Question

I am convinced a competitor is clicking on my adds. Why do some people feel so confident google can detect this. If this person has 2 mobile phones and clear cookies and history and connect to different internet throughout the day I don’t see how this can be detected. Granted they would need a lot for time on their hands. Any thoughts on this?!?!  

Answer 1

You're probably right, its just the nature of Google Ads.  

Answer 2

One solution to check if you are right is to have an IP log installed in your website with the option to have a referral. Once you start to notice an IP that continuesly shows to be coming from Google ads then you can upload it in Google ads to be excluded from your targeted people.  

Comments

Yes def a tool to combat but if they are using multiple IP addresses I will not catch them all. Not to mention have time to do all this.  

---

@thermostat you have time or money. Either you do it or pay someone else to do it. How much do you care about the problem?  

---

I care about the the problem. I just don’t know if clicking back will resolve the problem.  

---

Sounds like a problem that costs less to not fix to be honest. How can you be so sure anyway? Sure you're LP doesn't suck?  

Answer 3

Are you inadvertently bidding on their brand terms using broad match? That can annoy them. Exclude them potentially. Otherwise face their competitive wrath but be prepared for a battle.  

Comments

I actually don’t bid on their brand terms, I don’t think it converts. So you agree someone can click on your ads if they want too?  

---

@thermostat You might be inadvertently bidding on theirs using broad match. For example, if you are bidding on “Electricals” broad match and their company name is “A J Electricals”.  

---

@thermostat Yes there’s nothing stopping them. Unless you use a company like ClickCease. Never used them before but apparently they can detect and stop “click fraud”. No idea if it works.  

---

@thermostat Also you should be lowering bids for audiences that don’t convert - that might help.  

---

I have thought of “click cease” just seems absurd that someone has to hire a small company like “click cease” to do the job of a multi-billion dollar company.  

---

@thermostat I suppose clicking is how Google gets paid and what they want. More clicks the better.  

Answer 4

I have discovered a competitor clicking on a client ad. I was able to use the geographic report to see that the clicks were coming from the same location, which happened to coincide with a competitor location and also happened to be in the middle of nowhere. He was also the only competitor that showed any movement in the auction insights. I excluded a small radius around his location and the clicks stopped. I removed the exclusion and they started again. I documented it all and took it to Google, laying it out like a court case. They said they would "investigate", so I knew nothing would happen. In 2 days, not only was the competitor no longer showing ads, it looked as if he had been totally blacklisted. no GMB, no ads, nothing.  

Answer 5

At least he is increasing your ctr so potentially is making your cpc lower  

Answer 6

You are most likely right. Look into Click Cease tracking. Make sure everything is compliant. It may not be a competitor, it could also be an attorney or distressed client looking to file suit or it could even be the federal government. I've seen both happen.  

Answer 7

I had same issue I used a software called Clixtell. It worked plus they had screen recording so I was able to see the actions of my visitors as well.  

Comments

@fairweather so was it in fact a competitor clicking? Are you able to block an IP address with that app?  

---

@oligopsony943 don’t know for sure it was a competitor not sure who else would waste their time but the app does work.  

---

@oligopsony943 the app blocks IPs but I didn’t wait for the push to go to google I just copied and pasted the IP in the exclusions.  

---

@fairweather how do you know it wasn’t a potential buyer who was regularly checking out your services/products? Was it a massive number of clicks per day?  

---

@oligopsony943 it was like 6+ clicks in under a minute. And I wouldn’t care if it was a customer. No reason to click on my ads multiple times a day.  

---

@oligopsony943 I set it to where someone can only click on my ads twice a day max

---

@fairweather can you put those restrictions on google or do you need an app?  

---

@oligopsony943 I’m sure you can, but again I’d rather use the software to monitor the IP addresses. Because for my business school district IPs are important to me. So I want to choose who sees them who doesn’t. Software gives more control.  

Answer 8

Is there a way to pinpoint IP addresses when this happens to input that into settings under “IP exclusions”. I guess it’s an evasion of privacy to track IP once they hit your ads though, right?  

Answer 9

I didn’t read your responses. But what makes you think this?  

Answer 10

Not sure if it helps, but maybe try exclude in analytics, visitors who stayed less than 5secs on website? Assuming you alrdy linked up adwords with it

Answer 11

Clickcease. com

Answer 12

Idk, I click on my main competitors ads multiple times a day not to cost them money but to see if they are leading people to better landing pages. We sell the same brands.  

Answer 13

There is a way to prevent it