Fraud.. How High is your invalide click rate?

[gabs]

One of my accounts is 5% .

Another is so high I can't believe it..

Just had a phone conversion with our google a/c manager and their said no comment when asked "have you seen it that high before" ..

[PPCblogger]

Another is so high I can't believe it..

Can you share?!

..I've had a look through a few of my clients previously and invalid click rates seem to be anything between 2.5% - 6%. Thats a fairly broad range travel / retail / telecoms etc...

I did read that fraudulent clicks are often higher as click costs get higher, so in theory invalid click rates should be higher also in markets such as finance etc. Would be interesting to put to the test...

[dvduval]

How are you able to determine the rate?
(sorry if this is a stupid question) :)

[bidangle]

The whole rate is a measurable guess. Therefore... no one really knows. You can only guesstimate. Even “legitimate” clicks can be fraud. Knowing that, how do you really know anything?

[dvduval]

That is sort of why I was asking. I didn't know how the members above arrived at their figures.

[bidangle]

You can pick up obvious fraud, and maybe that’s what they’re calculating. But I’ve seen some pretty good fraud that very few people are registering. I’ve seen click fraud hit astronomical amounts… and yes, it’s usually associated w/ very costly keywords… like $5 on up.

[dvduval]

I used to try to compete for the word "incorporate" and we would immediately get all the budget used up and no orders. It was very frustrating and we eventually quit. Even worse, the investor for the site pulled out, and to this day the site is collecting dust. We had a great service, and competitive rates. I could never prove what was wrong, but it seemed very odd.

[PPCblogger]

I think you guys are getting confused...

How are you able to determine the rate?
(sorry if this is a stupid question)

You can pull reports in Google which show invalid clicks and their percentage against 'genuine' clicks or at least clicks you will be charged for...

This is how we are comparing stats.

I don't think anyone believes these are 100% accurate in anyway at filtering all click fraud or 'invalid' clicks. This is just what Google consider as invalid and report. Googles 'invalid clicks' definition include what we would determine as click fraud, aswell as anything else like accidental double clicking etc.

[J8 Zoekmachine Marketing]

That's right! The reports section in Google AdWords gives you a percentage. My experience is that is gives a percentage of 2 to 3% for most campaigns. So when that percentage gets higher, you know there is something wrong. Of course it is really hard to say how those percentages are calculated and if they are right...

[gabs]

Interesting to see google reporting this now..

The one k/w that made me post this was @ 20% invalid clicks..

Crazy..

[Roogle]

does this only apply to UK adwords accounts? I'm having a hard time seeing this under reports in the US. Thanks!

[Roogle]

just figured it out! Thanks for covering this topic.

[netegg]

it depends on the sector, but I manage an insurance client who in one week 70% of the clicks on the keyword 'life insurance' came from our competitors ip range :(