Click Fraud, Bad But Maybe Less So
With the judge agreeing to Google’s proposed settlement, click fraud is back in the news again. (It left for a while?) In essence, Google has agreed to allot up to $90 million in credits for advertisers who apply, claiming unreimbursed “invalid clicks”.
(Google uses the term “invalid clicks” rather than “fraudulent clicks” on the grounds that automatically detecting a click for which an advertiser should not be charged is one thing, while “it’s practically impossible to ‘prove’ that an impression or click was caused by deliberate deception.” I think they overstate the case, but they have a point.)
To date, one of the difficulties surrounding the whole subject is the fact that Google, Yahoo!, and others won’t release figures showing the real size of the problem. (I can’t say I entirely blame them here, either. But that’s a distraction I’ll go into another day.)
Thanks to at least one vendor, ClickFraudIndex, that may be less an issue in the future. According to the company, which offers a free service currently used by 400 advertisers, fraudulent clicks may be smaller than previously reported.
Most reports are admittedly anectdotal (or at least not statistically rigorous), but they hover in the 20-35% range. ClickFraudIndex’s data suggests the figure may be far lower, in the low teens. Without a careful review of how they’re making the measurements it’s impossible to say who is right. And, in any case, they’re only one company. But their numbers look plausible.
Even 13.7% is still pretty troubling, of course. No advertiser wants their income artificially reduced by such a large amount. Even one percent would qualify as serious money in some circumstances, but one might be willing to consider that as the cost of doing business.
Still, it’s good news that at least one company is offering some hard data. And, since the service is free, many might find it helpful to investigate the worth of using it.
It also gives credence to Google’s claims that the problem is smaller than many others have claimed. There is the potential for conflict of interest in Google’s reports, of course. But the thought of that behemoth deliberately deceiving their customers would be troubling, if true. I stand by “innocent until proved guilty” as a valid principle, but reasonable people can disagree in this case.
In the upcoming issue of Affiliate Classroom magazine we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the subject of click fraud. So, stay tuned for more on a subject that affects everyone’s pocket book.