Google Adsense Tips - How Google Detects Click Fraud

Before going to talk about cheating or detection we have to know what is an Invalid Click. In the first part of this post I'll describe what is an Invalid Click and after that I'll describe other things.

What is an invalid Click?
When the pay per click provider (for example Google Adsense) says that someone that is not interested in making business from the advertisers link, click it to generate income for you.

Also when publisher clicks their own adds (Adsense ads) to generate money for themselves, it's a invalid click.

It's a invalid click also when publisher asks others to click on their ads (Adsense ads) just to raise their income.

Invalid clicks also happen when some uses robots to click on their ads (Adsense ads) or automated software.

Google defines invalid clicks as:

• Manual clicks intended to increase publisher's income
• Clicks by robots, automated tools
• Clicks generated by Third-party services
  

How people try to cheat Google Adsense
These are some techniques I found from the internet (link), that people used to cheat Adsense. Even though people believe these methods will raise their income, they will make you banned from Adsense.

• Basic Clicker Cheat : Publisher clicks on his own Adsense ads every time he has a chance.
• Proxy Clicker Cheat : He or She thinks that if they use anonymous proxy for browsing his own site and click ads, Google Adsense will not be able to trace them.
• Multiple Computer Clicker Cheat : He or She knows Google Adsense will detect if clicks are from same IP, so he/she asks friends, family members, neighbors and relatives to click on the adsense ads.
• Software Clicker Cheat : Using automated softwares or robots to click on Adsense ads.
• Paid Clicker Cheat : Publisher will pay some amount of money per month basis to professional Adsnese clickers to browse publisher's site and click on several ads.
• Click-rings Cheat : Group of people get together and share their site that published Adsense ads and ask click their ads while they click others ads who are in this groups. These guys will use Yahoo groups, forums and IM to form groups and communicate amon members.

There are some more cheats that you can found in above link. Please refer it if you want more details.

How Google Adsense detects click fraud
You may know or may not know, currently there are lot of Google Adsense publishers who are banned from Google Adsense program for click fraud. Some of them manage to get their account back, but others failed. As a result, lot of people are banned from the Google Adsense program.

Google never reveal how they trace invalid clicks or technology behind it. But it's better to know the ways they might be used to detect click fraud. Following some ways Google Adsense may used to detect invalid clicks:

• IP Address : It is the easiest and must be recognized by everyone. If those clicks on your ads are originated from the same IP Address as the one used for accessing your AdSense account, your account is flagged.
• Click Through Rate (CTR) : Normally, Click thru Rate should not excess 10%. Otherwise, Google will flag your account. For your information, normal CTR should ranges from 0.5% - 10%.
• Physical Location : Google has good tracing software and technology.They can trace traffics origin down to the small town. So, using different computers with different IP address does not secure anything. So, don't try to click your ads in various Internet cafes. That will kill you.
• Cookies : Most home users do not use static IP Address for Internet connection. In most cases just disconnect and reconnect will give you a new IP Address. But don't forget, Google has set cookies on your computer. They can trace these cookies and see whether they originate from the same computer.
• Click Pattern 1 : It is also suspicious when people click on their clicks and then run away immediately (hit-and-run). But normally, people will surf for a while inside your pages and then click on the ads they want.
• Click Pattern 2 : why this computer / IP address / person is so trigger-click-happy on this particular website but never click on the ads on other sites?
• Click Pattern 3 : And why is it that people accessing these sites direct (type-in URL or from bookmark) tend to be very active ad-clickers compared with those referred from search engine or other sites?
• Other Google Services : Apart from Google Adsense, Google also provide a series of services to us. Don't just think that it is safe if you do not log in your adsense account and click on your ads. What other Google services do they provide to us? Here are some: Gmail (most people are using it), Google Earth, Google Calendar, Google Search, Google Toolbar, Google Talk, Google Sitemap, Google Desktop, Blogger, or even Youtube (coz Google has just recently acquired it).
• Search Engine Ranking : Your website is not indexed on any search engine, not linked by any prominent website, but get consistently high traffic? How come people can access your website and click your ads? That will make Google to smell a rat.
• Webpage Design : How about the "Please click a link below" or "donate us by clicking the ads"? These kinds of encouragement is not in line with Google's TOS. Google can use their winning search engine, or even human eyes to check your sites from time to time.
• Advertisers conversion rate : Ad click is one thing. But does it bring value to the advertisers? If none of the clicks on your site translate to conversion to the advertiser, you are in trouble. First the Smart-Pricing hits, then your AdSense account disabled.

It's better toread the Google Adsense Program Policies before you start with adsense and be careful to not to make any click frauds.