In 2022 it is more than likely that your business has a Google Ads campaign running at the moment and there is also every chance that competitors or people who are against your business are clicking on these ads to try and cost you money. This is what we refer to as “click fraud” in digital marketing and it is something you should try to prevent as much as possible.
The issue behind click fraud is that it can immediately negatively impact your campaigns and cause depletion of your marketing budgets. Being able to identify click fraud and prevent is is a MUST for your business and here are some effective methods to do so:
1. Utilise IP Exclusions Feature
Every online user who visits your website, clicks on an ad or does anything that involves their device will have an IP address allocated to their internet connection. Upon visiting a website, this IP address can be stored for webmasters to track and specific programs like Google Analytics and add code to outline who visited your website at any point in time.
If you then suspect fraudulent behaviour from specific IP addresses, you can find settings within your Google Ads account to block these IP’s, meaning the fraudulent behaviour can no longer continue. For example, if you were doing some Google Advertising in Melbourne for your website www.buyafridge.com.au and a competitor continually clicked on your ads, you would be able to block them from continuing to click that add with the above method and this will prevent you spending money for no return.
2. Optimise Ad Targeting
Google Ads is an extremely powerful platform for targeting potential customers for your business through its ability to target certain demographics and online behaviours of users. On the flip side, if you aren’t focusing on where you are targeting you can be throwing money out the door and make yourself even more vulnerable to click fraud.
If you leave targeting too broad, such as Australia-Wide when you are only really servicing one state, then you might be opening yourself up to a wider range of people who could be considered click fraud when you don’t need to be. You can also assess campaigns for where the most click fraud is coming from and which audience is producing the majority of this, which you can then stamp out of your campaigns and improve the targeting overall.
3. Use a Third Party Tool
Due to the popularity of click fraud in recent times, plenty of tools to combat this have started popping up to help combat click fraud tactics. A very cool tool that exists is Click Cease which helps you block out click fraud clicks and impressions through a range of different website CMS’ and platforms.
By installing something like ClickCease, you are able to save your money, improve your ads, outsmart your competitors and gain valuable insights to who is clicking your ads and why.
4. Experiment Retargeting Campaigns
Retargeting is a great tool that allows you to display particular ads to users who have already visited your website. These ads are normally displayed as banner ads, where your branded imagery and messaging will appear in the borders of other authoritative websites reminding potential customers to go back to your website and complete to what they started.
The reason this can be helpful to prevent click fraud is because these ads use a tracking code and place budgets on. ads for new users that are actually engaged in the website, leaving less room for fraud related clicks.
If your business is experiencing click fraud, you can contact the team at Reform Digital and our strategist will help you prevent this any further.
