Editing Pay-per-click (section)

==Click fraud==
{{see main|Click fraud}}
A common concern amongst advertisers is the practice known as "click fraud". This takes two forms:

#Publishers who illegitimately click on or fraudulently arrange for clicks to be generated on adverts, in order to increase their own publisher revenues. In 2018, the FBI, in partnership with Google and other major industry ad platforms, cracked down on an illegal ad fraud scheme known as "3ve", which was estimated to have defrauded advertisers several millions of dollars in combined ad costs. The case highlighted the extent of ad fraud; as of 2018, ad fraud annual revenue was on track to be worth more than the illicit drug trade, with over $19 billion estimated to have been stolen by click fraudsters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=England |first=Rachel |date=2018-11-28 |title=FBI and Google dismantle multi-million dollar ad fraud scheme |url=https://www.engadget.com/2018-11-28-fbi-and-google-dismantle-multi-million-dollar-ad-fraud-scheme.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJSFvDn1mxvUfQ7-aXxFiwjpd2dCytG7i9QOIMvL_uCMUyeafyHuf7mXIco_XEU5JXT42iUKExW2O7BVhNQagojU2RabOdc9812W5zC54-H_xlZyAwR868f6VG8PkJFWOv7rAAaHC48sUABUudpSW1xHwHe9AJTfQGC_BuVN435w}}</ref>
#Advertisers who attempt to derail competitors' adverts, by clicking on them in an effort to raise their competitors' costs in order to give themselves an unfair advantage in the advertising space. The Google Ads platforms claim to be able to identify such clicks, and label such traffic as "invalid clicks".<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Invalid Traffic |url=https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2549113?sjid=18246340812809462188-EU}}</ref>