Could this be legitimate or should I be worried?

Discussion in 'Reporting & Stats' started by stevenb7, Nov 15, 2007.

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  1. #1
    I have a site getting around a 22% CTR and I am concerned this could be click fraud.

    The site has been online for about 6 months and doing around 50 impressions a day with around 7 clicks with an average CTR of 9%.

    Then all the sudden on October 29 the site started getting 100, then 300, then 600 impressions a day. With this new traffic the CTR went from less than 10% to 20%+ without any content or layout changes to the site.

    I contacted Google to let them know this was happening and removed the site from my ‘Allowed Sites’ list figuring if it was an attack by someone once it didn’t work after 2 weeks they would give up.

    Google responded saying it was fine to put the site back on the ‘Allowed Sites’ sites list but I decided to be careful and waited 2 weeks.

    Yesterday I activated the URL again in ‘Allowed Sites’ and it did:

    Impressions: 1,600
    Clicks: 355
    CTR: 21%

    I have Google analytics installed on the site and it reports 325 visitors. How could 325 visitors have made 355 legitimate clicks?

    Has anyone had similar experiences? Should I be worried?

    Thanks,
    Steven
     
    stevenb7, Nov 15, 2007 IP
  2. stevenb7

    stevenb7 Active Member

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    #2
    The site contains 3 468x60 banners with no images around them. It’s probably the worst blending AdSense integration I have on any of my sites. So it’s not a case of users being fooled in to clicking.

    Thanks,
    Steven
     
    stevenb7, Nov 15, 2007 IP
  3. kmap

    kmap Well-Known Member

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    #3
    This is a thing to worry

    You cannot stop this

    Only way is keep site down or remove adsense for some days


    Regards

    Alex
     
    kmap, Nov 15, 2007 IP
  4. petdam

    petdam Peon

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    #4
    Why don't you just send the adsense team an email to be on the safe side?
     
    petdam, Nov 15, 2007 IP
  5. stevenb7

    stevenb7 Active Member

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    #5
    I have contacted them twice. I just sent them a 3rd e-mail and removed the site again from the Allowed Sites list. All I get back from them is:

    Thanks for letting us know about this situation. Rest assured that we've
    noted your input, and we'll continue to monitor the situation closely.

    I understand that you're concerned about keeping your account in good
    standing, and that you'd like more information about the recent activity
    on your account. However, because we have a need to protect our
    proprietary detection systems, we're unable to provide you with any
    details about your account activity.

    I also realize that you might have questions about what Google is doing to
    prevent invalid click activity. You should know that our specialists
    carefully monitor clicks and impressions on Google ads in order to protect
    your interests as well as those of our advertisers. To do this, we use
    both automated systems and human reviews, analyzing all ad clicks for any
    invalid click activity that may artificially drive up an advertiser's
    costs or a publisher's earnings.

    Blah blah blah useless...

    Steven
     
    stevenb7, Nov 15, 2007 IP
  6. ohmer

    ohmer Peon

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    #6
    I use statcounter (which proves to be extremely accurate), and I also use google analytics. Google analytics seems to always report lower vistors/pageviews than my statcounter account. I always believe the statcounter. Just my 2 cents.
     
    ohmer, Nov 15, 2007 IP