Click fraud is a big concern in the Pay Per Click industry and is often times hard to combat. What makes it especially hard sometimes is when you can’t isolate the clicks to one source. This is especially true with AOL since each time someone logs on through AOL they are assigned a different IP address.

Here are some tips that will hopefully help you combat click fraud that you’ve detected as being AOL traffic:

1. Exclude AOL Traffic
This may or may not be an option. If a lot of your sales/actions are coming from AOL, then this obviously isn’t the best choice. If you find that this traffic doesn’t convert anyways, then it may be best just to exclude it completely.

2. Look for consistency:
Are the clicks always coming in on a particular keyword or group of keywords? If so, then consider making changes to that keyword or removing it temporarily to see if the fraudulent clicks top. If it’s a high traffic or high converting term then you’ll have to be more careful with this option.

3. Day/Time Parting:
Do the clicks occur at a particular time? If so then consider displaying ads only during certain parts of the day. This tactic could also be used in conjunction with option 1 above to further target the user

4. New URL/Landing Page:
Consider getting a different URL and creating a custom landing page that then links to your main site if you think there’s someone out there targeting your specific site. This might even be a good thing since you’ll then be able to test out different landing pages (this is often the best way to quickly increase conversion rates).

All four of these tactics could be used together and may even help you optimize your account further. It may even end up being a good thing that you’re a victim of click fraud as it forces you to think creatively and test out different targeting methods you might not have tried before.

-Brian Renner