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Google AdWords Shows Click-Fraud Rates  (View post)

alek [PersonRank 10]

Wednesday, July 26, 2006
17 years ago5,098 views

Related to this is Danny's analysis of Tuzhiln report on their click-fraud practices – good reading and I gotta believe that the "arms race" between the search engines and the people trying to game it in this area is just as intense as it is to rank well in the SERP's:
   http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060725-135832

alek [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Forgot to mention a semi-related story in USAToday about how TIVO is going to start tracking how many people skip television ads – is this a form of "click-fraud?!?" ;-)

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2006-07-26-tivo-ads_x.htm

Brandon Hartness [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

Phillipp, I'd like to see you do a poll to see what % of clicks Google reports as Click Fraud. Wondering what industries are hit the worst.

I'll start off ... I'm in the retail golf industry and Google reports 4.47% of my clicks are click fraud; Month-to-Date July.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I updated the post with your request Brandon.

john [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Isn't it interesting that Google picks today to start releasing what may or may not be reliable clickfraud data- exactly ONE DAY before the massive clickfraud settlement decision is to be handed down by the judge?

I'd wager Google was told the outcome wasn't going to be favorable, and they scrambled to get this feature out the door to try and impress the judge that they're doing SOMETHING.

Of course, Google could simply insert any (small) number into that screen they wish and nobody would EVER know it was false because Google (and online ads) remain the only advertising medium on earth that is not audited by any third parties.

This reeks of a publicity stunt.

Mysterius [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I thought Google's case was pretty strong, since the independent audit was favorable concerning Google's efforts. This may be more like icing on the cake.

Mysterius

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

The interesting thing is that whatever click fraud Google will show you is only the part they *uncovered*. Thus it's not even the critical part. The fraud they don't know about is the one resulting in unjustified payments on the advertiser's site...

zmarties [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Though it makes a better headline, Google is not showing you Click Fraud rates, but it is showing you invalid click rates.

You may argue about what exactly are fraudulent clicks, and what are invalid clicks, but their definitions are not the same. Now that publishers can see the rates that Google are detecting as invalid, publishers can look at their own site's logs and do their own analysis to check the figures.

john [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Mysterius, there was no independent audit.

There was simply a guy that Google and Stephen Malouf mutually agreed on. Since both sides wanted a settlement (google gets absolved of possibly billions in damages and Malouf gets 30 million dollars in cold hard cash) they both "agreed" to pick someone who wouldn't say anything that would derail the settlement. If they picked someone who would say something that could derail the settlement, then Google and Malouf would both be screwed.

I hate to break it to you- but "independent experts" in this country's court system are paid for what you WANT THEM TO SAY. Nobody hires an expert without knowing what his opinion will be beforehand. That's just the way things work- call it corruption, but it's a fact.

Do you really think Malouf has any desire to take this to trial? Look at his history on his webpage, all he does is class action cases, and he's never taken even ONE to trial. He gets settlements every time. Almost none of his settlements result in the injured party getting anything- the only person who ever gets paid is HIM.

Ryan [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

this is a PR move for google to tell the amount of clicks they stopped... this way it appears they're doing something.

whats' better? "we're doing something"
or "we saved you $300 this month"

you're right the definitions are different though... as most marketers I know assume every click that doesn't result in a contact lead or a sale as "fraud".... when it's really a case of them bitting on keywords that aren't likely to convert.

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