The popularity of web advertising continues to increase despite the troubling phenomenon of click fraud. Estimates by US-based click auditing firm, Click Forensics, show that the online ad market in the U.S. alone is approximately $25 Billion and is still growing at a rate of 25% annually.
In a New York Times article captioned, “Pay-Per-Click Web Advertisers Combat Costly Fraud” published on May 12, 2009, Susanna Hamner reported that pay per click ads was the only form of internet advertising that grew in 2008. Referring to figures by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a group that represents online advertisers, the Times reported that cost per click advertising accounted for 57 percent of all web marketing up from 52 percent in 2007.
Why Growth in Internet Advertising
The increase in online advertising has been attributed mainly to the credit crunch and the effectiveness of internet promotions. “The recession caused more companies to shift dollars to pay-per-click advertising because it’s a more effective and measurable form of advertising,” The New York Times quoted Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics as saying. While companies seek to improve their returns on investments (ROI) through internet ads and search engine listings, fraudulent clicks continue to pose a major challenge. “Click Forensics concluded that in the fourth quarter of 2008, 17 percent of all online ad clicks were fraudulent,” the Times reported.
What is Pay Per Click Advertising?
Pay per click or PPC advertising can simply be described as a type of internet marketing in which a company pays a search engine such as Google or Yahoo every time a web surfer clicks on an ad or a link of the advertised company. Major search engines like Google host a lot of advertising for companies all over the word. Through Google Adsense for example, web publishers can have advertisements displayed on their works or websites by Google. All that is required is a simple subscription to the AdSense programme. Once the subscription is completed, website publishers of all sizes can display relevant Google sponsored links on their sites and earn from those ads any time surfers click on them.
What is Ad Click Fraud?
Click fraud refers to clicks on web ads made by people simply to make money for the sites that carry the links or to damage a competitor. According to Who is Clicking Who.Com, a click scam detection firm, click fraud is usually perpetrated by competing companies, web publishers and people who may just want to be in the act of committing fraud. “The problem of unwanted clicks is a real problem. The reality is that click fraud... is a real threat to both the advertising community and the search providers,” Who is Clicking Who.Com stated in a publication captioned, "Who Commits Click Fraud."
Search Engines Tackle Click Fraud
In the face of the increasing problems posed by fraudulent clicks, major search engines have over the years taken steps to fight the menace. In 2006, Keith Regan reported in E-Commerce Times that Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Ask.com agreed to form a working group to create click fraud prevention guidelines. On May 17, 2008, Search Engine Land, a news organisation that covers the search engine industry, reported Yahoo’s partnership with click auditing giant, Click Forensics, to help deal with the problem in other to help companies get the best from their online advertising. Google has since 2008, introduced additional tools such as the ability to blacklist fraudsters as a way of fighting click fraud.
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