Out of nowhere a 3+ year old website I own is getting a surge in direct traffic (per analytics) so I am not able to determine the traffic source. Over 90% of that traffic last few days was direct. Yesterday had nearly 2,000 uniques. Was just averaging about 30 uniques on autopilot, haven't done much SEO this year. Meanwhile, I have 2 Google Ads placed on the site. I use to only get Few clicks per day on the ads, but still the CTR was at times above 10%. As late as today, I'm seeing over 30% Page CTR last 2 days. Can it really be done? I really haven't done anything with the site. Is this a cause for concern? Could it be some competitor performing Black Hat SEO tactics targeted at my domain so I get flagged, suspended, etc.? Or could it be I've legitimately built something thru honest hard work and finally getting rewarded?
Google will detect fraudulent clicks... as long as YOU are not doing the clicks then you should be fine. Google will track that IP that the click throughs are coming from. If they have done it to others then it will be a flagged IP and you should be okay. Keep an eye on your adsense account for any ALERTS or messages. Otherwise, be happy about the CTR if it is legitimate. I would not worry too much unless Google sends you an ALERT. Let us know if they do then you can take it from there.
if CTR is 30% and you have 2000 unique visitors, it must like 600 clicks, not "a few"... Some calculation problem here...
@fastestsms He said he used to get "a few" when he was getting 30 UVs per day normally, but since it's shot up to 2,000 UVs he has been getting 30% ctr. @ezas123 Go to Your Google Adsense reports and set it to show you what countries are getting clicks, are most of them from the same or are they spread out? And if they are spread out does each country have very little impressions but high click rate?
@amcg - 32 countries sent at least 1 click from 8/24 Friday til Present. Top is USA, with 60% of total clicks. During the time in question 8/24 to present, Average CTR amongst all countries that had at least one click is 23.6%. There's one country with 100% CTR (1 PV and 1 Click). But there's also a country at lowest CTR that had 48 PV's with 1 click (2.08% CTR). I asked my Hosting provider and said that they don't see any bots coming thru on the IPs. Seems legit for now..? Thoughts?
oh srr for my last reply, i didn't read your post carefully. But did you buy some traffic from some where? That may cause this kind of problem.
I wouldn't worry abut this. Google has gotten smarter and smarter about this kind of stuff. There is a reason adsense is still the top dog with the lowest fraud. You could always contact them and voice your concern, but I see no reason to worry..
As someone already said, if you are not doing anything illegal, you shouldn't worry. Sometimes, websites experience traffic spikes. This can be caused to many factors. I think Google is smart enough to know this, and not ban legitimate websites. If you haven't already Google analytics, you probably should. You'll see where your traffic is coming from and what keywords brought your visitors to your site. Enjoy this while it lasts!
Well, I have Google Analytics installed per my original post but am unable to determine traffic source, just shows majority is Direct. Surely people aren't just typing it in nor bookmarking out of nowhere. @fastestsms - No worries And nope, havent bought any traffic. Odd...
I experience similar increase in CTR and CPC values in last 3 days...I check all analytics and all seams in normal range except USA traffic from SE spiked so I guess this is the reason... Keep an eye on the stats but you should be fine if you are not messing your own clicks/ads. Good luck!
Someone might be running a website with similar domain as yours, as domain typo mistake can bring such huge traffic. If you have keyword rich domain, it is also possible to get direct traffic.
If anything fraudulent was going on, Adsense would of stepped in by now or at least Deducted the invalid clicks from your account. Doesn't seem anything too suspicious from what you've said with your %'s apart from some being a bit high, but if you've got a killer landing page then it may be possible to get those figures now and again with the right targeted traffic. Has the Traffic been the same amount each day or lowering day by day or?
Seems We need to learn a thing or two about your Ad Placement. I am getting 1% to 2% CTR from last 6 years. 30% is OMG. Enjoy if you are asking for clicks.