Over the last two decades, there have been plenty of technological advancements in the marketing industry, with the biggest advancements being seen in online advertising.
Less than 20 years ago, online ads were only seen as a gimmick, while traditional advertising methods such as billboards and print reigned supreme. But thanks to the evolution of the internet and investment in infrastructure, online advertising is now the go-to medium for millions of businesses all over the world.
With lower costs, better reporting and a higher return on investment, even the world's biggest brands are investing millions into online advertising.
Currently, one of the most popular online marketing strategies is pay per click marketing . With the ability to target users based on keywords, location, and demographics, pay per click marketing is the most popular online advertising method. With advertisers only being charged per click (hence the name), advertisers can be sure they are only spending money on their target audience.
But in online advertising, nothing is perfect.In recent years, many businesses have been subject to fraudulent clicks on their adverts from the likes of competitors and bots, which has unknowingly wasted a large portion of their monthly budget.
To stop this from happening, services like PPC Protect have been made to fight back against this growing problem.
In this article, we're going to take a look at the click fraud prevention software PPC Protect and what it does. From its interface and features to pricing and benefits, by the end of this article, you'll have a good idea of what it does and if it's for you.
So let's get started with PPC Protect Review here.
PPC Protect Review 2020: Is It Worth Your Try?? (TRUTH)
PPC Protect Review: In A Nutshell
PPC Protect is an award-winning SaaS platform that helps businesses of all sizes protect their Google Ads from a competitor and fraudulent clicks. Using their industry-leading artificial intelligence and detection algorithm, the service automatically blacklists fraudulent IP addresses from repeatedly clicking a user's ads.
By automatically blacklisting fraudulent IP addresses, this allows the user to focus on creating effective ads instead of having to constantly worry about click fraud .
Key Features & Benefits of PPC Protect
- No managerial access required - unlike other click fraud protection services on the market that require managerial access, PPC Protect connects to Google accounts using Google's authorized API. This means that PPC Protect can only update the IP exclusion list and nothing else in the user's account.
- Automated IP Blocking - detecting fraudulent clicks and click fraud is just one of the features of PPC Protect. Once detected, the service will automatically add the IP address to the user's IP exclusion list to ensure the fraudster won't see their ads again in the future.
- Multiple users - PPC Protect has no limits on the number of users per account and lets account owners create as many users as they like.
- Multiple domains - with the standard plan, users can add as many domains as they wish, meaning users can protect ads from lots of different websites without having to pay extra.
- Automatic detection rules - thanks to its advanced detection algorithm, there are no complicated options or settings to change within the software. PPC Protect will automatically find the best detection settings for your industry and ads, leaving you to spend more time managing your ads.
- PDF reporting - perfect for digital agencies with clients, the PDF reporting feature gives an overview of the account including how many clicks where protect and how much money was saved.
- Continuous protection - PPC Protect runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week to ensure your ads are fully protected. With a 99.97% service level agreement and built on Amazon's AWS infrastructure, you can feel safe knowing your ads are in good hands.
How Does PPC Protect Work?
- Detailed clicks dashboard - within the software, users can see a full breakdown of their clicks and how many fraudulent clicks they have received from certain IP addresses and countries.
PPC Protect works by tracking fraudsters from the first click on an ad to landing on the user's website. The step by step process on how PPC Protect identifies fraudsters is as follows:
The Click
When a user clicks on a protected advert for the first time, the user's data is directed through a tracking template that captures their device information and sends it to the algorithm for detection. To the user, there is no noticeable difference from clicking on any other ad as the tracking template is super fast and non-intrusive.
While passing through the tracking template, the data from the user is being analyzed such as their device ID, location, IP address and user agent. During this data collection process, the system will collect over 100 unique identifiable pieces of data to be used in the detection algorithm.
Once the data of the user is collected, it is cross-referenced between millions of other logs and clicks from our customers. This huge library of data allows them to decide how suspicious the user is and if they match any previous fraudulent behaviour patterns.
The Algorithm -
The algorithm combines all of this data to make a decision on whether the user is fraudulent or legitimate. Based on the data collected and cross-referencing with historical data, the algorithm can make a decision based on the specific industry the user is in.
