What Are Unique Referral Clicks?

What are unique clicks in those pay-per-click ads you see in the net?


Okay, unique referral clicks are basically clicks that are not from the same users. If a user clicks it twice or 50 times, it is counted as one. How do they track it? By IP or by cookies, both can be possible too.



By IP
Basically, your IP is stored in the database, and whenever there is a new click, it compares that person's IP with the stored IP. If the IP is not there, it will be counted as a unique click.


By Cookie
Whenever you visit a website, you get a file called a cookie which the website uses to track your computer. For example, if you log in to a website, then you go somewhere else...when you return, you will still be logged in, because you have the cookie that the website can check. Basically it is the same here.




Wouldn't it be in Risk of Fradulent Acts?
Yes. People who pay people per unique click are at quite the risk, because people can just change IPs, go behind different proxies, and all the sort to make themselves seem like another computer.

Unless you can trace and successfully trace the IP to its original (it would be very difficult if it has gone through many network hops) ...then it is a difficult task to track fradulent activities.




What are the Workarounds?
There is no workaround for this concept of unique clicks, because the Internet is anonymous. However, sites like Nuffnang seem to use the concept where they will put up the ads on your site, and it doesn't matter who clicks it, you will still be paid. The ad will be there for an amount of time, and once it is over, you will be paid. You will obviously get very little money, but Nuffnang gets the most out of it, especially when there are many clicks.




Based on this very short article, if you get paid per click for advertising stuff, please be honest about it and not just asking for clicks. They run quite a risky business, and any person who knows something about computers can basically spend the whole day generating unique clicks. And yes, it is considered a fraud if you do this, it's called Click Fraud.



Love,
Nicholas.