Competition abuse on AdWords

I have an absurdly high click through ratio, like 50%, for three or four
days in a row, but no sales, no inquiries. Generally I'm between 1.5-3%
and I get an inquiry or two a day. I make a sale every other day with
adwords.
Lately, I hit my maximum daily budget by mid-late morning, so no more
ads show... If I up it a little, I'm still out before the day is up.
Until the past few days, I've NEVER hit my daily limit...I've gotten no
inquiries or sales for almost a week from Adwords. I suspect someone is
banging me until I'm gone... I have one keyword show up as a 200% click
through ratio, one showing, two click throughs. Seems impossible...
I've dropped my budget, hope to drop off this person(s) radar screen,
then increase the budget again a little, until I get near those I
suspect are doing this.
What would you do? My website provider has very limited controls for the
level I'm at ($6 month). My bandwidth is also very high all of the
sudden... I'm going to run out three or four days before the end of the
month at the current rate. I don't believe there is a way for me to
identify the person doing this to me.
Thanks.

In article <c92b8g015q@enews3.newsguy.com>,
Putt-Putting my time away <putting@putt.nut> wrote:

> I have an absurdly high click through ratio, like 50%, for three or four
> days in a row, but no sales, no inquiries. Generally I'm between 1.5-3%
> and I get an inquiry or two a day. I make a sale every other day with
> adwords.
> Lately, I hit my maximum daily budget by mid-late morning, so no more
> ads show... If I up it a little, I'm still out before the day is up.
> Until the past few days, I've NEVER hit my daily limit...I've gotten no
> inquiries or sales for almost a week from Adwords. I suspect someone is
> banging me until I'm gone... I have one keyword show up as a 200% click
> through ratio, one showing, two click throughs. Seems impossible...
> I've dropped my budget, hope to drop off this person(s) radar screen,
> then increase the budget again a little, until I get near those I
> suspect are doing this.
> What would you do? My website provider has very limited controls for the
> level I'm at ($6 month). My bandwidth is also very high all of the
> sudden... I'm going to run out three or four days before the end of the
> month at the current rate. I don't believe there is a way for me to
> identify the person doing this to me.
> Thanks.

One method that is used to prevent click activity like you suggest is to
track the IP address behind the click. Google says that they monitor
this type of activity and will not debit your accoutn fro clicks that
seem illegitimate. You can possibly track it too. If you have access
to a log file analysis reporting tool via your hosting company you could
check the referring IP addresses to see if there is one that is suddenly
banging your server. Then notify Google. I'm pretty sure they would be
responsive.

Doug Kneeland
douglas.kneeland@snet.net

"Putt-Putting my time away" <putting@putt.nut> wrote in message
news:c92b8g015q@enews3.newsguy.com...
>
> What would you do? My website provider has very limited controls for the
> level I'm at ($6 month). My bandwidth is also very high all of the
> sudden... I'm going to run out three or four days before the end of the
> month at the current rate. I don't believe there is a way for me to
> identify the person doing this to me.

Sure there is. If the ad leads to the same .html page just search your
access log for that page. Chances are you'll see a slew of hits from the
same IP address to that single page and no other pages on your site. That
would tell you what IP and by extension, who is repeatedly clicking your
Google ad. I would recommend your Google ad have a tracking code of some
kind in it to tell it apart from other hits more easily.

If your provider can't give you proper stats, spend a little more and get
one that can, or sign up for some remote tracking service like
http://extreme-dm.com/tracking/

--
McWebber
"Richter points to the lack of legal action against his company as proof
that he's operating appropriately."
Information Week, November 10, 2003

In article <c92b8g015q@enews3.newsguy.com>, putting@putt.nut says...
>
> I have an absurdly high click through ratio, like 50%, for three or four
> days in a row, but no sales, no inquiries. Generally I'm between 1.5-3%
> and I get an inquiry or two a day. I make a sale every other day with
> adwords.
> Lately, I hit my maximum daily budget by mid-late morning, so no more
> ads show... If I up it a little, I'm still out before the day is up.
> Until the past few days, I've NEVER hit my daily limit...I've gotten no
> inquiries or sales for almost a week from Adwords. I suspect someone is
> banging me until I'm gone... I have one keyword show up as a 200% click
> through ratio, one showing, two click throughs. Seems impossible...
> I've dropped my budget, hope to drop off this person(s) radar screen,
> then increase the budget again a little, until I get near those I
> suspect are doing this.
> What would you do? My website provider has very limited controls for the
> level I'm at ($6 month). My bandwidth is also very high all of the
> sudden... I'm going to run out three or four days before the end of the
> month at the current rate. I don't believe there is a way for me to
> identify the person doing this to me.
> Thanks.

Have you contacted Google? If not, the form is at:
http://services.google.com/ads_inquiry/en
They can look at their logs and see whether you're being click spammed.

--
Dave Miller
FundablePlans - Create a custom business plan online - only $39.95
http://www.fundableplans.com

You should be able to log their IP address. Its easy to do.

Once you have their IP, there are many tools that can help you find out
more. Try www.visualroute.com to find out what city they are in and what
Internet provider they are using. I tried seveal sites just now and it
gives me the correct ISP on both of them. You could contact their ISP and
see if they will give you information.

Post back here if you need more help.