Click fraud

What Is Click Fraud?

Click fraud is a deceptive practice in the realm of digital advertising, particularly within pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, where a person, automated script, or computer program generates illegitimate clicks on advertisements. These clicks are made without genuine interest in the advertised product or service, often with the intent to deplete an advertiser's budget or to artificially inflate revenue for a publisher hosting the ads. As a form of online advertising fraud, click fraud manipulates the mechanics of online ad delivery and billing, costing businesses billions annually.

History and Origin

The phenomenon of click fraud emerged concurrently with the rise of pay-per-click advertising models in the early 2000s. As search engines and content networks began charging advertisers based on the number of clicks their ads received, a¹²³⁴⁵⁶