CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidadmob
VanDir
VanDir

Reputation: 2030

How to prevent invalid user clicks?

I implemented Admob ads in my Android application. Since I know the strict rules of admob that lead very easily to ban, I would like to know if there is a way to limit the number of clicks that a user can do. If there is a way to do that, what many max clicks number do you recommend?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 4245

Answers (3)

Rahul Gautam
Rahul Gautam

Reputation: 86

I have been living my life by earning money from Ads earning. Admob comes with some drawbacks. Admob tells developers to face sabotage themselves by doing very limited things for them.

Heres what you can do to be safe-

  1. If user clicks an ad, Do not show ad to that user for whole day.
  2. Do not show more then 3 interstitial ads to any user. Maximum you can go is 5. This is for each app usage.
  3. Show ads at natural break points.
  4. Add your Test device in Admob settings under "Test Devices".
  5. Dont try anything to bluff in any way with Admob.
  6. Show Big native ads in a way that it doesnt take much of screen space in a non-scrolling screen. In a scrolling screen, you can show big native ads peacefully.

Upvotes: 1

RandallTo
RandallTo

Reputation: 395

It is not true to assume admob will know with fairness if it is you provoking fraud clicks through proxy people or a competitor app that is playing dirty. I have a simple traffic incidents app out for a few years now. I live with a browser window open to admob through out the day and just select refresh on it several times a day. Like when taking a break. I have never in two years seen the dollar amount go down upon selecting refresh. Not once.

Now I have other apps in the app store that are word games with more serious competitors than the humble old traffic incidents app. Almost every other day on word games I now refresh the admob page and spot it actually going down in estimated value rather than up. It happens once or twice every two days. This means for the first time, admob is now reversing clicks. Both the traffic app and the word game get equivalent usage and have the ad banner at the bottom on both. In fact it is probably more likely to accidentally click an ad with the traffic app than the word game.

I believe this is evidence I have caught the attention of a competitor and they are attempting to ban my admob account. It to easy to do and now I am on someone's radar in this new arena of word games.

So at the end of the day, anyone can easily frame another admob user of click fraud. It depends upon your app's genre and the competitive climate of that genre, and second, the integrity of your competitors in that genre.

Upvotes: 3

Eric Leichtenschlag
Eric Leichtenschlag

Reputation: 8931

If you really want to limit clicks per user, you could count the number of onPresentScreen() callbacks and just stop showing ads if they reach a certain threshold.

However, I agree with the comments on the original post. It's not your job to worry about malicious users who continually click on ads. Just make sure to prevent accidental clicks by not placing your ads very close to user controls, and don't encourage clicks by rewarding users for clicking ads.

Upvotes: 2

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