The Blacklist -
Once a click has been confirmed as fraud, the IP address will be automatically added to the user's Google Ads account using the secure Google API connection. Once the person is on the IP exclusion list, that user won't be able to see the ad again.
Blacklist Limits -
to avoid the Google IP exclusion limit of 500 IP's, PPC Protect is continually adding and removing IPs from the user's blacklist depending on their threat level. This means fraudulent IP's will be kept in until an IP with a higher threat level is detected.
Continuous Analysis -
once an IP has been blocked the analysis doesn't stop there. If a user changes IP address by using a proxy or another mobile network, then the system will be able to identify their unique device fingerprint and block them again. This continuous analysis ensures you stay one step ahead of the fraudsters.
How Much Does PPC Protect Cost | PPC Protect Pricing Plans
PPC Protect offers pricing levels for small businesses all the way up to agency and enterprise clients. They currently have monthly and annual plans, with the annual plan coming with a discount.
- Up to $10,000 per month in ad spend
- Unlimited monthly clicks
- Unlimited domains
- Automatic IP blocking
- Dedicated account manager
- Industry-leading click fraud detection
PPC Protect Saves You From:
Unlimited Plan - custom monthly quoteCompetitors - using its advanced algorithm, the software saves you from competitors who are bidding on the same keywords as you and clicking your ads and deplete your budget.
- Everything in the pro plan
- Unlimited monthly ad spend protection
- Advanced reporting
- Exclusive partnership access
- Log analysis reports
Hackers - the software will protect you from any hackers that try to spoof and hide their activity by masking fraudulent activities.
Non-converting users - users who repeatedly click your ads and have a low chance of converting will be blocked to help save your budget.
Malicious publishers - website owners who click their own Google Adsense ads will be blocked from wasting your monthly ads budget.
Botnets - using their large IP database, PPC Protect will protect ads from large botnets and click farms from wasting your ad budget.
Disgruntled customers - unhappy customers who are not happy with your business will regularly click your ads for "revenge". Using their smart detection tools, PPC Protect will block them just like fraudsters.
How To Install PPC Protect (Step By Step)
Installing PPC Protect is incredibly simple and only takes a few steps.
STEP 1 - Sign up to PPC Protect and get your free 14-day trial (no credit card required) to test drive the software.
STEP 2 - Follow the instructions in the integration tab. The first step is to connect your Google Ads account through the API connection. Please disable your AdBlock extension. This may interfere with the authentication process.
STEP 3 - Copy and paste your unique tracking template into your Google Ads account at the account level.
Customer Support Offered By PPC Protect
If you have any questions or problems with PPC Protect then don't worry, their customer support team is always ready to help. Available through their live chat and email, the team is always on hand to answer your questions and help you learn how to use the platform.
Enterprise customers also get a dedicated account manager who will meet up with them on a regular basis to discuss their analytics and what else they can do to prevent fraudulent clicks. With an in-house support team always ready to help, you can feel good knowing help is only a live chat away.
What Does Customer Say About PPC Protect?
Pros & Cons Of PPC Protect
Pros Of PPC Protect
Cons Of PPC Protect:
Conclusion: PPC Protect Review - Should You Buy It?
To summarize, PPC Protect is an award-winning Google Ads click fraud prevention platform that can help anyone stop fraudulent clicks from competitors and fraudsters. Trusted by both small and enterprise businesses, the company currently protects over 35,000 Google Ads accounts.
With click fraud constantly on the rise, everyone who uses Google Ads is at risk. And with Google, themselves not providing an adequate solution, more and more businesses are now starting to protect themselves with click fraud prevention services such as PPC Protect.
- No managerial access required
- Automated IP blocking
- Analytics dashboard
- Manual blacklisting
- Free trial with no credit card
- PDF reporting
- Built with Amazon web servers (AWS) infrastructure
- Suitable for agencies and enterprise
Do we think PPC Protect is worth it? If you're regularly spending money on Google Ads and are worried about losing money to competitors and fraudsters, then yes it's worth every penny.
We hope this article gave you a good overview of PPC Protect and how it works. Be sure to check out our other software reviews and articles below.
- Limitations are there in the starter plan
- Not for very small budgets
