4 of 7

Write now Article Tools

Google's Pay Per Click online advertising allows advertisers to pay for productive advertising only by incurring a fee only when a banner or link is actually clicked on. The advertiser pays a fee to Google when the ad generates a click from someone looking at a particular web page.

The click costs an advertiser a varying amount of money, depending on what keywords on the article generated the link. The owner of the website gets a share of the ad revenue that these clicks create for Google.

So a dishonest web site owner may consider the possibility of increasing their ad revenue by clicking on the link themselves. Whenever anyone clicks on a link without any interest in the ad and only with the intent of generating ad revenue this is called click fraud.

There are many other reasons for committing click fraud. Yes, the web site owner will generate more income from the click, but the advertiser's ad expense will also increase.

* A competitor may aggressively click on an ad in order to drive the cost up for the competition- hoping to drive them out of business or just to increase their expenses

* A friend of the web site owner may realize that clicking on a link will make their friend money

Click fraud has grown into an industry in its own right. Some companies pay people in developing countries to do nothing all day but click on ads, generating income for their clients. If these ads happen to be for high-paying keywords (like in the science, healthcare, financial industries) the benefactor of these clicks could make a substantial sum.

There are some computer programs that generate clicks on ads reporting different IP addresses every time to make the clicks seem unique and random.

All of these examples of click fraud are not only dishonest, they are a felony. Click fraud is illegal and can lead to a perpetrators arrest in many states. Click fraud is a federal crime in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Click fraud occurs whenever someone clicks on a link or banner with the intent of generating ad revenue or expense. One does not need to be the benefactor of click fraud to be charged for it. This type of manipulation of the Pay Per Click online advertising system is illegal and can lead to banishment from certain web sites and even an arrest.

Click fraud costs someone money. It is a dishonest way to punish a company or fraudulently increase ad revenue.

Learn more about this author, Daniel Xiao Wang.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about What is click fraud?
We want to hear your view. Write now!