Click fraud is a problem that website owners have had to deal with for awhile now. It occurs when someone clicks on the ad of a pay-per-click campaign without intending to show any interest in what the ad is offering. The only purpose is to generate an advertising income from extra clicks. This is not a new problem but it’s become one that’s increasingly common due to the proliferation of botnets which are capable of completing click fraud for the criminals that are interested in trying to get money this way. Research indicates that almost half of fraudulent clicks these days are coming from botnets.

What does this mean for the average website owner? If you make any money off of ads on your website then it could spell trouble. Let’s say that you have a good Tampa search engine optimization campaign going and it includes putting a lot of effort into Tampa PPC. The result is that you get the traffic that you want to your site. If botnet-based click fraud continues to be a problem then it may become less profitable for PPC campaigns to even exist. Your legitimate website could suffer because the industry decides to cut back on this type of advertising altogether due to the problem of click fraud. That’s why it’s in the best interest of all legitimate website owners to help crack down on click fraud.

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