Click Fraud

Many web marketers have complained for years that the pay per click (PPC) search engines (including Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing - formerly Overture.com and before that GoTo.com, and others) tolerate fraudulent clicks because they get paid for each click.

There are also a large number of small search PPC engines. These include Kanoodle, MIVA (formerly FindWhat), LookSmart and many others. There have been rumors for years that these search engines artificially inflate their PPC charges with fraudulent click throughs.

Still another problem is Google AdSense, which is Google's program that allows websites to include AdWords (Google's PPC listings) to be on their websites. The website owners receive a small percentage of the revenue from AdWords clicks through on their websites. There have been many documented cases of AdSense participants clicking on listings to increase their revenue from Google. Google is pretty good about catching major abusers of this type of click fraud, but it still continues.

And then there is the problem with competitors. Sometimes competitors will click on your PPC listing to see who you are and what you are promoting. The fact that the click costs you money is not part of the consideration. Some really nasty competitors will even click on your listing multiple times to run up your costs so you reduce your bids or run out of money.

Historically, when we have seen client PPC costs increase and have not seen a reason why that should have happened, we will complain to the PPC search engines. Occasionally, they will reimburse us, but usually, the result of their investigation is that they could find nothing wrong.

Now, the lawsuit settlements - once approved - may allow PPC advertisers to get some portion of their money back. At least they can advertise a little at a reduced rate.

Dan Goldstein
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