in the trash. Only if the victim is naive he just writes it off as a cost of business, when it's not, it's robbery.
I;m not doubting Google doesnt catch some of the bad clickers, but I'd bet for every one that gets fixed there are three or four that don't even get looked at.
And that will continue to not get looked at until many of the smaller merchants like me disappear and those billions of G's revenue gets much smaller. </rant>
Let's say your business is centered around "ordinary widgets". Just imagine if a small cable television station did a small piece on widgets. . If the story was compelling people might go searching for more information on the topic. The spike in search traffic results in a spike in the CTR on your ad. These people don't leave feedback, and things quickly return to normal.
That stands as 1 of truley infinite examples for a rise in CTR. When speaking of fraudulent clicks, it is important to identify evidence beyond the actual 'rise-in-clicks'.
When speaking of fraudulent clicks, it is important to identify evidence beyond the actual 'rise-in-clicks'.
And how does one identify evidence? I may sound like another paranoid adwords campaigner that has NO evidence but just knows that a fraudulent click has taken place when I am silently watching with an invisible tracking program, and you just know that in twenty seconds the visitor is off your site, having done the job.
However, I have begun to accept that a small percentage of that happening (as long as it remains a small percentage) is inevitable, and one has to treat that suspicion as a write-off, as far as your accounts are concerned.
Maybe Google improved your ad mix, and that's why the CTR went up.
Maybe Google improved your ad mix, and that's why the CTR went up.
Maybe. We all have our opinions though.
Watch your clicks. You are getting screwed every day you probably just don't realize it. You'll only notice when you get huge fraud.
it can easily dry up an entire months budget in one day
On days when you get more clicks than your daily budget would cover, the amount will show up in your stats but at the end of the month you will only be billed for the amount you actually budgeted day by day.
Unusual click activity can occur for many reasons besides fraud, as has been pointed out. Be aware of the possibilities but don't be too quick to assume the worst. Alert Google if you have concerns, but wait to see what you're actually charged at the end of the month before you make a federal case out of it.
