02 Aug A Beginner’s Guide to Ad Fraud

Ad fraud is big news in the digital advertising industry and with good reason: it’s a rampant problem that can cost advertisers billions of dollars per year. But don’t worry! We’re here to help you navigate this treacherous territory and understand how ad fraud works so you can avoid it in your own campaigns.

What is ad fraud?

Ad fraud is a type of cybercrime where advertisers’ money is stolen by individuals who create fake ads and make money when people click on them. The fraudsters use illegal software to manipulate the ad platforms, creating fake websites or mobile apps that look legitimate but are designed to fool users into clicking on ads. This can happen when you see an ad for a product or service you’re interested in, only to find out once you click it that it’s not what it seems.

Advertisers lose money because they pay per click and/or impression (for example, every time an ad is seen), but sometimes there are no real customers behind these clicks. Advertisers don’t know they’ve been deceived until they get their monthly bill from their agency or network provider—and typically by then, it’s too late!

How do you recognise ad fraud?

There are a few ways to recognise ad fraud by analysing the quality of the traffic and the bounce rates.

Always look for signs of non-human traffic. If you see that your traffic is coming from bots, then you’ve probably been hit by ad fraud. There are different types of ad fraud, and the most common type of bot is a web crawler, which just searches around the internet looking for new sites to index (and steal data from). Most other bots are less obvious, but they can still be detected with some sleuthing.

You’d need to keep an eye out for signs of low-quality traffic. Many companies use automated processes to provide fake data on how many people have visited their site or downloaded their app after seeing an ad—and they don’t always get it right! Some will even try to make it look like the same person has viewed your ad multiple times over time instead of recognising that different people have seen it at different intervals—which would mean more genuine impressions and clicks than there actually were!

Keep updated about signs of high bounce rates: This means that a lot of people left your website without taking any action once they got there—which would indicate that these visitors weren’t really interested in what you had to offer them (or at least not as much as you thought). That said if someone does end up leaving but then returns later on down the road (for example: maybe he saw one thing earlier but wanted more information later), this may not count as a “bounce” because technically speaking user didn’t leave yet.

How do you prevent ad fraud?

Several ways to prevent ad fraud out there but the most efficient way is to block domains and IP addresses from your ads. This is one of the most common ways to protect yourself from ad fraud. You can also block cookies, which are small pieces of data that collect information about users’ browsing history.

Finally, you can contract a third party to monitor your ads for signs of fraud and alert you when they find them. Some examples include Google Ads Partner Monitoring, DoubleVerify Campaign Verification Tool, and Adloox.

Why should you care about ad fraud?

Ad fraud is a rampant problem in the digital advertising industry which you’ll want to steer clear of, which is why you need an ad ops provider to take care of it. Advertisers are losing money, publishers are losing revenue and ad networks are losing credibility as more advertisers look for ways to combat fraudulent activity. The good news is that anti-ad fraud technology is already available; it’s just up to advertisers and publishers alike to find it and use it.

Conclusion

Ad fraud is a pervasive problem in the ad operations industry. Although it’s not always easy to spot, with some vigilance and knowledge of how ad fraud works and how to prevent it, you can protect yourself and your business from being victimized by this con.

Get in contact with our experts for ad operations services.