I once thought Google adwords was going to be the solution to all my marketing problems.

It may have been at one time. I was using it when it was on a cost per thousand basis, before they went to charging per click. That is a number of years ago.

Dental Website Marketing and Click Fraud

One issue that you need to be very careful about when advertising on the web is fraud.

I'm talking about other people clicking on your ad without any intention of being a patient, and no interest either, but merely to money into their own pocket at *your* expense.

Click fraud.

If I advertise on Google's search engine I don't worry about fraud. If I advertise on Microsoft Live or Yahooo Search engine I don't worry about fraud either.

Those are big companies and I doubt whether they have enough institutionalized fraudulent clicking to make a difference (although after Enron, Worldcomm and now the banks, I wouldn't be surprised if an occasional scandal surfaces, but…)

When you advertise on the littler search engines, they go out to littler sites. Those litter sites have a lot of "moral hazard" because they and their ad networks are all incentivized to do click fraud.

Here's what I'm talking about. Put yourself in the shoes of Joe Website owner. You, Joe, are publishing a website that has pictures of canine dentistry cases on it. Now you join an ad network and they run ads on your website.

You are working hard but nobody is clicking and so you aren't making any money. A friend goes on your site and clicks on the ad "to help you out." Your son clicks on an ad to help you out. Before you know it, you are making some bucks. Your ads have a high "click through rate" and with every click, the ad network collects from the advertiser and splits the money with you.

That is a very minor type of clickfraud and it is pervasive. There is far worse.

Huge click fraud scams for dental practice websites

This is a big scam. They employ people all over to click on ads. Not enough clicks for anyone to raise suspicion…the clicks are spread out amongst big networks of helpers. The helpers click here and there, and over time, and over a large number of sites, they rake in the money.

Then there are the bots. The bots simulate various "IP addresses" and they click on ads appearing to be different users at different times.

Click fraud is huge. My estimate is at least 40% of clicks are fraudulent. My experience is as follows:

1. The bigger the site, the less click fraud.
2. Small sites are just nothing but fraud with the occasional exception.Sorry, but that is my experience. Unless I know the site well, I won't advertise there if it is a smaller site. I won't advertise on big networks of small, anonymous sites. Nothing but fraud in my experience. Really.
3. Advertising on major search engines is fine, but going to their "partner publishers" can be less than fine. Again, if you are on a lot of little sites, expect a lot of fraud.
4. You can discount this somewhat by paying a lot less for a click from a small site. But beware…because you can still waste your money.
5.  I've paid one penny per click and had horrible experience. I've paid one penny per thousand impressions and gotten nothing but fraud. Small ad networks and alternative networks are worth less than zero.

I'm not addressing a specific network but I'm saying this: advertise with your eyes open. Test with small amounts of money. Try to aim for large sites or for specific sites that you trust.

If you run your ads on Google's "partner" sites then pay much, much less for a click and expect a lot will be phony.

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