Search engine click fraud soars to 30 per cent
8 August 2005
As much as 29.5 per cent of all paid search traffic may be fraudulent, a new survey suggests.
An experiment published in The Marketing Experiments Journal found that when companies use more sophisticated systems and software, only search engines like Google and Yahoo detect a small percentage of the fraud!
The experiment was conducted in conjunction with Los Angeles-based Clicks2Customers.com. Researchers focused on three pay-per-click (PPC ) campaigns running during a 10-day period in 2005 and determined duplicate clicks by comparing IP addresses, language, browser settings, referring URL, time of click, operating system, browser plug-ins and country of origin.
Flint McGlaughlin, director of MEC labs, said: "Our random sample of PPC campaigns uncovered as much as 29.5 per cent PPC fraud and showed that Google was able to account for and credit only a tiny portion of those fraudulent charges. Whether it is click fraud or the lesser known impression fraud, these fraudulent clicks can cause a lot of damage to advertisers because it drains their budgets. Companies should be aware of how big of a problem it really is and be equipped to more aptly detect it."
The click fraud research brief is now on the MarketingExperiments.com website and it outlines what click fraud is, how significant of a problem it is and how it can successfully be avoided.
"From our research, we found that it is unlikely an individual committing click fraud by clicking an ad over and over will go undetected by Google, Mr McGlaughlin explained. "But our research also shows that when more sophisticated systems and software are used, only a small percentage of the fraud is detected, with fraud increasing proportionate to the bid price."
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