Click Fraud Network

The Click Fraud Network is a community of online advertisers, agencies and search providers working together to discuss ideas, share best practices, and work closely to develop industry standards and solutions to the click fraud problem. Click Fraud Network members receive free basic access to Click Forensics click fraud reporting system which provides campaign reports detailing click fraud threat level by keyword and search provider. Additionally, the Click Fraud Network publishes aggregate data using the Click Fraud Index. This information helps members identify trends and communicate with each other about this growing issue. Join today and help us work together to solve the click fraud problem.

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Click Fraud Network » Click Fraud Network » Click Fraud 101 » Click fraud - can someone please count the ways?

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The Click Fraud Network is a community of online advertisers, agencies and search providers working together to develop an industry solution to the click fraud problem. Network members that provide data to the network receive free access to online campaign and risk assessment reports.

Click fraud - can someone please count the ways?

02-15-2008, 9:55 AM

gregaspen
Joined on 02-15-2008
Posts 1

Click fraud - can someone please count the ways?

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I've been in and around online advertising since 1994 in some form or another. I spent the last few years in the private sector and I was surprised to hear that click fraud was such a big issue now that I've come out from under a rock. To be perfectly honest, when I saw the link to the ClickFraudNetwork, I only clicked because in my mind I said, "Click Fraud, what the..." After reading through most of this website, I think I get the basics but I'm still lost on the details. How do fraudulent clicks happen? And worse, what is a malicious click and why would anyone do that? Am I committing malicious click fraud when I go to Amazon with no intention to buy and leave their home page with an evil laugh? I think the bigger and more important question here is, if the term "click fraud" is lost on me, how many others like me are there out there in the private sector (meaning client-side) who do all their own PPC campaigns, have a good relationship with Yahoo and Google and the rest, and assume they are the good guys that can be trusted... and are.

If I could post a criticism about this website it would be that it totally assumes that the visitor knows what click fraud is and why they should care. I joined the network mostly out of curiosity to compare their software with Omniture. I have noticed discrepancies between Google's stats and Omnitures over the years but I chalked it up to differences in reporting algorithms. To be honest, I see marked differences in Omniture's stats and our own internal sales data off our site... but again, I was never too alarmed about it. I know the majority of advertisers out there are like me.. trusting and perhaps ignorant. The reality for me over the years when faced with the possibility of paying for a few erroneous clicks (like double clicks) has never troubled me too much since I figured that it was only costing me an odd $1.00 per click. What now has me a little concerned is just how often am I paying an extra dollar. So please tell us all the ways click fraud can (and does it really) happen.