I am new to adwords and just wondering is it possible for your competitor to keep clicking on your ads in order to waste your daily budget? Or is there a protection that Google has against this?
There is protection but Google won't tell what it is. I see multi-clicks from the same IP quite a bit and try to keep an eye on whether they charge or not but when running 2K ads it's hard to keep a close eye. Just enter sensible daily budgets and you should be OK.
Hmm, I don't know anything about Adwords, but I would assume Google has some kind of fail safe program built into its Adsense ads that would detect foul play via multiple clicks from the same IP.
My suggestion is to bid an amount that keeps you in the 4-8th position. Why? Most click fraud would be done on the top positioned ads. Just my 2 cents...
Well, if your competitors hire someone like Click Monkeys to do the clicking, it could be hard even for Google to pinpoint it as fraud...
Where's a nice heavy clue stick when you need it? Dshah, I have a second hand bridge I'd like to sell you.
OMG! Does this really work? Found this on their site: "Click Monkeys!!â„¢ is a Ukrainian company and is not subject to United States law."
Good advice and I would add to be proactive with Google. If you see lots of clicks from the same IP and Google is charging them, write them a letter and they should credit you.
Thanks a lot to whoever gave me a negative rep for this comment, first red point I've managed to earn... At least have the guts to sign, next time...
They are very strict on this one, I wouldn't worry much... If they find out there were invalid clicks, they don't pay to publisher and eliminate his account for good. But I wonder, do they keep your money or give it back to you?
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True they do, a close friend of mine had his adsense ads pulled and they sent him a letter indicating that all money would be returned to advertisers who were victims of fraudulent clicks. However, this only applies to the fraudulent clicks and not to the valid clicks - for the valid clicks Google just takes and the publisher who had the ads resting on his site gets nothing, when he/she could have been making money. Lesson: don't mess with Click Fraud. Really Google could do more for prevention, I'd never heard of Click Monkeys but I had heard of people being hired in China and India to click ads. CPM campaigns are more expensive but you don't have the problem, and for some the best way to go is CPA -cost per action - (offered by Snap.com and others).