Pay-Per-Click Fraud Exposed--Part II

Home
>
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
>
Pay-Per-Click Fraud Exposed--Part II

Pay-Per-Click Fraud Exposed--Part II

According to Andy Jones, a member of the Best Practices Search Engine Forums, fraudulent clicks are just another aspect of the business. "Any of us that use AdWords or any other PPC has to pay for a certain percentage of fraudulent clicks," he said in a forum discussion. "I factor it in as a cost of doing business."

Can you believe that? In other words, he's saying, I know the pay-per-click companies are stealing my money, but it's okay, because I've considered that fact ahead of time.

Unfortunately, that mentality is pervasive among pay-per-click advertisers. No wonder the pay-per-click companies aren't making stopping pay-per-click fraud a top priority. Who can blame them? If their advertisers don't care, why should they? Heck, with all of the money the pay-per-click companies are making, it's actually more cost effective to issue an occasional refund, than to develop technology to eliminate click fraud.

And if you read between the lines of the following statement, Google even admitted as much:

In a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google acknowledged, "We are exposed to the risk of fraudulent clicks on our ads. We have regularly paid refunds related to fraudulent clicks and expect to do so in the future. If we are unable to stop this fraudulent activity, these refunds may increase. If we find new evidence of past fraudulent clicks, we may have to issue refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid to our Google Network members."

That statement doesn't exactly instill any confidence, now does it?

And if Overture is asked about click fraud, they'll just issue their standard company line:

"Our Click Protection System is sophisticated software that evaluates each of our advertisers' clicks. This software makes decisions as to the validity of any click. Our Click Protection System uses search and click data to make both rules-based inferences and pattern recognition-based inferences about which clicks are valid clicks. We have two patents pending related to this technology, so we cannot currently disclose too many details about the methods we use."

Do you honestly think newspaper, magazine, radio or tv advertisers would just sit back and let those media get away with blatantly stealing their money? You know they wouldn't.

Then why do pay-per-click advertisers allow it? I don't know the exact answer to that question, but I have my theories: First of all, you're talking about a whole different level of sophistication with pay-per-click advertisers, compared to media advertisers. Many pay-per-click advertisers don't even know how to access or even analyze their log files, so they have no idea how much money is actually being stolen from them.

In addition, some pay-per-click advertisers are making more money than they've ever made before. And rather than upset the apple cart, they'd rather keep quiet and allow the vicious cycle of click fraud to continue, so that they can keep cashing those big checks.

I also suspect many advertisers are afraid that if they complain too loudly, they may be penalized in the search engines, in regard to their free listings.

If my theories are accurate, silence is one heck of a trade off, if you ask me. Why? Because according to a report on MediaPost, an online study done by Clicklab revealed that fraudulent clicks can account for more than 50 percent of your total clicks.

So, if the goal of pay-per-click search engines is to bring lucrative, targeted traffic to your web site, what are the pay-per-click search engines doing about the click fraud epidemic, to prevent abuse that needlessly drive up your costs and reduce your ROI?

Unfortunately, since so many pay-per-click advertisers are willing to play the role of "lambs going to slaughter," the pay-per-click companies really don't have to do anything.

In the meantime, your ROI is going to continue to plummet, and the pay-per-click companies are going to continue to milk those cash cows (AKA) pay-per-click advertisers, for all they're worth!

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net.

Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net

In The News:

PPC Advertising Technique Is Based on Right Use of Keywords and Key Phrases
SBWire (press release)
Only professionals who are skilled in SEO and PPC advertising techniques have the expertise to find the most appropriate keywords for your website. ...

Pay-Per-Click Advertising: Six Metrics that Drive Performance
Practical Ecommerce
Editor's Note: We welcome Scott Smigler as our new pay-per-click advertising contributor. Smigler is a pay-per-click expert, and he's the president of ...

Live Search Marketing Now Webcast focuses on Managing PPC Campaigns in the UK ...
PR Web (press release)
International search marketing expert Andy Atkins-Kruger will deliver live presentation about PPC advertising for international search marketers, Sept. ...

and more »

topseos.com Names the Best Top 50 Pay Per Click Management Companies in the US ...
Trading Markets (press release)
and "By what % have you increased your PPC budget and over what time?" Pay Per Click Advertising is one of the rapidly growing forms of online advertising. ...

PowerHomeBiz.com (press release)
Advertising: KSP Reports Bing Increases Growth, Ad Impressions and Clicks
PowerHomeBiz.com (press release)
Keyword Search Pros also noted that the over-all year spending in PPC advertising has increased by almost 33% in the second quarter, and has risen to almost ...

and more »

StuckOn
Bruce Clay, Inc. Named an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company Again for 2010
PR Newswire (press release)
Bruce Clay, Inc. provides search engine optimization (SEO) services, PPC advertising management, SEO training, the award-winning SEOToolSet® as well as many ...
SEO Company India Offer- Avail 20% Discount on All SEO Packages Before 5 ...SBWire (press release)

all 24 news articles »

Live-PR.com (press release)
When a Website Just Isn't Enough
Manufacturing & Technology eJournal (press release)
Search engine marketing is also known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising or Paid Search advertising. Paid search results typically show up at the top, ...
What is the Future of Search Engine Optimization?PowerHomeBiz.com (press release)
Want to Improve Your Website Rankings on the Major Search Engines, Totally ...Press Media Wire
SEO for Global Websites: Targeting the Right Search Engine for Your MarketSearch Engine Watch
Impact Media (blog) -lonad News -Helium
all 99 news articles »

Google Pay Per Click Advertising For Law Firms
CaymanMama.com (press release)
It is important to make ever click count so hiring an company like Lawyer SEO Marketing with law firm PPC experience to setup and manage your law firm's ...
JB Creative Marketing Scores Again with its PPC Marketing Kent SolutionsPR Web (press release)

all 3 news articles »

Search Engine Marketing Mid-Year Check-in
MediaPost Publications
... on search engine marketing these days, despite complaints by some advertisers that keyword prices for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising continue to rise. ...

and more »

SEO 5 Consulting Introducing New SEO Consulting Services In California
The Open Press (press release)
Services offered by SEO 5 include blogging, email marketing, link building services, PPC Advertising and more. SEO 5 Consulting has made its goal to help ...

Google News

Pay-Per-Click Fraud Exposed--Part II

Pay-Per-Click Advertising Pay-Per-Click Advertising