Can Click Fraud Create Opportunity? Exploring the Upside of Google’s Latest Settlement
If You Opt Out of the Settlement
Google normally gives advertisers 60 days in which to claim credit for fraudulent clicks.
It appears that, if you opt out of the settlement, you won’t get any of the current proposed settlement from Google, but you will have the opportunity to make more substantial claims against past fraud, whether you litigate on your own or choose to join a larger mass-action suit.
In either case, you should substantiate any past fraud. Most click fraud auditing services attempt to identify fraud going forward from the date of install. These services include Clicklab (www.clicklab.com) and Alchemist Media (www.alchemistmedia.com) and many others. In order to look backwards in time, ClickTracks Web Analytics (www.clicktracks.com) Click Fraud report makes use of log files and PPC history reports to paint a picture of prior activity. The tool uses statistical analysis to spot anomalies and identify poorly performing ads and ads that might be a victim of fraud.
What You Might Find
When running historical analysis with a tool like ClickTracks, statistical outliers (ads that are worse than average in some way) will be singled out for a number of reasons. For example, some ads may have a high number of visitors with no referrer; others may show visitors from countries outside of the ad’s geographical target; and still others may exhibit extraordinarily low conversion rates or extremely low times on site. Ads that show this behavior have a good chance of some click fraud. Alternatively, poor performance may be the result of poorly targeted ads, and not click fraud. In either case, the marketer needs to adjust the ad for better performance.
The Upside
Whether or not you determine there is click fraud, and decide to claim a refund, this level of scrutiny of your campaign is still very valuable. More often than not, the savings from adjusting poorly performing ads far outweighs the value of any refund. And, as pay-per-click spending continues to rise, getting the most bang for your campaign buck is a wise move.
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Caveat Emptor - Let the Buyer Beware. Our CreditFederal.com network has on several occasions used Google’s AdWords/AdSense platform. Apparently; however, we are amongst the few who realize that a percentage of clicks will be fraudulent. It is amazing that so-called ‘Search Marketing Pros’ bid high-dollar values on keywords and are then astonished by the click-fraud. It’s just common sense… the higher you bid on keywords, the more likely you will be a victim of click-fraud and at greater loss. We absolutely do not condone click-fraud, but advertisers should have more common sense and expect a degree of fraudulent activity, particulary when paying $20 a click! One of the ways to deter or limit click-fraud loss is to deny ad delivery to ‘content matching’ web sites, which are affiliates of Google and the bulk of fraudulent activity. By denying ‘content matching’ sites, advertisers can get traffic directly via Google’s search results. If the product or service being advertised is not directed towards affiliates, we also suggest using Google’s ‘Negative’ keywords, and list words such as ‘affiliate’, ‘commission’, ‘revenue’, etc, so the ad will now show up if an affiliate is seeking; for example, a ‘credit card affiliate program’.
Nice article that covers the topic well. I believe the issue of click fraud is a multidimensional problem that requires a multidimensional solution. One that encompasses open analytics, open relationships, education and community action. We have started an anti-click fraud community over at www.clicksentinel.com. We offer (among other things) free click fraud tracking software to community members. All the best.
Interesting thoughts. Despite the fact that I suspect I have been a victim of click fraud, I have not yet done enough digging to validate my suspicions. And even if I do, will the time and effort be worth any credit I will recieve? I guess the best “next step” would be to start monitoring the now and moving forward. Here is a pretty good list of companies offering click fraud monitoring services http://www.advertisingopinions.com/f/43/. Though there are very few reivews.
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