Pay Per Click Fraud Prevention Software Tools

Expensive Pay Per Click Search Terms

As pay per click gets more and more integrated into the search field, more and more people will be trying to fraud competitors to get ahead. Some terms such as "mesothelioma" (asbestos cancer) cost over $60 per click on top search engines. My recent check of Overture was $60.04 for this term.

A few clicks here and there can drastically alter the ROI and survivability of a business.

Why Use Big Pay Per Click Search Engines

This is another reason I recommend staying with the larger pay per click search engines as they are larger and typically more receptive to fraud claims. Also, due to the large distribution the fraud would have to be larger to have a significant impact on your overall account.

Techniques to Track PPC Fraud

If you have good server logs you can track referrals to find fraud. If you do not have good server logs there are only a couple vendors of PPC fraud detection software. Some of the larger search engines monitor the traffic, but you should also monitor your server logs if something smells fishy.

Due to differences in time zones and different tracking techniques up to a 10% variance in tracking can be expected, but if you have greater than a 10% referral difference you should contact the search engine explaining your problem.

A few things to look for to catch PPC fraud are:

• Repeat clicks from a specific IP address.
• Spikes in search frequency at a give time.
• Abnormally high search frequency for an expensive word.

And the Tools Are...

VeriClix - free

Click Auditor - tool provided by KeywordMAX starting at $20 / month

WhosClickingWho - tool created by John Carreras and Bruce Clay which starts out at about $30 / month or $300 / year.

See also