Clicking every competitor ad you can find??

I have a friend who owns a web-development site.

He tells me that no matter where he is, any page running ads he always takes a few minutes to click all of the other web-development ads he can find.

He also said he does searches for his keywords and is sure to click all of the sponsored ads from his compititon.

This is soooo WRONG to do but it does end up costing your compitiion for useless clicks.

Can google or other PPC co's stop something like this from happening?

I hope people aren't doing it to my ads.

 

You can have a click tracking script installed and automatically ban the ips that click on ads too much. Or you can ban all the ips that belong to your competitor's HQ.

 

Google pick up fraudulent clicks all the time. I have seen ad campaigns run away, with an absoilute shite Conversion ration, only to have the click charges refunded within a few days.

Oh and tell your mate he is a 1st class twat

 

Ohh I'v told him how I feel about it but he doesn't care. I would report him(as he is not a close friend) but he doesn't have any ads on his site so he wouldn't get in trouble for anything.

I don't think he is the only one either.

I remember when a couple years ago running accross an activist forum, all sorts of things, save the whales, ant-porn, save the earth, etc...

There was a thread from a member forming a group of Ant-gambling site ad clickers. He claimed that he lost his house from gamlbing online and wanted to hurt them back. I soo wish I could remember where I saw this, I would add the link. I'v searched but could not find it since and gambling isnt allowed any more for mose PPC anyway.. ... Maybe they had something to do with that.

Anyway at that time the thread had like 50 replies from people wanting to join his group....... Clickin every gambling ad they can find then just leaving the page.

BAD NEWS for my site Which I did not have at the time.

 

I'm not sure if it was WebmasterWorld or some other forum but somebody wrote about company which first thing employees did when they got to work is click on competitions ads in order to cleanup there daily budget - did anyone do calculation to see is it worth keeping competitor employees busy clicking your ads instead of doing real work?

 

If Google can track the clickers - via i.p. or something - this would get people in soooo much trouble. Which they would richly deserve.

 

How.?

I don't think there is a law that says you cannot go click crazy on sponsored ads?? is there? If you are not associated with any sort of PPC then how can you get into trouble?

I do think this sort of thing is complety wrong and ruins the whole PPC industry but what can they do?

 

Your friend is a child, and doesn't deserve to do business on the Internet. I hope you reported his activities to G.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060309-001743

 

i think many small business do this...its called competitor sabotage

bad business ethics, but cant be stopped

 

It's up to Karma then.

Hopefuly anyone who does this will eventually have karma bite them in the a$$.

 

What your friend is doing is very unethical and bad for business.

 

I really hope that 'your friend' get the same treatment from his competitors, as you said he was a competitor and thus is running for a place on google. I wish that he gets his daily budget drained too, so that he can cry like a little child.

 

What's wrong with ant porn? Hey, ants need porn too.

 

I have wondered that myself has anyone ever sent an email to google asking about it?

 

The report in the thread started yesterday at
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=112723
has this as a major (and identifiable) form of click fraud.

I think it will be identified by google if someone always clicks on their competitor ads in an orchestrated way, and the ads won't be charged, certainly if the pattern continues. In any case the competitor will inevitably complain because he never gets a client from AdWords and it will be highlighted that way.

I'm less sure if action would or could ever be taken against the clicker. In any case his business will surely fail in the long run - if his best business idea is to spend his time clicking on his competitors ads rather than generating his own business in an ethical way then that suggests a severe lack of business acumen.

And yes, he sounds like a moron.

 

People like your "friend" are trash. I'm sorry but what he's doing is fraud. I don't see his rationalization for such a selfish act. I understand there're competitors in every niche and their ads help to feed their families, pay their rent or pay their employees. What he's doing is causing everyone to lose out.

Oh how I wish click fraud could get people like your friend arrested.

 

Well he sure is going to get an eye full when I point him in the direction of this thread... Sorry *** I said it was bad buisness...

Thanks for your opinions everyone. Daniel, I did not know that you can have a click tracking script installed. I will try to find one as I'm always worried about "crankclicksters" and or just when it seems one IP has clicked alot. Although I havn't run any ads for a while but I plan to startup again. That script would be handy.

 

you are 100% right. the adwords account holder, however, can appeal to google a fraudulent clicks claim, whcih google is generally very good in giving back.

easy to prove if some office is clicking your ads ever morning for 30 mins between 9 and 930 AM

 

use a click logger