What is Click Fraud?

Last Updated : 29 Aug, 2024

Click fraud happens when someone clicks on online ads many times on purpose, not because they're interested. They often use computer programs called click bots to do this automatically. These bots pretend to be real people visiting websites and clicking on ads. They can click much faster than a real person, sometimes thousands of times a day. The bots visit websites with ads, click on them over and over, and might change how they look to avoid getting caught.

People do this to waste advertisers' money or to make fake money for websites showing the ads. It's a big problem because it wastes money and makes online ads less useful. Companies try hard to spot and stop these bots to keep advertising fair and effective.

What is Click Fraud?

Click fraud is when someone clicks on online ads many times on purpose, not because they're interested. They often use computer programs called bots to do this automatically. About half of all internet activity is from these bots. People do click fraud for different reasons. Usually, they want to make money. Sometimes, companies try to waste their competitors' ad money by clicking their ads a lot. Other times, people might do it to make certain ideas look more popular online.

Bad people can also use click fraud to make harmful websites appear safer in search results. This is a big problem for websites that show ads. It can cost businesses a lot of money and make online advertising less effective. Companies need to find ways to spot and stop click fraud to protect themselves and their customers.

Common Types of Click Fraud

Fraudulent Ad Revenue Generation

Some website owners put ads on their sites and then use computer programs to click these ads over and over. This tricks the ad company into paying them more money for fake clicks. The website owner makes money, but the advertisers lose money on clicks that aren't from real people interested in their products.

Competitive Click Fraud

Sometimes, people click their competitors' ads many times on purpose. They don't make money from this, but it forces their competitors to spend more on ads, wasting their money. This can use up the competitor's ad budget quickly, making it harder for them to reach real customers.

Search Engine Manipulation

People might use fake clicks to make their website look more popular. They hope this will make their site show up higher in search results, so more real people will visit it. This tricks search engines into thinking a website is more important or useful than it really is.

What is a Click Bot?

A click bot is a computer program that automatically clicks on web links or ads. It's made to trick websites into thinking real people are clicking. Smart click bots try to act like humans by moving the mouse, pausing, and changing how often they click. This helps them avoid getting caught. Click fraudsters usually use many bots on different computers or phones. Each device has its own internet address, so it looks like clicks are coming from different people. A group of devices running these bots is called a botnet. Often, regular people's devices are part of these botnets without them knowing it, because of harmful software secretly installed on them.

While one bot on one device can do click fraud, using many devices makes it harder to spot and stop. If a website blocks one device, the others can keep going. This is why botnets with thousands or even millions of devices are common in click fraud. They make the fake clicks look more real and spread out, making the fraud harder to detect.

Does Click Fraud Always Come From Bots?

Click fraud doesn't always come from computer programs called bots. Sometimes, real people do it too. These people work in what's called "click farms," often in countries where pay is low. They're told to visit certain websites and click on specific links or like certain posts on social media. This makes it look like those websites or posts are more popular than they really are. Using real people for click fraud can be better because they act more like normal internet users. This makes the fraud harder to spot. But it's also slower and costs more money than using bots. That's why most click fraudsters prefer to use bots instead of people.

They can make a simple program that clicks automatically, which is faster and cheaper than hiring people. Because bots are used so often for click fraud, it's important for companies to have good ways to spot and stop these fake computer clicks. This helps keep online advertising fair and makes sure companies don't waste money on fake clicks.

How Much Money Does Click Fraud Cost Companies?

Click fraud costs companies a lot of money. In 2018, advertisers lost about $19 billion because of fake clicks. This is a big problem for businesses that pay for online ads. Some scammers use many computers to do click fraud on a large scale. In one case, a group of criminals made $29 million by tricking ad systems.

Companies that run ads where they pay for each click also lose money to click fraud. In 2016, these companies lost $7.2 billion to fake clicks. This shows how much damage click fraud can do. It wastes money that companies could use for real advertising to reach actual customers. This is why many businesses are trying to find better ways to spot and stop click fraud.

How Does Click Fraud Prevention Work?

Companies try to stop click fraud in different ways. Big companies like Google use smart computer programs to spot clicks that might be fake. These programs learn what real people usually do online. If someone's clicks look very different from normal, like if they only click on ads and do nothing else, the program thinks it might be a fake click from a bot. Some companies also have real people check for fake clicks. This helps catch tricky bots that the computer programs might miss.

There are also special tools that websites can use to protect themselves from bots. These tools look at how visitors use the website and try to spot anything that seems like a bot. Even smaller websites can get protection against click fraud. They can use services that watch for bot activity and stop it. This helps all kinds of businesses keep their online ads safe from fake clicks and save money.

Conclusion

Click fraud is a big problem in online advertising. It happens when someone or something clicks on ads over and over just to waste money or trick the system. This can be done by computer programs called bots or sometimes by real people in click farms. Click fraud costs companies billions of dollars each year. It makes online ads less effective and wastes money that could be used to reach real customers. To fight this, companies use special tools to spot fake clicks.

These tools look for unusual patterns that might be bots. Both big and small websites can use these protections. Stopping click fraud is important to keep online advertising fair and useful for everyone.