Fake clicks can be a major headache for brands in the digital space. However, it is more common than we think, and it has been projected that fraudsters are behind almost 14% of clicks on paid ads. They seek to steal a significant portion of your ad spend by hijacking your campaigns.

Here, one may ask, why aren’t the biggest companies fighting back with equal force? While key players continue to allocate millions of dollars for fraud prevention, fake click perpetrators have started using sophisticated means to siphon away funds meant for sources that generate genuine clicks. Going beyond fraudulent bots, they have directed their energy towards creating human click farms which employ thousands of people.

How Does A Click Farm Operate?

As reviewed at digital marketing conferences, click farms involve individuals who work for meager wages and have basic digital skills. Several digital devices may be set up in cramped rooms for this purpose. Their job is to click on your ads, fill out forms, or sign up for newsletters — all actions that help you attract and reach out to prospects. Thus, they end up wreaking havoc on your campaign metrics, primarily because it is difficult to distinguish between authentic traffic and fake leads.

Here, it is essential to note that many businesses often sign up for the services of such click farms to fraudulently generate website traffic, boost domain authority or get social media likes. However, the results from such activities are often short-lived.

Signs That A Click Farm Is Targeting Your Campaigns

Identification of fraudulent human clicks is by no means a cakewalk. As there may not be identifiable patterns, adopting one or two simple scam prevention tools may not be enough. Companies usually have to develop a wide range of standards, embrace new technologies, and constantly upgrade their scam detection strategies to stay one step ahead of click farms.

Here are some of the tell-tale signs that reveal that click farms are out to get your marketing budget:

• A sudden boost in web traffic but an absence of authentic leads.

• Erratic user behavior on your web assets.

• Digital marketing clients are getting increasingly concerned about the fact that there are no conversions, only clicks.

• Fake contact details and prospects saying they never signed up for your newsletters.

How To Stay Away From Click Farms

Many experts recommend shutting down traffic from regions that are known for being click farm hubs. However, this may not be completely effective as fraudsters may deploy VPNs to hide their actual locations. By doing this, you may also end up hiding your web assets from real people who might actually be interested in your services.

There cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach to fighting the menace of click farms. As discussed at various web marketing summits in Dubai, businesses must embrace anti-fraud solutions targeting individual click spammers. This includes studying IP addresses and device details to determine whether a particular click is authentic.

Cybersecurity experts and ad specialists continue to work together to develop better tools to drive out the problem of click farms. What have their observations been so far? What are the latest technologies they have come up with? Get answers to these crucial questions and a lot more at the Marketing 2.0 Conference!