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What is click fraud

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Clickfraud (click fraud) refers to a practice whereby someone clicks knowingly on advertisements online with the intent to defraud advertisers. This can be done by individuals, but, as a rule, is carried out by automated systems (bots).

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How is click fraud detected?

There are several methods and tools that can be used to detect click fraud:

  • Analysis of click patterns: By monitoring and analyzing patterns in click activity, one can identify abnormally high or unnatural click rates.
  • IP address filtering: Filtering IP addresses that are known to generate abnormally high click-through rates or are not relevant to the target audience.
  • Use of bot detection tools: Tools designed to identify automated bots can help distinguish real visitors from fake clicks.
  • Monitoring conversions: Looking at the ratio of clicks to conversions can give indications as to whether the clicks are real or fake.
  • Unusual or low session duration
  • Unusual or high bounce rate (escape rate).

Session duration and escape frequency are also useful for detecting and filtering out bot traffic. Look for unusual or low session duration, also. high escape frequency.

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Where is click fraud common?

Click fraud usually always occurs to some extent, and is measured as a percentage of all traffic from advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google Ads.
Fraudulent activity occurs to the greatest extent through the use of external networks such as GDN (Google Display Network) and Meta Audience Network. These networks expose users to the ads on various digital fronts, such as websites and apps, but also provide incentives for fraud.

We do not recommend utilizing these networks unless you are willing to spend a lot of time and resources on weeding out scams. As a rule, they are turned on by default when setting up an ad.

To a large extent, some platforms such as Twitter also have problems with click fraud on the ads that occur on the platform itself, and is one of the reasons why fewer people are using Twitter for advertising.