Ways to Identify and Tackle Click Fraud
Identifying and tracking examples
of click fraud is the first step to eradicating the problem.
Click fraud is an enormous drain on the resources of advertisers
operating on a national and international scale, estimated to
occupy around 30% of all pay per click advertising spend. With
so much at stake, its no wonder the search engines are investing
so much time and effort into devising solutions.
One way in which Search Engines and other pay per click program providers have attempted to curb the growing
click
fraud problem is through introducing IP address repetition
algorithms. These formulae are designed to pick up on suspicious
click patterns emanating from a singular IP address, which can
help to uncover the existence of click farms and competitor-led
sabotage, as well as identifying potential fraudsters at source.
However, there is an array of problems with this method of
attempting to identify the fraudsters. Firstly, fraudsters
logging on through a dialup modem, DSL line or cable modem can
almost completely bypass this check, as with every new online
session, a new IP address is generated. Furthermore, there is an
extensive range of software available to alter IP addresses,
which again can be used for 'cheating' the algorithm. Cookie and
session tracking are other methods by which search engines can
attempt to uncover potential fraudulent activity, but again
there are ways around these for the fraudsters.
More comprehensive software is
being developed which profiles and reports on the browsing
habits of each click-through to enable companies to track and
monitor suspicious behavior, although this could be seen by many
as intrusive and ineffective as anything on a small scale is
still likely to go unnoticed, based on the vast coverage of ads
across the internet.
The problem of click fraud recently hit the headlines with a
class action raised against Google, prompting Google to offer
$90million as a potential settlement. Perhaps an acceptance of
their responsibilities, Google's offer goes some way to suggest
the extent of click fraud, and its vast costs to the internet
economy.
There are a number of self-help remedies that can be implemented
to keep an organization out of trouble. The first of these
remedies is the reliance on search engine optimization and
organic listings. If a site is well and fully optimized, it
could eventually realize a ranking that another site is willing
to pay $2.50 a click for. Similarly, with organically high
rankings there are no click through rates, therefore the costs
associated with PPC are not applicable. Although the process is
significantly more laborious and takes significantly longer to
see results, the SEO process is much cheaper in the long run,
and with an estimated 25-30% of all clicks being performed
fraudulently, an organically high listing can save money which
would otherwise be drained by click fraud for more beneficial
reinvestment.
Year on year, as the pay per click advertising market continues
to grow and expand, surely click fraud will follow suit. Unless
an effective means of preventing click fraud is developed and
successfully implemented, buyers will steadily lose confidence
in the advertising medium and turn to more effective, less
wasteful marketing methods, which would seriously hit the search
engines and could potentially threaten the online economy as a
whole. |
