This article asks the question does Google have enough data to combat the increasing invalid click problem?
The thinking behind this post is based on the premise that Google only has data up to the point of the click, once the user is past the ad on Google or one of their content partners and has reached your landing page, they do not have valuable post paid click data.
The data Google does have access to include: source addresses, user agent details, JavaScript enabled, cookies enabled and lots more, all of which help them to filter out invalid clicks, but they do not have valuable data from after the click. This data includes time on site, depth of visit, bounce rate and of course most crucially if a click converted or not. This is the most important metric to measure click quality and validity.
Another area in which Google lacks data is whether or not the click actually reaches your site. A click abandoned before it reaches your site is charged for even though you have not received any benefit from the visit.
Google’s filters are all based upon data collected before the user reaches your landing page, any click fraud attack which can emulate a real user’s activity and fool the filters will hit your landing pages at a charge. Google need this valuable post click data to evaluate user patterns and behaviour to create filters against these types of attacks.
It is possible that Google can collect data from after the click via their Google Analytics program. If the metrics collected were fed directly back into the Adwords system, there could be a reconciliation of clicks to actions/ user trends and their invalid clicks filters could be greatly enhanced, but of course not everyone wants to use Google Analytics, so there is still a gap in their data.
The click fraud network does have this post paid click data. Using your subscription, you can evaluate conversion data, reconcile clicks which have landed to those which you were charged for and provide the data to plug the gaps in the Google data.
In conclusion to the original question of does Google have enough data to combat invalid clicks, it has enough to trend invalid clicks at the front end, but it does not have enough to combat invalid clicks if they are able to bypass their filters and hit an advertiser’s site. This is why data from solutions such as the Click Fraud Network are so valuable when evaluating low quality and fraudulent clicks.
Neil Matthews is an independent click quality consultant, details of his work can be seen at ClickQualityConsultant.com