Click Fraud on Competitor Ads
The act of generating false clicks on a competitor's paid ads, resulting in inflated advertising costs and potentially affecting the performance and efficiency of their campaigns.
Common Techniques
Bot-Driven Clicks
Using automated bots to simulate user behavior and click on competitor ads, inflating costs while reducing the effectiveness of their ad campaigns.
Click Farms
Employing groups of individuals or low-cost labor to manually click on competitor ads, inflating costs without genuine user engagement.
Click and Redirect Schemes
Clicking on competitor ads and quickly navigating away from the page, ensuring no conversion but incurring the advertising cost, forcing the competitor to pay for irrelevant traffic.
Geo-Spoofing
Manipulating click origins by masking IP addresses or using VPNs to generate clicks from fake or irrelevant geographical locations, skewing campaign targeting data and increasing ad costs.
Competitor Targeting
Directing fraudulent clicks to competitor ads on platforms where advertisers are charged per click, draining their budget without providing any value or real leads.