Clicks from the same IP range all the time

and nothing can be done about it :(

[Natashka]

I constantly received clicks from the same IP range on my ad in Google search results (not content network). It was the same person, but since he was on dialup, the last numbers of his IP changed all the time. He kept wasting half of my daily clicks. I even know who that person is!

But nothing can be done about it. :( I reported it to Google, they refunded me some money for those clicks, which I appreciate of course, but I didn't really want my money back, I just wanted to somehow ban that IP range to stop it in the future, but it appeared to be impossible.

Because of that one person I now have to delete one of the most successful keywords! If I keep the word, he will keep clicking, I know! Why cannot Google implement IP ban?! I'm not talking about not counting clicks, but not to show ads to banned IPs at all. One nasty person ruined my campaign :( I am sure I am not the only one in such situation, how do you guys deal with it?

[Delegate]

Being of the Irish Origin if i knew who it was i would use the good old fashioned method...........BRUTE FORCE AND IGNORANCE.

Kick his Ass! (It might not stop him but it would make you feel a lot better)

:-)

[Natashka]

I would gladly do so, but unfortunately he lives on another continent! :(

[zeus661]

How do you find out IP's that are clicking on your google adwords?

[inasisi]

From the web server logs

[Delegate]

Get yourself a good WebStats Software that supports PPC synchronization. This should give you the IP addresses of clickers and if you pick the right software it might even have a "Check for Click Fraud" function.

[zeus661]

"Web Server Logs" is that a feature of Google Adwords?

[Delegate]

Web Server Logs is the Raw Data from your server which logs page requests, visitors, and referring URL's plus alot more.

These can be a pain to decipher if you dont know what your doing so I reccommend you look for a suitable software to decipher the data and make it nice and simple.

If your only interested in monitoring click fraud Do a search on Google for "PPC fraud software" and have a look.

[GeorgeH]

Natashka,

First, find out what country is the IP from. Then, eliminate that country from the list of allowed countries (for your current campaign).

If the guy is from USA, you will have to create a separate campaign for USA and eliminate the state the IP is from, from the list of allowed states.

[Natashka]

thanks George, but the problem is that the abuser is exactly from the country I am targeting my campaign to! (not USA). If only he was from some "stray" country, then it would be much easier! That's why I'm saying that IP ban would be very useful...

[dls100]

We had the same problem last year. It turned out to be a competitor. Google is too busy to track them down, but we managed to. Google did refund some of the money, but we had to find a way to keep them from clicking our ad. It was either stop them or stop using google adwords.

I finally wrote a little script that would detect the IP address and send only that IP address to another page. (Sure we were potentially turning away a few others that used the same block of IP addresses - but figured for a few days it was worth getting rid of this person)

The page I made that the IP address was directed to had a very short message that "click fraud had been detected. Please wait while we process this ....."

And the page had an auto refresh of about 20 seconds and then sent them to a google help page that explained fraudulent clicks.

The competitor only clicked 3 more times before they were gone for good .... and we switched everything back.

Haven't seen a hide nor hair of them for six months now.

[Natashka]

Sounds cool! thanks for idea, I'll try smth like that too! :)

[eaken]

I use a solution similar to dls100. I wrote a script that detects the IP addy and cross-references it with a text file that has a list of the IP Addresses of adwords abusers that I have been able to find (Make sure you are not blocking Search Engine Bots!).

If the visitor is on the list, then I have the browswer redirect to a page that crashes his/her browser (have to Ctrl-Alt-Del to stop it). It makes it so inconvenient that after a day or two we were able to put a halt to the click frauds.

[benevolent001]

I finally wrote a little script that would detect the IP address and send only that IP address to another page. (Sure we were potentially turning away a few others that used the same block of IP addresses - but figured for a few days it was worth getting rid of this person)

The page I made that the IP address was directed to had a very short message that "click fraud had been detected. Please wait while we process this ....."

And the page had an auto refresh of about 20 seconds and then sent them to a google help page that explained fraudulent clicks.

but the fact is that this making this type of script is beyond the approach of most of new people like me it would be great if can give us some idea for starting up or script itself

thanks

[mike_ppc]

The idea is not bad, at least you are doing something.

But what if the guy doesn't get scared, and he keeps clicking? Maybe Google will refund you some money, but it's not a "final solution".

Not to mention that he could change his proxy...

[dls100]

I would bet that most of the time, these clicks are from competitors. They know that they are doing something wrong, and just the hint of getting caught will drive them away.

Most are not computer savvy enough to change proxy. If they are, you have to address that.

However, having been at the receiving end of hundreds of invalid clicks from a competitor, I know the frustration. Doing nothing and hoping that google can help just doesn't work. You watch your log files and the frustrations mount.

benevolent001, you can ask your web host how to block an IP addy. They should be able to help. (Remember that once you have gotten rid of the clicker, you will want that addy unblocked so that you do not drive away other customers)

If you do not know how to write a page that refreshes, google the term: refresh page. About.com has a short how-to:
[webdesign.about.com...]

Remember, it doesn't have to be fancy. It just has to put a little doubt in your competitor's mind that he COULD get caught.

If your clicker is a little more computer savvy and figures it out, you will have to wait for google to take care of it for you.