Search Engine Rep and Click Fraud
April 18, 2005
Pay Per Click Advertising Fraud - The Inside Story from Joe Holcomb, senior vice president of marketing at the Blowfish search engine, comments on his personal blog about click fraud. His goal?
My only concern is that someone from inside the pay per click industry finally address the issue of click fraud, head on, without skirting the truth.
Holcomb then goes through a litany of complaints and concerns in his article. Some highlights below:
Holcomb starts off with history, covering click fraud as having its origins with PPC-based banners on adult sites and says that despite trying, the adult industry couldn't stop fraud and the search industry isn't having much luck either.
He breaks click fraud into two types: competitor and automated. Competitor click fraud is your competitor trying to cost you money -- or anyone who may have a beef and wants to hurt your budget.
Automated click fraud is what he sees as the real concern -- something designed to click on PPC ads en masse. While he doesn't explain why, the intent I'm presuming is to help an affiliate make money by creating fake clicks that earn cash.
Holcomb says that the search engines are pushing the competitor side of click fraud to downplay the seriousness of the automated side:
That is what the search engines are telling the public because it is what they want you to believe. It’s PR spin folks. It masks the real problem of what is going on right now.
Read more here...
And more at Search Engine Watch
My only concern is that someone from inside the pay per click industry finally address the issue of click fraud, head on, without skirting the truth.
Holcomb then goes through a litany of complaints and concerns in his article. Some highlights below:
Holcomb starts off with history, covering click fraud as having its origins with PPC-based banners on adult sites and says that despite trying, the adult industry couldn't stop fraud and the search industry isn't having much luck either.
He breaks click fraud into two types: competitor and automated. Competitor click fraud is your competitor trying to cost you money -- or anyone who may have a beef and wants to hurt your budget.
Automated click fraud is what he sees as the real concern -- something designed to click on PPC ads en masse. While he doesn't explain why, the intent I'm presuming is to help an affiliate make money by creating fake clicks that earn cash.
Holcomb says that the search engines are pushing the competitor side of click fraud to downplay the seriousness of the automated side:
That is what the search engines are telling the public because it is what they want you to believe. It’s PR spin folks. It masks the real problem of what is going on right now.
Read more here...
And more at Search Engine Watch
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