With rising costs of advertising using Google Ads, it's not surprising how Google Ads advertisers commonly suspect competitors clicking my ads. Clicking on a competitors ad does not only cause financial wastage but the levels of frustration this can result in can sometimes be insurmountable. As a direct result we have heard of many advertisers discontinuing their ads in favour of alternative digital marketing strategies.
How do you detect a competitor clicking my ads? If you keep a close eye on your campaigns then it's likely you'll have a feel for how the account in general when it's performing normally. This means you're likely to spot a fluctuation in traffic levels very quickly along with other metrics such as CTR, conversions, conversion rate etc. A tell tale sign that something is wrong can first raise suspicions when the amount of clicks increases suddenly having not made any major recent changes. Of course, traffic fluctuations alone are not a complete indication that you're under attack, but when accompanied by unusually high CTR and a lack of conversions, alarm bells can start ringing!
One type of Google Ads fraud we have become aware of recently was when a client reported that they were getting lots of phone calls where nobody was speaking. This led to them immediately pausing their call only campaigns whilst further investigative works were carried out. After going back and forth with Google Support to report the problem, it became apparent very quickly that there was little they could do. The responses back from Google Support in this particular support case were alarming in the sense that all they could really say was that they were not responsible for the actions of others, a very worrying outlook for anyone running call-only campaigns.
Once you suspect competitors clicking my ads then it's time to take action. There is of course the inbuilt invalid clicks system that is meant to filter fraudulent activity and to a certain degree this system does work, it would be very little point Google having such a system if it didn't. However, many advertisers who are suffering from competitors clicking my ads suspect that this system is limited in effectiveness and are resorting to 3rd party solutions to deal with click fraud such as Click Guardian to add an additional layer of protection. Click Guardian is a low cost subscription service that is free to trial and then costs £20 per month thereafter. Click Guardian monitors your traffic and essentially listens for competitors, bots a people who excessively click on your ads multiple times and takes preventative action in the form of an automated IP block when the detection system identifies a competitor clicking on your ads.
If competitors clicking my ads is something that you suspect and would like to prevent then click here to start your free trial of Click Guardian Pro!