What to Do if Competitors Click on Your Ads To Waste Your Ad Budget: Proven Protection Strategies and Tools

[Yeezypay]

Competition on Google Ads is really intense these days. Because of this, some affiliates and advertisers try to gain an unfair advantage by using tricks. One of these tricks is called "click fraud." This is when they deliberately click on your ads to waste your budget and make your campaigns less effective.

In this article, the team from YeezyPay, a service that provides access to Google Ads trusted agency accounts, will explain what click fraud is and what to do if it happens to you.

How to identify click fraud

The first step in solving any problem is identifying it. Signs of click fraud can be both obvious and hidden, so it's important to carefully analyze your advertising data. Let's break down the key indicators to watch out for.

Analyzing performance indicators




One of the main signs of click fraud by competitors or bots is a sudden increase in clicks without a corresponding increase in conversions, time spent on the website, or page depth. Keep an eye on the dynamics of these changes. If your metrics were previously stable and then you see a sharp spike in clicks without improvements in other areas, it's a red flag.

Geos and user behavior

Google Ads Location and Time reports can help when it comes to spotting suspicious activity. Look out for a high number of clicks from geos outside your target audience or unusual activity during off-peak hours when your target audience is typically inactive. Also, pay attention to the time users spend on your landing page and the number of pages they view. If users bounce after just a few seconds, it could be a sign of click fraud.

Analyzing and excluding suspicious IP addresses and technical parameters

Repeated clicks from the same IP address or a small range of addresses are another serious signal of potential click fraud. However, remember that some organizations use shared IP addresses. To minimize the risk of incorrect conclusions, analyze additional parameters like browser type, operating system, and screen resolution.



Blocking suspicious IP addresses can be an effective way to combat click fraud, although it does require some manual configuration. To do this, head to your account settings and look for the "IP Address Exclusion" option. Enter the unwanted IP addresses, and Google Ads algorithms will take care of the rest.

Click fraud prevention strategies: A proactive approach

Protecting your ads from click fraud isn't something you can do just once and forget about. It's an ongoing process that needs a mix of different approaches and tools. Here are three main ways to protect your ads from click fraud.

Fine-tuning your targeting

One of the best ways to avoid showing your ads to the wrong people is to clearly define who you want to reach and use all the tools Google Ads offers to target them. Make sure you set up your geographic locations, ad display times, device types, and demographic data correctly. Many experienced advertisers prefer using trusted Google Ads agency accounts because they offer priority ad moderation and additional tools for setting up and optimizing campaigns. You can access these trusted accounts by signing up with YeezyPay.



Choosing the right keywords

Using more specific keywords can help ensure your ads are shown to the right audience, reducing the risk of click fraud. Regularly check how well your keywords are performing and turn off the ones that aren't bringing results. Focus on quality over quantity.

Monitoring competitors and market trends

Always watch what your competitors are doing. Analyze their advertising strategies and use that information to improve your own campaigns. Stay updated on industry trends and be ready to adjust your strategies as the market changes. Staying informed can help you stay ahead of click fraud.

Basic and advanced tools to prevent click fraud

Google Ads and various third-party developers offer tools to help you automatically monitor and block suspicious activity on your ads.

Built-in Google Ads tools

Google is always updating its systems to fight ad fraud. Their AI can spot and block suspicious clicks in real time, saving you from unnecessary costs. When fraudulent clicks are detected, they won't be charged to your account, and the IP addresses associated with them are blacklisted.

You can use Google Ads reports to track and analyze invalid clicks and interactions. This helps you see how much invalid traffic you're getting and take steps to block it.



To see bot activity in your reports, you need to set up the data display. Here's how:

- Go to the "Campaigns" section.
- Open the report settings menu, usually represented by a gear icon or a bar chart.
- Select "Select indicators" or "Edit report."
- Check the boxes for "Invalid clicks" and "Invalid interactions."
- Click "Apply" and save the settings.

After this, your reports will show the number of invalid clicks and interactions, indicating bot activity.

Google also has a quality control team that investigates suspicious activity reported by advertisers. However, don't rely only on Google's algorithms. To get the best protection for your ad campaigns, you need to take some extra steps yourself.



The best way to deal with click fraud is to use a combination of your own efforts and some specialized software. There are paid anti-fraud systems and analysis services that can:

- Closely monitor your advertising traffic in real-time
- Detect and block fake bot clicks and other suspicious activity
- Give you detailed reports on any suspicious clicks

Using these tools together will help you save your advertising budget and make your campaigns more effective.

If you notice suspicious clicks on your own, make sure to contact Google Ads support about it. Using advertising accounts from a trusted agency, like the ones you can get through YeezyPay, can also help speed up the process of getting reimbursed for invalid traffic.

Third-party services

There are also specialized third-party platforms that offer advanced tools for analyzing your traffic, identifying bots, and protecting your Google Ads campaigns from click fraud. Some of the most popular ones include PPC Protect, ClickGuard, and AdGuardian.

Emergency measures: What to do if you're seeing suspicious clicks on your active ad campaigns



If you detect signs that your ads are being actively clicked on in a suspicious way, it's important to take quick action to minimize your losses and protect your advertising budget:

- Temporarily pause or suspend any advertising campaigns that are being affected by this suspicious clicking
- Collect evidence of the suspicious activity – take screenshots of your Google Ads reports that show the suspicious clicks
- Contact Google Ads support, provide them with the evidence you collected, and explain the situation to them
- Analyze your campaign settings to try to identify any weaknesses, and then make improvements to your ad targeting

You can also consider using third-party services or getting access to trusted agency ad accounts. These can provide a higher level of protection and increase your chances of recovering some of the advertising budget that was lost during this click fraud.

Conclusion

Click fraud is a real threat that can seriously hurt the performance of your Google Ads campaigns. But by understanding this problem, using the available tools and strategies, and taking a proactive approach to protection, you can minimize the risks and make sure your advertising budget is used effectively.

This is especially important for affiliates working in grayhat verticals – using Google Ads trusted agency accounts can be very helpful, since these accounts have a higher level of trust with Google and can get priority assistance in solving click-related issues.

[MickJaglet]

Brilliant Article. Very useful info. Thanks. Rep'd

[cards.team]

write letters to google, have them recalculate the clicks and refund the difference.