Reports of click fraud with PPC campaigns, especially with Google Adwords, are on the rise, and researchers estimate the numbers are in excess of $1.6 billion as of 2008. Click fraud occurs when a competitor may be clicking on your ads to break your ad budget, or when someone installs a web robot or spider to generate fraudulent clicks on your ads.

PPC networks, including Google Adwords, confirm the existence of click fraud and are working hard to solve it. All we can do as PPC advertisers is to tweak our campaigns to reduce the risk of click fraud. Here are some tips for safeguarding your campaigns:

1. Keep an eye on your click through rates. It is easy to review your click-through rates and conversions with Google. You can even print out a daily or weekly report to monitor any bizarre activity. You might also want to reconcile your click-through rates with your actual web site traffic report. Check for IP addresses and websites that access your site regularly.

2. Impose a daily ad budget. Select a sensible budget for your campaign that you can fund for at least a few months. Imposing a budget limits your exposure to click fraud and it makes it easier for you track your Adwords expenditures.

3. Lay down a daily click limit. Adwords managers would do well to setup a daily click limit, according to Bruce C. Brown, author of the book "The Complete Guide to Google Advertising". This allows you to track the number of clicks on your ads. Once the click limit has been reached, your ad will disappear from the Adwords network.

4. Use the geographic location feature. Limiting your ad to specific markets is one of the best ways to ensure that you're not making yourself vulnerable to fraudulent activities. Why waste your Adwords budget on countries that you never do business in? Do some research to find out where your best target market is, and focus on showing ads only in those countries or regions.

5. Don't be enticed by the free offers of some PPC programs. Some PPC companies offer free services, products or downloadable software to get you to sign-up with them. Be careful in accepting these offers, more so if you have to download a software that 'oversees' your keyword campaigns. Some hosting companies do offer Adwords 'credit' to sign up with them. These are generally safe as long as you are dealing directly with Google Adwords.

If you think you've been a victim of click fraud, you will need to report the case directly to Google as soon as possible. Google has its own fraud protection team that can help to investigate a case and get your Adwords campaign back on track.

Marketing with Google Adwords is an effective technique that most websites can use to attract more sales.Creating quality Google Ads is one of the best skills to have when using Adwords - and there are many quality training guides available online.