Have you ever had the sneaky suspicion that your competitors – like the salon down the road – are secretly Googling you and repeatedly clicking on your ads to rack up a hefty Google Ads bill on your dime?
It’s a scary thought right!
It’s called click fraud. No surprises, but it’s some v shady behaviour that Google doesn’t take lightly.
So why would your competitors sabotage your ads in the first place?
Well, put simply, they’re aiming to exhaust your Ads budget early in the day so that they get a bigger slice of the Google Ads real-estate.
Essentially, if you’re running Google Ad campaigns with a daily budget, once that budget is reached the ad will switch off, leaving more opportunity for other’s targeting that same keyword.
But the good news is Google’s got your back to make sure that kind of poor sportsmanship doesn’t happen on their watch. TY Google!
Here’s some of the key ways Google is a fair referee and will protect your Google Ads from malicious competitors. (TBH – they’re probably just jealous of you. Keep your crowns high, kings and queens!)
Google can identify suspicious activity
If one of your arch-nemeses are repeatedly clicking on your ads, Google is intelligent enough to identify it as suspicious activity.
Google uses a number of ways via its algorithm to detect malicious clicks or click fraud including finding and filtering out what they deem to be invalid clicks in real-time.
No genuine customer is going to click on the same ad multiple times, and Google knows this. It will spot suspicious behaviour by cookie tracking, and stop it in its tracks before your account is charged. Phew!
Since automation is never fool proof, they also can manually analyse your account from time to time, and you can always raise concerns with them and open a case if you think you spot some suspicious activity as well.
What a dream-team, aye?
Google will credit your account if they spot a nemesis
If a competitor does slip through the cracks and does the dirty on you by repeatedly clicking on your ads (RUDE!) Google will often be able to credit your account when they spot this suspicious behaviour. After all, these aren’t genuine clicks or visitors to your site, and it isn’t a true conversion. This is always managed on a case-by-case basis of course – but it’s definitely reassuring!
Google wants your ads to succeed – they’re a business after all, so when you succeed and see results, they succeed. So it’s in their best interest to protect your ads as much as possible and give you the best possible experience on their platform and return on investment.
Want to learn more about Google? You’ve come to the right place! The Google Growth Hub is an educational platform created to help you learn all the ins and outs of Google! From Ads to Analytics, we’ve got your back with loads of blogs, videos, access to our Google consultant Naomi, and even courses you can take.
The best part? You can sign up for a two-week free trial to give it a spin for yourself. If you like what you see (and we reckon you will), you can sign up for a monthly subscription with no lock in contracts – just great content ❤️
