Summary
Click fraud is a concern among internet advertisers, and with good reason. Since advertisers are usually charged by how often they get traffic from search engine ads, competitors can benefit by clicking on the number one site and driving its advertising price tag up too high to manage. Also, some companies will use hitbots to generate false traffic to their site, get revenge on a competitor or even blackmail a company. Search engines such as Google are providing refunds to click fraud victims, but are not advising their customers on how to combat the problem. Even though many search engines have agreements with their advertisers, releasing them from liability, they may end up liable due to negligence if their trend of inaction continues.
Original source:
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3503376
Details
A longer version of this story for Search Engine Watch members describes the legal options available to advertisers who suspect that they've been the victim of click fraud, and the steps required to gather evidence and supporting information to take action against it.
"Click fraud has gained a lot of notoriety in the last six months, certainly in the popular press," said Jeffrey Rohrs, President of Optiem LLC.
Some of the motivations of click fraud include financial gain, competitive advantage, revenge and blackmail.
Jessie Stricchiola, founder of Alchemist Media, began by describing the financial gain click fraud "flavor."
"Google's AdSense program, generally speaking, allows the owner/webmaster of any web site---large, small, legitimate, or fluff---to become an AdSense partner," said Stricchiola.
"Because approval and management of the AdSense program is primarily algorithmic and not human-edited as in Overture," she further explained, "there has been much room for abuse---basically webmasters setting up shop with web sites purely to host content for the delivery of AdWords.
These webmasters create their own artificially-generated traffic by automated means---namely hitbots."
Therefore, in this instance of financial gain, opportunities exist to use the Google AdSense program to generate direct revenue for the fraudster.
One way to get the top bidder out of the hot spot is to stop using their keywords (on your ads) and run up your competitor's bill.
There are two primary methods of generating invalid, fraudulent clicks: manual clicking (by humans) and automated clicking (by software).
"Additionally, the two primary initiators of
click fraud are advertising competitors and CPC engine affiliates/traffic partners," Stricchiola explained.
"Overture has historically been more willing to disclose traffic data to the advertiser during the refund negotiation process, which has helped resolve some click
fraud issues more quickly," said Stricchiola.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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Thursday, June 02, 2005
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