Click Fraud Detection- Clicks drop

[fiu88]

by 50% the same day I implement Click detective on my Google Ad words campaigns.... What was previously a 6-7% CTR has become 3-3.5%....... the number of impression seems to have dropped by 50% as well?

Any one have any insight they can share....

[patient2all]

As the irony of ironies, watch Google disable your keywords for low CTR!

patient2all

[fiu88]

Today again.... we're barely at 3%....I think one or more google network partners may have caught our tracking Url and stopped clicking?

Unless people are noticing a slowdown in impression and CTR's in general?

[roitracker]

If you alter your ad in any way (including the destination url), it'll be pulled from the search network partners until it's been re-reviewed, so a 50% drop in impressions & clicks is not unusual.

[fiu88]

thanks for your input.....
The url didnt change, just a tracking code added..i.e.(?cd=goog)tagged on the end... would that cause a Search partner review?

[Shak]

yep

that would cause a search partner review

shak

[AdWordsAdvisor]

The url didnt change, just a tracking code added..i.e.(?cd=goog)tagged on the end... would that cause a Search partner review?

Yes, that'd do it, fiu88, assuming we're talking about the 'default' URL for the ad itself.

Essentially, even if you are simply adding tracking info - and the URL is otherwise the same - then the URL has changed in the view of the AdWords system.

The ad will then show only on Google, and not on either type of partner sites until it has been reviewed and approved - and this can certainly reduce your impressions/clicks, as roitracker has pointed out. It is the difference between showing on just a few sites, and potentially many hundreds of sites.

And while this will not necessarily alter your CTR (as distinct from impressions or clicks), it can certainly happen.

AWA

[fiu88]

Thank-you AWA,Shak...
I had some pretty good mail support from google on this..... I understand the lower impressions, but a 50% drop in CTR's lead me to assume that some partner sites have a Much Much greater proportion of clicks/views than Google searchers....

We had impressions at 2k/day @ 7% at Full distribution (140 clicks)

We now have impressions at 1K/day @<3% Googleonly (30 clicks)

So the search partner network essentially delivers 1K impressions and 110 clicks or an 11% CTR...

[gmac17]

let us know what the software shows you, if it's anything like I've seen you'll see some people are ripping you off.

here is one that came out today about a guy who got ripped off for 8 months. clickz [clickz.com]

[fiu88]

A little sample of what I can see
(clickdetectiveDOTnet)

Campaign Alert Time of click Visitor ID IP Address Landing page

goog NONE 12-11-2004 14:08:47 11558 4.42.17.155 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-11-2004 11:38:30 11518 12.4.21.202 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-11-2004 07:02:13 11466 12.154.217.146 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-11-2004 10:35:42 11428 24.11.166.254 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-11-2004 15:37:51 11588 24.11.166.254 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-11-2004 15:38:20 11589 24.11.166.254 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-12-2004 17:17:35 11838 24.92.119.71 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-12-2004 18:49:09 11852 24.116.170.15 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-12-2004 09:08:18 11730 24.125.125.246 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-11-2004 11:32:45 11515 24.169.226.34 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-11-2004 16:40:31 11601 24.174.73.253 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-12-2004 07:08:15 11716 24.205.188.182 Indexgoog.htm
goog NONE 12-12-2004 10:56:53 11745 24.208.241.105 Indexgoog.htm

[fiu88]

It takes some work and you cant really pinpoint an individual because of the IP blocks each ISP has...but you can get a pretty good idea of where clicks are coming from....

It doesnt take much to set up....

If you really wanted to go all the way, you'd probably need to hire a specialist to analyze logs and get you a refund....

The real eye opener was the fact that Google searchers are clicking at a 3% rate... the "partners" are clicking at an 11% rate..

[fiu88]

I think alot of the fraud comes from those "sites" optimized to rank high in organic search and whose Sole purpose is to feed Adsense links..

[powerstar]

>>>The real eye opener was the fact that Google searchers are clicking at a 3% rate... the "partners" are clicking at an 11% rate..

Is your content match is on?

[fiu88]

No content match....we used to do it but it didnt seem to trustworthy or necessary...

[outland88]

It seems to me Google would offer some type of this software to begin with or make fraud detection a little more visible. I would think it would make their clients feel more secure. To me Google operates much like the IRS. Catching a few high and low profile cases but not the vast majority.

[fiu88]

It would be a vast undertaking to set up an internal fraud detection (with reporting)system....whoever (google/overture/msn) pays to do it will carry the ppc torch onward...
My assumption is they make too much money to really care to put advertisers minds at ease...

the problem is we all make money regardless... so we're not going to stop advertising... on the contrary, if we find new keywords to drive sales, we'll pay even more.....!

[WebStart]

<My assumption is they make too much money to really care to put advertisers minds at ease...>

That may have been the case once, but there was a post here a few days ago (can't remember where) about a news article in which a Google ad executive was quoted as saying fraud clicks are now a major concern for Google and other PPCs because they have become so serious they threaten the very viability and integrity of the PPC system.

They may finally be catching on...... and I believe in Santa Claus too. But one thing for sure, the more advertisers are aware of this, and the more we complain, the more likely we are to get serious effort/help by OV and Google to improve the situation.

[fiu88]

Update..
Today we have ads running across the entire search network....CTR is back up to 7 % +.....

I'd realyy like to know how worthwhile those "partner" searches are ( besides AOL users whom we all love!)