Click fraud
Also called: click fraud or click fraud
Click fraud is a type of pay per click ad fraud where ads are intentionally illegally clicked on with the aim of generating additional revenue. Click fraud takes place within affiliate marketing and CPC networks such as Google AdSense and Google Ads, among others.
These illegal clicks can be done manually by an individual or automatically through a special program. Automated click fraud often involves the use of a network of computers controlled by the person committing click fraud through malware or viruses.
Click fraud increases publishers ' revenues and increases advertisers' costs. Countering (or not committing click fraud yourself) is a matter of trust between advertisers and publishers. Advertising networks such as Google's, in particular, therefore often have strict policies to deter click fraud. At the same time, these policies sometimes cause them (and their publishers) to lose revenue.
Possible indications of click fraud include many inbound clicks from the same IP address, an unnaturally high click-through rate or an unnaturally low conversion rate within traffic from a particular publisher.
If click fraud is committed within an affiliate network, it can also be classified as affiliate fraud.
