BUSINESSSUPPORT • 63
PROUD SPONSORS
OF THIS PAGE
Taking a proactive approach
to tackle ‘Click Fraud’
»»WHEN THE FIRST
incarnation of Google AdWords
was launched in October 2000, it’s
safe to say that it changed online
marketing forever. Now, sixteen
years later, it is an integral part
of many locksmiths’ marketing
activities.
However, just as many
companies in the security industry
are enjoying the benefits of using
AdWords’ pay per click service,
there are certain individuals
and organisations out there who
are willing to exploit it in more
negative ways.
As a locksmith, it’s highly
likely that you’re already aware
of the problem of ‘click fraud’
surrounding Google AdWords.
Despite Google’s best efforts
to overcome this issue, many
advertisers distrust the Invalid
Clicks system that is inbuilt into
AdWords, preferring to outsource
this aspect of the system to 3rd
party cyber-security companies.
If you’re unaware of what click
fraud is, it’s when a person, bot or
competitor clicks on your pay per
click ads in attempt to inflate your
advertising spend. In turn your
daily budget cap can be reached
quicker and either your ads will
stop being displayed or they will
start to fluctuate throughout the
scheduled advertising period that
day.
Whilst the obvious added
expense of being subject to
click fraud is bad news for
any advertiser, it’s particularly
damaging to locksmith businesses
who are heavily reliant on
AdWords to generate inbound
calls. Being subject to an attack can
be very frustrating and financially
damaging, which is why many
locksmiths are taking a proactive
approach and adding an extra layer
of security.
Roy at ClickGuardian.co.uk,
a UK anti-click fraud service
provider, offers his views on
AdWords click fraud: “When we started Click
Guardian in early 2015, it was
purely off the back of hearing the
same concerns repeatedly from a
growing client base. By 2015 we’d
reached a milestone of managing
Google AdWords for 10 years and,
during this time, many client’s
across a multitude of industries
had been complaining of rising
costs and the suspicion that
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | NOV/DEC 2016
Roy Dovaston
competitors where clicking on
their ads. In some cases, this was
perceived as competitor research
but there was growing concern
amongst our clients that there was
an aspect of malicious clicking,
so we took it upon ourselves to do
something to show we were taking
these reports seriously.
“We decided to build a basic
monitoring system, which we
tested on a handful of clients who
expressed initial concerns, and this
confirmed that, as suspected, a
problem existed.
“Over the course of the next 6
months, we developed a system
that would be able to monitor
and automate blocking when
click fraud is detected. This fully
automated system was released
publically in January 2015 and has
since been revised many times
over to improve functionality.
“Unfortunately, the issue of
click fraud doesn’t appear to
subsiding, so adding an additional
layer of security to your AdWords
campaigns is advised. In an ideal
scenario you are one of the lucky
ones who are not affected.”