To Click or Not to Click

Google Adsense Click Fraud


If you're using Adwords or Adsense you must have heard about an emerging practice in the underworld of computing called "click fraud". But what exactly is click fraud and how is it accomplished?

Well Google Adsense uses a payment mechanism that awards a certain amount of money to a publisher (someone who holds an Adsense banner on their page) every time someone clicks on the banner or ad. So click fraud is the attempt to have people clicking the ads just so that they can earn a greater income.

As you can imagine there are people setting up sites for the sole purpose of fraudulently generating revenue through Google's Adsense program. These users achieve an incredible number of clicks through many different methods, some complex and sophisticated and some rudimentary and simple.

One of the most complex methods is through the use of so called "hitbots". These are automated programs who emulate clicking the links in Adsense banners (there are some that actually click the banners as well). Google's Adsense protection scheme is by no means perfect and nearly anyone can find the details of surmounting the protection mechanism, ironically just by doing a Google search.

Another perhaps more rudimentary method is to hire a lot of people in a poor country to click the links on your site. This means these people will actually sit all day and just click links so you can earn a fortune. They come from very poor countries like India, and they're prepared to do so for just $0.50 an hour.

Of course there's a problem with using this type of mechanism. Once Google receives a large number of clicks from a single address, the address and the site that had the Adsense banner will be banned, and the illicit behavior might even get the fraudster sued. So be warned!

If you fancy a website of your own all set up for Google Adsense and known to bring in a very good income, then check out http://tinyurl.com/adsensetoday where you can see exactly what it looks like.

Alternatively why not get all the information you need by clicking on the 'Adsense Treasure' banner at the top of this blog. All your questions can be answered on that site.