major click fraud problem

[bitstop]

I advertise in a very competitive industry, and I'm certain one or more competitors are deliberatly clicking my ads to increase my advertising cost. I've reported it to google on more than one ocassion and each time they say that they can find no evidence of click fraud and that the activity I'm seeing is normal visitor behaviour.

At first, they used to just click my ad several times in the space of a few minutes. Same IP, same user agent, and up to 10 clicks a minute. Google refunded some of these clicks but then the competitors changed tactics. They now spread the clicks out throughout the day, and they're using more than one IP address. I know it's the same people because I have cookies set up to track them.

I'm seeing 80+ fraudulent clicks per day and it's costing me dearly. Each time I raise the issue with google they give me a canned response and point me to the help files.

I can't ban the IP addresses because they belong to 4 major UK isp's, and banning them would block legitimate traffic too. I had luck in shutting down one of the accounts by complaining to the isp involved but the fraudsters are now back with a new account, because I'm seeing bad clicks from that IP address again and further complaints to the ISP seem to be falling on deaf ears.

I've even changed my site's URL's and ad wording so they wouldn't know it's my ad but they eventually figure it out. Despite the cost, I'm breaking even but I can't keep this up much longer. The adwords support reps don't seem to care that they're probably going to lose a customer unless they fix this.

I suspect I know what the answer will be but is there anything else I can do? AdwordsAdvisor - can you help?

[AlexMiles]

I think you need to find out exactly who these people are.

Is the money sufficient to justify you seeking a court order to get the ISPs to identify the miscreants?

[bitstop]

it might be worth hiring a lawyer but the ISP account that was closed was registered with false details so it could well be a waste of time & money.

In fact, the only reason that ISP account was closed was because of the false details, nothing to do with my complaint really!

[gamb]

Google is absolutely horrible in these types of situations. They hold the cards and get tens of millions of dollars in revenue from these things that they could easily stop.

Keep making noise and maybe someday they'll listen.

[AlexMiles]

Can the ISP tell the general geographical location of the miscreants? If they can, you could probably narrow it down to a particular competitor, then get an injunction.

Injunctions are easy to get and you don't have to prove anything on the grounds its an order from a judge telling someone not to do something they shouldn't be doing anyway.

[bullfrog]

Most of the adwords clicks are spiders and other automated programs, especially if you are advertising at the top of the page. Yes, they say they control them, but you have your proof and verification when you inquired about the fraudulent clicks. If they dont care about competitor clicks then they dont care about the spiders either.

[skyhawk133]

you would think google would make it so the add would not appear 10x for the same IP .. like a "high security" option. I feel your pain man :(

[JKelly]

They now spread the clicks out throughout the day, and they're using more than one IP address. I know it's the same people because I have cookies set up to track them.

I feel your pain but I am curious how information issued and read in a cookie enables you to differentiate between someone who is doing what you say they are and normal requests from the same IP(s)?

Also how would banning their IP address, presumedly from your server, prevent them from clicking on your ads?

[AlexMiles]

How about you write a letter, on paper, formally asking Google to quit charging you for clicks from those specific IPs and asking them to issue a refund for all those clicks already charged?

They won't know what you are up to if they see a real live letter.

I think the mistake you are making is in asking them questions they already have half-baked answers for. If you freak them out with a nice polite letter, (perhaps even from your lawyer) you should derail things nicely. Someone with a braincell might be asked to deal with the situation, and then you are in with a chance of a resolution.

Failing that, know any journalists?

[NoLimits]

More money in Google's pocket... unlikely that they'll make any effort to resolve the issue.

Just like scraper sites - which still plague the earth.

[krod]

just ban the ip block, there is not much you can do.

[krod]

or better yet, do cpm based ads.