Google Adsense

What exactly is Click Fraud and How is it accomplished?

If you're using AdWords or AdSense you must have heard about an emerging practice in the underworld of computing called “click fraud”. But what exactly is click fraud and how is it accomplished?

Well, AdSense uses a payment mechanism that awards a certain amount of money to a publisher (someone who holds an AdSense banner on their page) every time a person clicks on the said banner. So click fraud is the attempt to have people clicking the ads just so that they can earn a greater income.

There are people setting up sites for the sole purpose of fraudulently generating revenue through Google's AdSense program. These users achieve an incredible number of clicks through many methods, some complex and sophisticated and some rudimentary and simple.

One of the most complexes is through the use of so-called “hitbots“. These are automated programs who emulate clicking the links in AdSense banners (there are some that actually click the banners as well).

Google's AdSense protection scheme is by no means perfect and nearly anyone can find the details of surmounting the protection mechanism, ironically just by doing a Google search.

Another, a more rudimentary method is to hire a lot of people in a poor country to click the links on your site. This means these people will actually sit all day and just click links so you can earn a fortune. They come from very poor countries like India, and they're prepared to do so for just $0.50 an hour.

Read More: Don't Get Caught With Google Adsense Click Fraud

Of course, there's a problem with this mechanism. Once Google receives a large number of clicks from a single address, the address and the site that had the AdSense banner will be banned, and the illicit behavior might even get the fraudster sued.


To prevent this from happening, many people use a large number of proxy servers for the purpose of clicking. These are basically trojans, located on computers throughout the world (though mostly in the US). What's even more daunting is that these clicks will appear to originate from an actual computer so such scams are really hard to detect.

And don't think this happens only in isolated instances. There is a great deal of illegal activity in this domain.

In fact, there's so much that if search engine companies don't increase their security with such programs as AdSense, such criminal behavior could become more become even more damaging.

Google has a very strict policy regarding click fraud, and it has sued those employing such techniques in the past. But while the search engine giant tries its best to minimize the risk of click fraud there's certainly room for a lot of improvement.

It is estimated that more than 20% of the clicks that follow an AdSense link is just done in order to get money from the person paying for the ad. Some people believe the number of fraudulent clicks to be even twice as large.

There are a great deal more schemes involving click fraud, such as groups of AdSense publishers clicking each other's links (which is referred to as “clicking rings”, or spamming people so that they click such links.

Despite Google still holding click fraud on a leash, the phenomenon is certainly raising concerns for the advertisers on AdWords, but despite this advertising with Google's AdSense still remains more profitable for the advertiser, as opposed to traditional untargeted advertising schemes.

There are some means of protection against such schemes and all advertisers should be savvy enough to employ them. Many advertisers choose to avoid the content network all together for fear of click fraud.

This post was published on August 29, 2017 11:20 PM

Anant Vijay Soni

A passionate blogger and serial youtuber, timely efforts, and dedication are the key protocols that keep me succeeding. I love to share information about WordPress, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Make Money Online, Email Marketing and much more.

Leave a Comment

View Comments

  • Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old
    one! It's on a entirely different topic but it has pretty much the same page layout
    and design. Superb choice of colors!

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

  • Small Business Owner

Creating a Business That Prioritizes Giving Back

Okay, let's be honest. Most businesses are in it for the money. A healthy bottom… Read More

November 24, 2024
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Digital Marketing Strategies

In the digital marketing world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer, reshaping how… Read More

October 18, 2024
  • Social Media Marketing

10 Best Free Face Swap (Deepfake) Online for Videos and Images

Best tools that manipulate images and videos have become increasingly popular, and face-swapping is one… Read More

September 12, 2024
  • Digital Marketing

AI-Enhanced Video Content: The Next Frontier in Digital Marketing

What if you could create video content that perfectly aligns with your audience's preferences and… Read More

August 30, 2024
  • Video Tutorials

Earn FREE $100 – $500 Per Day with This Secret Strategy 2025

Hi Friends, Today I am going to share an Secret Strategy that will help you… Read More

August 28, 2024
  • Affiliate Marketing

7 Ways To Promote Affiliate Links And Get Results

Who doesn't love the sweet sound of passive income rolling in? The thought of recommending… Read More

August 25, 2024