In a campaign that's targeted exclusively at the US, I'm getting clicks from all over the world (Malawi, Thailand and India for instance) through the search network. I've contacted G, no response yet. Has anyone had the same probem?
Yes, I'm sure. But I just thought of something. I created the ad group in question in a campaign that was targeted worldwide (by mistake). I changed the geo targeting to the US before I created the ad group, a couple of days ago, but there might be a delay in that change becoming effective. It's the only explanation I can think of now.
I am getting invalid foregin clicks from the search network. I just inherited a pretty large account to manage. (spends roughly 1k a day). Since the day the account was created, it was geo targeted for USA only! I just confirmed via analytics that we have had a serious amount of clicks generated from Google CPC that are from all over the world. Upon further inspection, I see that a lot are coming from these domain page parking networks. Just yesterday, we received 11 clicks from China from just one page like this! I called Google, and they tell me that it is NOT a Google ad. I know for a fact it is.. because I'm the one that wrote it! It was one I deleted 4 days ago! The network that it says it belongs to is, Marchex.com. I know for sure we do not have an account with them. I suspect they have a google account, and are manipulating it some how. I am not in the content network.. so this crap is associated with the Search Partner network. I have a feeling this Marchex.com does not adhere to the geo targeting specified in my account. Considering the money we have spent with them... I'm thinking an appropriate refund is due! I wish you could opt out of domain pages entirely. As it stands now, you have to ban each single domain name, per campaign. That does not solve the problem! What angers me is how the first 2 google reps tried to spin me, and then the 3rd finally admitted there is an issue here. Domain parking pages should not be included into the search network because no searching is actually done!!! I don't want my ad shown unless someone physically types in a term, and clicks search!
I had the same problem and Google told me not to geo-target Countries and territories , but instead choose Regions and cities, then choose States, and select all states manually. I found this to greatly reduce the number unwanted foreign clicks.
I will give ita try. I don't think that solves the domain parking page issue. Seeing as how they are not directly served by google, there is huge potential for abuse. They need to move that crap into the content network, or let us opt out and keep the searches on aol, cnn, etc.