3 Reasons Why You Don't Really Need to Worry As Much
About Competitors Clicking Your Google Adwords.
Many potential web advertisers who would use Google
Adwords fear a vindictive competitor will make it their
personal mission to keep on clicking their adverts. The
obvious worry being that the cost of such activity could
be enormous and not result in any actual sales.
However, for the large part this fear is misplaced.
Before I can explain why, you first need to understand
the 3 levels of paid advertising on Google.
1) You only show your Adwords adverts directly on Google.
2) You can permit your AdWords adverts to appear on major
sites that are members of Google's so called 'Search
Network'.
3) And finally, you can allow Google to run your adverts
on their 'Content Network'.Your level of exposure to
invalid clicking of your Google Adwords adverts mostly
depends on which of the above three levels you choose.
In the case of option (1), where you only show adverts on
the Google web site... yes, your competitors could click
your adverts and cost you money, but they probably won't
bother.
First of all, you can set a low daily budget meaning your
competitors would need to be persist for a long time if
they wanted to cause you serious damage. And if they find
the time to do that, one wonders how long they'll
actually be in business themselv es!
Secondly, if you set a low daily budget, your Adword
adverts won't always display. Google will automatically
selectively display them so your budget spreads across
the full 24 hour period, (rather than it being gobbled up
in the first few hours of the day.)
This means your competitors will have to be lucky to
search at just the right time to see your advert.Thirdly,
if they don't know all of your Google Adword campaign
keywords, they won't be able to find all your Google
adverts. Even if they can get your advert to appear for
one or two phrases, they could overlook many other
phrases in your account.And finally, Google are
constantly adding new features to prevent fraudulent
clicking. If they detect the same people repeatedly
clicking adverts, they won't charge you for those extra
clicks.
Also, if you believe you really are the victim of
competitor clicking, you have the option of contacting
them directly. They'll investigate for you. If they
confirm it has been happening, they'll refund the
difference.
OK, that deals with advertising on Google (1) in the list
above. Number 2 on our list of places your Adwords
adverts can appear is on the 'Search Network'.
In terms of vindictive competitors, it's not really a
concern. The Search Network is very large. Your
competitors would have to work very hard to find and
click your adverts.
Which brings us to number (3) on our list... the Content
Network is the one to beware of if you're concerned about
false click activity.
The danger is actually not from your competitors. It's
from total strangers who may try something called "Click
Fraud". (Ironically a quick search on Google reveals a
massive amount of discussion on the subject.)
The Content Network consists of 3rd party site owners who
get paid for displaying other people's Google AdWords
adverts on their web pages.
In a nutshell, Google provide small pieces of 'code' that
are embedded in web pages, which then start displaying
Google AdWords relevant to my site content.
Now, if any one of my visitors clicks any of the adverts
while browsing my site, I get paid a small commission by
Google, and the person who clicks gets taken to your web
site.
Everybody wins in theory. Google get paid, the web site
owner gets paid, and the advertiser gets a new visitor on
their web site.
But here's the danger. Let's say the owner of the web
site that is displaying Google Adverts is "slightly less
than ethical". If so, then he may start clicking your
adverts. Each click means Google charge you and pay him
more commission.
So, if you allow your adverts to display on the Content
Network, keep a close eye on your campaign activity. If
you're really uncertain, start your Google Adwords
advertising by only allowing your ads to display on
Google itself. Switch it on when you're familiar with
the system and have time to monitor it closely.
And remember, as long as you carefully track and monitor
your account, Google AdWords can be gloriously effective
for even the smallest business. I recently used it to
help a client effortlessly find 2,000 extra customers in
their first year of business. Try it for yourself and
you may find you have nothing to fear... and everything
to gain.
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create, enhance and optimise Google Adwords marketing
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