Is click fraud costing your medical spa? If you’re one of the tens of thousands of cosmetic medical practices, medical spas and laser clinics advertising online with Google Adwords, it’s likely that at least some of the money you’re paying every month is sucked out of your marketing fund by click fraud.

The practice of „click fraud“ began in the early days of the Internet’s popularity with software programs that automatically surfed Web sites to increase traffic figures. This led companies to develop policing technologies touted as antidotes to the problem. (Some marketing executives estimate that up to 20 percent of fees in certain advertising categories continue to be based on nonexistent consumers in today’s search industry.)

Don’t think it’s already happening to your skin clinic, med spa or laser clinic? Here’s a recent quote from Michael Caruso, CEO of click fraud services vendor ClickFacts in an interview:

„In particularly fraud prone verticals such as finance, class action lawsuits and medical, we see click fraud rates in the 30 to 45 perecent range. These are all categories that see high keyword pricing in the auction model. That makes them particularly tasty for click fraud artists. If you can make more money from the dark side than the light side of search, there are plenty of people who will take advantage. Plus, it’s not even technically illegal yet.“

There are two main ways that your laser clinics and med spas marketing budget is being drained by click fraud:

First, your skin clinics and medical spas competitors who see your ad are simply clicking on it, draining your marketing budget and costing you advertising dollars. Second, fraudsters set up ‚affiliate sites‘ that run skin clinics ads where they are clicked on by bots or employees. (These sites are the most damaging since you’re paying for every click without any return at all. Click fraud around skin clinics, med spas or laser clinics can be very lucrative since dermatology or plastic surgery clinics are becoming such a competitive market and the payment per click can be as high as $4-6.)

Unfortunately, to keep your budget safe you have very few tools. Google just gave advertisers $90 million to compensate for click fraud as the result of a class action suit but you can bet they’re not that Google’s not interested in your individual account. Especially since they’re making money from click fraud when your ads are clicked on.

Start by limiting your laser clinics exposure to potential fraud. If your dermatology or plastic surgery clinic is running an Adwords or Yahoo campaign, limit the maximum amount you spend in a day. You can also look for the tracks of click fraud by examining the reports you might have available to you. Multiple clicks coming from the same IP address are a sure sign of fraud.

(Malaysia has become such a haven for click fraud around medspas and IPL laser treatments.)

If you’re going to run search ads, try to protect your skin clinic, med spa or laser clinic. You can be sure that you’re the only one trying to.