Click Fraud’s Unseen Downside: How the Search Dilemma is Dividing Small Business and PPC
Syndication: Most click fraud comes from ads that are allowed to be listed on syndicated sites. If you use syndication at all, remember that high bid prices attract click fraud.
Geographic Targets: Each ad should bring in visitors from the countries you targeted in the campaign setup (this applies to Google AdWords). If your web analytics report shows a high percentage of clicks from countries that you excluded from the ad campaign, then you are likely experiencing click fraud.
——-> 
Messaging: Be sure the messaging in the ad matches the messaging in the landing page. The best conversions occur when the visitor’s expectation is realized after clicking on your ad.
Blocking Bad Sites: Check the average time on site for sessions from each syndicated (affiliate) site and block the sites that average near zero time on site. A web analytics tool can help you associate time time-on-site with each syndicates site referrer. To block these sites in Google AdWords (and possibly other PPC systems), log in to your AdWords account, open the campaign settings for the ad, and enter in all syndicated sites that are consistently generating short visits.
Step 3: Get a refund (or credit) for past fraud.
When one of your ads brings poor quality sessions, two things are likely, and one is certain: If you can substantiate click fraud, you’ll want to request a refund or credit. In all cases, you will want to check and adjust ad settings to eliminate the underperforming visits and bring in visitors who are interested in your site.
To substantiate click fraud and apply for a refund or credit, a web analytics tool with click fraud reporting can help you collect and present the data in a factual and non-emotional way. Work with one ad at a time. First, you’ll want to create a list of each visitor session that resulted from a single suspicious PPC ad. This data includes:
• Specific campaign ID
• Landing page with all parameters
• Date & time of visit
• Visitor client IP address
• Country
• Referring domain
• Full referrer information
• Number of pages visited
• Total time on site
• Revenue or goal pages reached
• List of each page visited with time
If you decide to pursue a refund or credit for fraudulent clicks:
1. Highlight the rows in your sessions list that you believe are fraudulent
2. Calculate your amount of refund by multiplying the number of highlighted rows by your average CPC (use average cost per click or your syndicated rate)
3. E-mail the list in spreadsheet form along with a polite refund request to your PPC provider
4. Follow up with a call to your PPC provider if they don’t respond within five or six business days
There is an Upside
Most discussions around click fraud center on blocking the perpetrator and getting a refund. Getting a refund is nice, but the real savings occur when each ad is tuned up to bring in legitimate visitors who are interested in your web site. Many advertisers free up 20-40% of monthly PPC spend by adjusting ads to bring only the highest quality visitors.
With a systematic approach, and finely tuned ads, you’ll find that ad spending drops dramatically while visitor quality and conversion remain steady or improve. Once your PPC campaigns are performing optimally, it makes sense to continue to invest in additional quality visitors to your site — which is probably why you started using PPC in the first place.
Reader Comments.
Most small businesses will never go through this process you have outlined. Its way to much work, they will need help or will abandon PPClick altogether. SMB’s may work towards alternative and more “turn key and safe” solutions for their business. These will be proposed to them by their YP sales reps, CSearch, other local site operators. The long tail needs needs a lift.
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