Modern Click FraudA good working definition of click fraud is that it is the act of imitating a legitimate browser user clicking on an advert. However, this definition is always open to change because the industry itself disagrees about what click fraud is, and because the crime is evolving so rapidly. If you are advertising online with PPC, then you need to stay abreast of the current state of click fraud. The advertising networks are now able to easily spot basic types of click fraud, such as a webmaster clicking on all the adverts on his own website. This is considered low level click fraud, and usually results in the offending person being banned from the network, and the money for the clicks being refunded. Most advertising networks don't feel the need to pursue such low level fraud through the courts. Bot Nets One person clicking on adverts from one computer is very easy to spot, but real fraudsters can do better than that. Some people use trojans and malicious software to take control of a large number of computers at a time. They can then use these computers to click advert links, and it's harder for an advertising network to spot because it comes from many different computers. Once the networks do spot it, they also have problems identifying the fraudster – the computers being used to perpetrate the fraud are owned by innocent users who are unaware that their computers have been compromised. Hit Inflation Attacks A hit inflation attack is an advanced type of fraud that involves the collaboration between two websites. Innocent traffic that follows links from one website to another is automatically registered as having clicked on an advert. The reason this type of fraud is very hard to combat is that if the advertiser or advertising network visits the offending page, there will be no fraudulent activity. They would have to visit via the correct link to see the scam at work. Given the amount of links that most websites have, it is practically impossible to manually check each link to ensure that it is working as it should do. These are a couple of examples of an advanced level of click fraud. You can see for yourself that these methods are very difficult to spot, and modern click fraud is often like this. Fortunately, the criminals are not the only ones who have developed novel techniques. There are many pieces of software that work to spot invalid clicks for you, based on the knowledge of an expert team. Ad Trackers Ad tracking software with click fraud protection is the line of defence that advertisers use to block click fraud. Right now it is the only way to effectively protect yourself against the criminals. The ad tracking software works by flagging up suspicious clicks that fit the pattern of known click fraud methods, so that those clicks can be properly investigated. If you're interested in PPC advertising, you really need to invest in some good PPC tracking software with click fraud protection. |
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| AdWatcher | 9.3 |
| HitsLink | 6.4 |
| HyperTracker | 6.4 |
| WhosClickingWho | 6.4 |
| DynaTracker | 6.2 |
| ConversionRuler | 6.3 |
| AdTrackz | 5.9 |
| AdMinder | 5.1 |
| ROIWiz | 5 |
| ClickAlyzer | 1.6 |
| ProAnalyzer | 0 |
