Click Fraud Up Year-Over-Year
ADOTAS – Click fraud was down slightly this quarter compared to last quarter, Click Forensics reports. In its third annual Click Fraud Index, the company measured pay-per-click fraud figures gathered from the Click Fraud Network, comprised of more than 4,000 interactive advertisers and agencies.
The average click fraud rate was 16.3%, down a tad from 16.6% in the last quarter of 2007 – but up significantly from 14.8% in the first quarter of last year.
Search engine content networks – like Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network – delivered the worst numbers, with click fraud rates of 27.8%. The numbers reflect a slight decrease from the fourth quarter of 2007, which saw rates of 28.3%, but fraud spiked year-over-year, from 21.9% in the first quarter of 2007.
The greatest percentage of fraudulent clicks came from outside North America: the highest rates came from Monaco (3.1%), Ghana (3.1%) and New Caledonia (2.4%).
Yahoo and Google have both shelled out millions on click-fraud related suits.
Yahoo is currently being sued by online retailer Bigreds.com for $1 million; the lawsuit alleges that Yahoo knowingly overcharged the company for fraudulent clicks Yahoo overlooked. And Google is involved in a class-action lawsuit filed by Kabateck Brown Kellner in which the search titan is accused of “deceiving its customers into paying for ads they don’t want.”
Reader Comments.
Organic SEO is the most effective means of curbing click fraud. Outsource with a proven organic search engine optimization firm.
At a fraud rate of 16-17%, it’s a wonder that more advertisers don’t scream “bloody-murder” at Yahoo and Goggle. My Denver real estate and mortgage business used to spend $3,000 to $4,000 a month on PPC from 2004 to March of 2007. Now we spend $0, putting our money and efforts into organic keyword placement - a far cheaper alternative!
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