When should I start worrying about click fraud? What must the CTR % be before warning bells start ringing?
dont think it is measured by CTR. Just dont click your own ads I think google sees clicking from a specific ip multiple times a day, or in a very high amount as click fraud.
Wow, I usually have an average CTR of 0.01%, I get scared when it's over 2%. Maybe I need to re-think the ad placements on my sites :/
Blending the ads, graphics (w/ borders) and following the google heatmap for ad placement really helped my ctr.
Hey Poseidon, If you are ethical, I don't think there is any "should" regarding ctr, (within reason of course) It depends on the topic, how well targeted the ads are to the page content, site type(forum, vs other), design, etc. My overall CTR increased over 3% just because of blending and following the heatmap.
I have adsense running on 2 sites plus 1 sub-domain and the CTR varies between around 1% and 5% on these three. So, I think it's correct to presume that no CTR is too high, but if you suddenly get a spike in CTR there could be something untoward happening. In any case, I am sure Google has very advanced click tracking and they should be able to track even as few as half a dozen fraudulent clicks based on repeated clicks from the same IP Address. So, I would suggest: 1. Promote your site well and ethically 2. Ensure that you never click on your ads. Be extra careful if you use a touch pad on your laptop. 3. Leave the worrying to Google!
only CTR that would be to high is 100% I have several site some are 1 to 5% and some are 25 to 35% CTR all depends on topic and site.
We are talking averages here. Depends on the size of you site, and the number of your page impressions. In viewing each of my url channels for my entire site, At this exact moment, sorting from high to low, I have 1 page with 1 click (so 100% CTR) and at the very bottom is another with 88 page views and a CTR of 0%. They are all valid clicks and CTR, and I'm not stressed this 1 page is 100- I just watch the average.
25 - 35%. Damn, that's high! I know it's possible 'cos I can achieve that CTR for some ads in my Adwords account at work, but I don't think I have ever gone higher than 5% for any channel in Adsense. Would you care to share the URL?
Sorry i will not share the url and not its not a spike either it is consistent 25 to 35% CTR and yes i am talking averages i think they woul be suspicious if all your pages were 100% CTR.
C'mon xboxundone, share the love! I didn't think you will disclose the URL anyway, but if you are doing this within the TOS then it's a very good job I must say. Well done!
Yes all within TOS as i don't want to risk any type of banning etc... to much of my income comes from the net to risk it.... I will give you a hint though find a good niche and provide great content and the clicks will come