Australia Blog
News and notes from Google Down Under
What you should know about click fraud
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
You might have seen some headlines in the last couple of days claiming that click fraud, or invalid clicks on online ads, is on the rise in Australia. If you’re an advertiser, does that mean a large percentage of your ad spend is suddenly going to these fraudulent clicks? We want to reassure you that the answer is no!
We use “invalid clicks” to characterize any clicks that Google does not charge to advertisers because they have little or no value. We call these “invalid clicks” instead of “click fraud”, because we have no way to judge the intent of the click and whether it’s deliberately fraudulent or just accidental. For example, some people habitually ‘double click’ when using a mouse. The second click in a double click is not fraudulent, but we still consider it invalid. Regardless of the intent, Google doesn’t charge advertisers for invalid clicks.
Here’s what you need to know about invalid clicks:
The real number: less than 0.02 percent
Invalid clicks are similar to email spam. The absolute volume of spam that exists on the Web goes up and down, but the only number that matters to you is the volume that appears in your inbox. Similarly, the only number that matters when in comes to invalid clicks is the rate at which it goes undetected. That number is minuscule: less than 0.02 percent. Put another way, for every ten thousand clicks on Google AdWords ads, fewer than two are reactively detected cases of possible click fraud. And no matter what...you don’t pay for them.
Advertisers don’t pay for invalid clicks
The most important thing to remember is that advertisers do not pay for invalid clicks. The vast majority of invalid clicks never appear in advertisers’ accounts, and advertisers never pay for these clicks. Google proactively detects and filters invalid clicks so that advertisers never see them. In the relatively rare cases in which advertisers are affected by undetected click fraud, we investigate, mark those clicks as invalid, and refund the advertiser. If you’re an AdWords advertiser, you can
see for yourself
how many invalid clicks have been proactively filtered from your Google AdWords account.
Google leads the industry in proactive detection
Click fraud protection is something we take very seriously, and it requires a great deal of research and development to do effectively. We believe we lead the industry in our level of investment as well as the effectiveness of our tools. We have a
three stage-system
for invalid click detection: (1) real-time filters, (2) offline analysis, and (3) reactive investigations. You can read a full description of this system on our Inside AdWords
blog
.
But is the problem of click fraud getting bigger or not?
As with all things you read, you should consider the source; those hyping the issue are usually those who have the most to gain. It’s true that invalid clicks, like email spam, aren’t a solved problem. We have teams of engineers who continue to innovate and invest in this area of our advertising system to stay a step ahead. It’s in the long term interests of Google and the industry to protect advertisers against invalid clicks.
Posted by Kate Conroy, AdWords Product Specialist
Labels
20%
3D
AdSense
AdWords
AdWords Express
Agencies
agencies adwords TV
Analytics
android
announcements
antarctica
App Marketplace
apps
art
Australia
Australian IT
big data
Big Query
blogging
blogs
books
broadband
business
calendar
campaign management
careers
CeBIT
chrome
Chromebox
cloud computing
competition
computer science
conversion tracking
creativity
currents
cyber safety
cycling
dashboard
Developer Day
developers
digital advertising
digital economy
Display
display ads
Doodles
drive
ebooks
education
Election
energy
enhanced campaigns
Enterprise
entrepreneurship
environment
Equatorgate
Fairfax
film
filtering
G'day Google
Getting Aussie Business Online
Gmail
gone google
gonegoogle
google
Google App Engine
Google Apps
Google Apps for Business
Google Apps for Education
Google Art Project
Google Australia
Google Chrome
Google Code
Google docs
Google Drive
Google Earth
google maps
Google Places
google play
Google Search
Google Serve
Google Sites
Google Talk
Google Trends
Google+
Googlers and culture
government
green
Guest blogger
guest speakers
Hangouts
HR
iGoogle
information
innovation
internet
internet industry
IT
Julia Gillard
language
life
local
maps
measurement
media industry
mobile
Moderator
movies
music
navigation
NBN
netball
new features
news
NGEN
non-profit
online advertising
online safety
open government
open source
Partnerships
picasa
play
Policy
politics
prime minister
privacy
prizes
PSI
publishers
puppies
real estate
Reception
recruitment
removals
rentals
reporting
research
Running
scholarships
schools
science
search
search ads
Security
shopping
sitelinks
sketchup
small business
smartphones
SMB
street view
student programs
students
Stupid Google employee tricks
Summer of Code
Support
survey
sydney
symphony
tablet
technology
Themes
tips
training
transit
translate
transparency
transport
Universities
vault
voicesearch
Wave
women
workplace culture
YouTube
YouTube Live
zeitgeiest
Archive
2019
Feb
Jan
2018
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2017
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2016
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Feed
Google
on
Follow @googledownunder
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
