Click fraud

Click fraud refers to a form of fraud in online marketing, particularly with pay-per-click (PPC) models such as Google Ads. Paid ads are clicked on repeatedly and in a targeted manner - without any real interest in the offer. The aim is usually to cause economic damage to the advertiser, e.g. by reaching the daily budget early or by falsifying key performance indicators.

The most important things at a glance:

Deliberate clicks on ads without genuine interest
Fraudulent, not to be confused with invalid clicks
Forms: manual, automated, click farms, publisher fraud
Goals: Damage budget, generate revenue, distort data
Signs: high CTR without conversion, conspicuous IPs, bot patterns
Detection via technical analysis and behavioral data
Protection through IP blocking, filters, external tools
Legally difficult to prosecute, potentially punishable
Google filters a lot, but not everything reliably

Basic terms and definitions

Click fraud is a form of ad fraud in digital marketing. It refers to the intentional clicking on paid adverts - usually in the context of pay-per-click (PPC) systems such as Google Ads - without any interest in the underlying service or product. The aim of such clicks is to generate advertising costs for the advertiser or to artificially influence performance.

Difference between click fraud and invalid clicks

There is an important difference between click fraud and so-called invalid clicks. The latter are caused, for example, by unintentional double-clicks, technical errors or automated processes without fraudulent intent. Platforms such as Google recognise such clicks and generally do not charge for them. Click fraud, on the other hand, is deliberate and targeted - with the clear intention of harming the advertiser.

Differentiation from general ad fraud

While click fraud focuses exclusively on the abusive triggering of clicks, the broader term ad fraud also includes other forms of manipulation. These include, for example, impression fraud (false ad impressions) or domain spoofing (pretending to be a legitimate site). Click fraud is therefore a specific subtype.

Types of click fraud

Click fraud occurs in different forms, depending on the method and objective. The most important variants are

Manual click fraud
Individuals - often direct competitors - repeatedly click on adverts in order to specifically burn through the budget of the company concerned. This is usually done without technical aids.
Automated click fraud (bot traffic)
Ads are clicked on on a large scale with the help of clickbots - software programmes that imitate human click behaviour. This method enables systematic action around the clock.
Click farms
Organised groups of people, often in countries with low wages, click on ads in return for payment. The aim is similar to bots, but with human execution to bypass automated filters.
Publisher click fraud
Website operators who participate in PPC-based partner programmes (e.g. Google AdSense) click on their own ads or have them generate clicks in order to generate revenue.

Causes and motives

The motives for click fraud are complex and depend on the role of the respective player:

Competitive displacement: Competitors try to use up ad budgets early so that their own ads are better placed.
Monetary interest: AdSense/PPC publishers generate direct revenue through fraudulent clicks.
Strategic market disruption: Individual players or organisations use click fraud specifically to weaken brands or manipulate the market.
Data manipulation: Fake clicks are used to influence algorithms and conversion data - e.g. in smart bidding or automated campaign optimisation.

Signs and symptoms of click fraud

Typical signs of possible click fraud are

Unusually high click-through rates (CTR) without conversion (but can also have other causes, such as an inappropriate landing page or misleading ad copy).
Jumps in the number of clicks from certain regions
High bounce rates with simultaneously rising costs
Repeated clicks from individual IP addresses
Empty or illogical visitor paths in the analytics system

These symptoms indicate fraudulent behaviour, but cannot be clearly assigned without in-depth analysis. As a specialised Google Ads agency, we are happy to carry out a corresponding analysis.

The role of remarketing in click fraud

Remarketing is a central component of digital advertising strategies, as it retargets users who have already interacted with a website. However, when click fraud occurs - for example through bots, click farms or manual attacks - these fake users also end up in the remarketing lists. This leads to distorted target groups and impairs the performance of the campaigns.

The consequences also affect automated optimisation systems such as smart bidding or audience modelling. These rely on user signals that are manipulated by click fraud. As a result, decisions are made on the basis of incorrect data - with a negative impact on budget distribution and conversion rates.

In the long term, click fraud distorts the customer journey. Conversion paths become unusable due to bot interactions, making the attribution of marketing measures more difficult. There is also a loss of trust in the database, as KPIs such as ROI or view-through conversions lose their meaningfulness.

Detecting and analysing click fraud

Detecting click fraud requires specialised tools and expertise. The following data sources, among others, are analysed:

IP addresses and geolocation
Click times and repetitions
Dwell time on landing pages
Technical characteristics of the device (user agent, browser, operating system)
Comparison with bot databases

Combined with statistical analysis and comparison history, a clear picture of potentially fraudulent activities can be drawn.

Protective measures & prevention

Comprehensive protection requires a combination of technical, strategic and organisational measures. These include

IP blocking or IP exclusion directly in Google Ads
Exclusion of certain regions, devices or times of day
Use of external anti-fraud software
Manual analysis of campaign key figures
Sensitisation and monitoring within the company

It is important to note that Google's protection mechanisms alone are not sufficient to completely prevent click fraud.

Click fraud: Google Ads vs. GA4

An often overlooked aspect in connection with click fraud concerns the different filter mechanisms of Google Ads and GA4. While Google Ads often recognises fraudulent clicks as "invalid" and filters them out of the billing, these interactions are still recorded as regular sessions in GA4. As a result, bot accesses are not only included in analysis reports, but also in remarketing lists, target groups and conversion analyses. Anyone who relies on GA4 imports for conversion tracking or bidding in Google Ads is therefore working with potentially manipulated data. This results in incorrect attribution models, inefficient budget allocations and distorted target groups.

Legal aspects

In Germany, click fraud can be a criminal offence. It is potentially an offence against § 263 StGB (fraud) or § 303b StGB (computer sabotage), however, the enforceability is complex and there are hardly any precedents.

Google & platform reactions

Google Ads has its own system for recognising and filtering invalid clicks. Suspicious clicks are automatically removed from billing and marked as "invalid" in the account. However, Google itself points out that not all fraudulent clicks can be recognised. In addition, advertisers can manually exclude certain IP addresses or adjust target regions.

Despite these measures, a residual risk remains - especially in the case of complex fraud patterns with bot traffic or click farms. Other platforms such as Microsoft Ads or Facebook Ads also have similar protection mechanisms, but differ in terms of transparency and range of functions.