Advertising is an essential part of any business. Online ads make it possible to reach a global audience and generate traffic to your website, which increases your conversion.
But with the rise in online crime, especially in e-commerce, ad fraud has been on the rise as well. This does not mean you should stop using ads to give your brand more exposure. You can carry out ad verification to ensure that you get value for every cent you spend on online ads. If you are interested to learn more about this topic in depth - visit oxylabs.
What is Ad Fraud?
Ad fraud refers to the fraudulent activity of falsely representing clicks, conversions, impressions, or data events with the intention of generating revenue from the company that is advertising.
Let’s look at some examples of ad fraud:
1) Ad Stacking
This is where the fraudster places several ads on top of each other, and only the ad at the top receives the exposure needed. As the business owner, you will be charged for the ad impression even though the targeted audience never gets to view it.
2) Pixel Stuffing
This is where the fraudster places the ad in a single-pixel frame. Such an ad is too small for the human eye to comprehend the message behind it. And yet they will fully charge the business.
3) Ad Click Fraud
This refers to the use of ad bots and scripts to accumulate ad clicks. You get the impression that people are viewing the ads and that your brand is gaining exposure, which is far from the truth. Some will hire people to click on the ads for a salary.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous methods that fraudsters use to deceive unsuspecting business owners. Ad fraud has caused businesses to lose millions of money in ads that bring a nil return on investment.
Your competitors could also have your ads placed on the wrong websites with the intention of destroying your brand. Having your ads appearing in immoral websites could make your customers lose trust in your business and destroy your reputation. This is why it is crucial to monitor where your ads are placed.What is Ad Verification, And What Do You Need To Carry It Out?
This is the practice of verifying that every ad you pay for appears in real websites, with the right content, and can be viewed clearly by the target audience.
You can verify your ads by visiting publisher websites spontaneously and confirming the placement of your ads. Ad fraudsters are tech-savvy and will easily detect your attempts to monitor the ads. They will then try to cover it up, making it hard for you to detect the fraud.
The only way to bypass this hurdle is by using proxy servers.
A proxy will hide your IP address and location and replace them with the details attached to the proxy. There are two types of proxies.
Data Center Proxies
These are proxies that are created and issued by cloud server providers. They are fast and do not rely on internet service providers or an internet connection.
The best thing about using data center proxies for verification is that they are easily available in large numbers, with each IP attached to a different location. This means that you can use a different IP address with every web request you make.
You can use IP addresses with different locations to verify the appearance of your ads to the global audience.
Residential Proxies
Residential proxies are provided by internet service providers to homeowners. They are legitimate, and it makes them the most reliable proxies.
The fraudsters will view your IP address as a real user and will have no reason to hide their fraudulent activities. Although residential proxies are rare and expensive, their reliability makes them the best for ad verification.
You will also need to find residential proxies attached to different locations around the globe. It will enable you to see how your ad appears to your prospects in other countries.
Proxies can be shared or private. Shared proxies are where a number of users share proxies for the purpose of reducing the cost of the proxies. Private or dedicated proxies are where one user gets exclusive use of a proxy.
For the purpose of verifying your ads, a private proxy will be the better option. It is more reliable, secure, and will be less detectable.
Winding Up
You need ads to increase your sales, gain brand exposure and beat the competition. But you could end up losing money to fraudsters by paying for ads that never reach your target audience.
Ad verification makes it possible to detect such fraud. It involves monitoring the websites where your ads are placed to verify their legitimacy and confirm that your ads are visible to the visitors.
You need proxies to monitor these ads without being detected by the publishing agent. Residential proxies will be the most reliable, but data center proxies will also be effective. Get proxies attached to different locations so that you can verify the ads on a global scale.