Google Strikes Back Against Click Fraud Claims
August 9, 2006
I have substantial experience with advertising tracking technologies including click fraud analysis. While working for Direct Response Technologies, I spent a year as the lead developer on their Direct Track product. We spent a substantial amount of time tracking and analyzing claims of click fraud, but in most cases our system identified fraudulent clicks properly, yet we still spent a fair amount of time double and triple checking the numbers with our many clients.
Google has it infinitely worse.
For months we’ve been hearing about problems with click fraud and many crazy numbers in relation to Google Adwords. As a Google AdSense publisher these complaints have scared me. Over the last six months my traffic has continued to increase, yet my ECPM and CTR numbers have declined drastically. I could only assume Google was bending to their paying Adwords customers and eliminating valid clicks while fear and anxiety on the advertisers’ part was reducing overall per click payouts. This trend has been fairly consistent amongst many of my friends, some have recently been seeing their ECPM dip below the $1.00 mark.
However, careful analysis from Google has been released that defies many of the claims of click fraud. In a 17 page white paper released on August 8th, Google shows clearly how these fraud numbers are misrepresented, trumped up, and just plain wrong. Many of the methodologies click fraud companies are using do not properly track numbers, nor verify their claims against what Google actually tracked. In one example given, AdWatcher claimed there were approximately 12,000 fraudulent clicks in a time period when Google only tracked 6800 and had already identified and eliminated 800 as fraud.
Hopefully this detailed report will get adequate press coverage and publishers can start seeing Google earnings start to increase to respectable levels again. It is my strong opinion that if you are not getting between $2 and $3 ECPM for real content, you are being screwed. It would be nice to feel good about my Google ads again and not be shopping around at Yahoo, Commission Junction, and Blog Ads.
Tags: adsense, advertiser, advertising, adwords, affiliate, blog ads, blogads, cj, click fraud, commission junction, cpm, ctr, direct response technologies, direct track, directtrack, ecpm, fraud, google, google adsense, google adwords, internet advertising, internet marketing, performance, publisher
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THIS COMPANY NEEDS TO BE REMOVED FROM THE INTERNET. I HAVE TRIED TO CONTACT THEM VIA WEBSITE, PHONE, EMAIL, ETC. NOW THEIR WEBSITE IS SCREWED UP. THEY TOOK MY MONEY AND DID NOT PROVIDE ME WITH THE PRODUCT. HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MY ORDER FOR 6 WEEKS. TOLD ME IT WAS LOST AND REMAILED, HUH! DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM. JULY 2008
SONDRA BROWNING
THIS COMPANY NEEDS TO BE REMOVED FROM THE INTERNET. I HAVE TRIED TO CONTACT THEM VIA WEBSITE, PHONE, EMAIL, ETC. NOW THEIR WEBSITE IS SCREWED UP. THEY TOOK MY MONEY AND DID NOT PROVIDE ME WITH THE PRODUCT. HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MY ORDER FOR 6 WEEKS. TOLD ME IT WAS LOST AND REMAILED, HUH! DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM. JULY 2008
SONDRA BROWNING