What is click fraud and how do I stop it?
Click fraud is the generation of fake or worthless clicks on pay-per-click ads, by bots, click farms, malware or competitors, so that someone profits or an advertiser's budget is drained. You reduce it by monitoring click patterns, excluding suspicious IP ranges, placements and apps, tightening targeting, using click-fraud detection tools and claiming refunds for invalid clicks.
Click fraud hits any campaign billed on CPC, including search advertising, display networks and app-install campaigns. Motives vary: a publisher inflating its own ad revenue, a fraud operator selling fake traffic, or a rival burning your budget. The tools vary too, from click farm workers and botnets to malware that clicks in the background on infected phones.
Practical defenses: turn off or trim network partners and placements that show high clicks but no conversions; exclude data-center and known-proxy traffic; cap frequency; add conversion-based bidding so you pay less for clicks that never convert; and review search-term and placement reports weekly. Dedicated click-fraud tools add real-time scoring and automatic exclusions. Platforms such as Google Ads already filter some invalid clicks automatically and credit others after investigation, so keep evidence when you file a claim.