Google is not perfect. It's the most brilliant mass marketing tool to come along in a LOOOOONG time but still has its shortcomings. One major vulnerability/flaw: click fraud. Google recently settled a class action lawsuit where it agreed to pay up to $90 million in damages(in the form of credits) to the affected parties because of what the plaintiffs suggest are wrongful click charges.
Moral of the story: don't put blind faith in the big G. Though they are continually innovating ways to identify and eradicate unlawful clicks, there will always be a way to cheat the system. Educate yourself on click fraud, and be aware that it may be affecting your business.
What is click fraud?
Google calls it "invalid clicks, as any method used to artificially and/or maliciously generate clicks or page impressions," according to Salar Kamangar, director of product management.
Examples of invalid clicks, according to Kamangar, include manual clicks on an ad to purposefully increase the ad spend; deliberate clicks on an ad to increase profits by site owners hosting the ads; and automated clicking tools, 'bots, or other deceptive software.
Bottom line is that it's cheating, stealing, lying - generally underhanded tactics. These wrongful acts can end up harming businesses, particularly those that have a small but precious budget. Furthermore, clicks that are wasted on a user who has no intention of buying your offering decreases your click budget, lowers your ROI and may affect your ad being served in the future to an actual customer costing you business.
Don't stay in the dark about the topic. It's certainly no cause for panic for many, but it's wise to arm yourself with information. Next time, more on how you can begin to identify click fraud...
