How Click Fraud Affects The Search EnginesClick fraud has become a massive problem with online advertising, and is getting more and more sophisticated with each passing day. Advertisers are also becoming increasingly well educated about the problem - most advertisers now understand the basics of click fraud, and understandably want the advertising networks to do something about it. The biggest online networks by far are the search engines, and pressure is mounting on them to take more action. The Incentive To Search Engines Search engines as advertizing networks actually make a profit from each case of click fraud, so they have an incentive to allow it wherever they can get away with it. Of course, the search engines are also advert publishers (on the search engine results pages), and this duality means that almost all of the information needed to fight click fraud is accessible only to the companies that profit from it. Unsurprisingly, advertisers have made their feelings clear on this subject, and the search engines are now being pressured to fight click fraud more than ever. The Trust Issue Large networks need to keep the trust of their advertisers, and it is this factor which has motivated the search engines to take action against click fraud. The search engines need to convince advertisers that they are doing everything they can to stop click fraud, or they will lose faith in the adverts, and the search engines will lose their revenue source. Google has recently released a website to deal solely with the issue of click fraud, so that it can be seen to be making changes. However, it seems likely that advertisers will ignore these actions, and continue to pressurize the search engines. The reason is simple - they do not trust search engines to police an area they profit from. Third Party Ad Tracking The search engines have now started to work with third party ad tracking companies, specifically enabled for click fraud protection, releasing information about clicking and traffic behavior. These third party ad trackers have nothing to gain from click fraud being perpetrated, and are therefore seen as a much more acceptable solution by the advertising community as a whole. It is much better to have an independent party policing the system. The ad trackers use complicated and continually evolving algorithms to determine the validity of each click. If a click or number of clicks is likely to be fraudulent, they will be flagged by the ad tracking software, and action can be started to refund the money from the search engines. The advertising industry has needed to go in a different direction for a while, and the ad trackers are a real opportunity to do that. It is impossible to eradicate click fraud entirely, but ad trackers can protect against it, and that will help the industry as a whole. If you're thinking of using PPC, it is absolutely essential that you use the best ad tracking software that you can find. Ignoring this problem is a false economy - it will cost you money in the long run. Ever wonder how click fraud affects different roles in the advertising industry. or the competition. |
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| AdWatcher | 9.3 |
| HitsLink | 6.4 |
| HyperTracker | 6.4 |
| WhosClickingWho | 6.4 |
| DynaTracker | 6.2 |
| ConversionRuler | 6.3 |
| AdTrackz | 5.9 |
| AdMinder | 5.1 |
| ROIWiz | 5 |
| ClickAlyzer | 1.6 |
| ProAnalyzer | 0 |
