Click fraud is an unfortunate byproduct of the pay per click advertising business. Many people with an online business spend large amounts of money on pay per click advertising only to discover that many of the people clicking on their ads weren't really interested in their products or services.
Bogus "visitors" to a pay per click ad represent click fraud. This is a serious scam that threatens the viability of the pay per click advertising business which has become enormously profitable for all of the major search engine operators, namely Google, Yahoo/Overture, and MSN.
Click fraud has different forms, but the end result is generally the same. Advertisers are billed for fruitless traffic generated by someone who repeatedly clicks on an advertiser's ad without any intention of ever buying anything.
The search engine advertising market is currently about $3.8 billion per year and estimates vary widely on how much click fraud is actually going on. Clearly, the search engine operators would like to downplay the extent of this problem. Some industry experts claim that a little click fraud exists but that it is overblown by advertiser paranoia, while others estimate that ten to twenty percent of all clicks are false (made by someone with no legitimate interest in the ad itself).
Virtually everyone involved with pay per click advertising sees click fraud and knows it's there, but no one is quite sure what to do about it.
Both Google and Yahoo/Overture acknowledge that the click fraud problem exists, but claim improved internal controls will prevent the problem from escalating. Their stated position seems to be that they are concerned about click fraud, but that it is not a material issue so far. Both of them are touting their increasing internal actions aimed at detecting and combating click fraud.
Such reassurances from search engine companies certainly aren't surprising, given how much they stand to lose if advertisers cut back on advertising spending. The stakes are huge and the search engine companies are actively involved in public relations campaigns. Industry research firm eMarketer expects $7.4 billion to be spent on search engine advertising by 2008, up from only $108.5 million back in 2000.
The incentives for click fraud have increased along with the money devoted to search engine advertising. Advertising on search engines has turned into a fast-spreading craze as more and more marketers have realized substantially higher returns on search engine ads than on more traditional marketing campaigns conducted through print media.
Most pay per click advertisers set a spending limit and once the spending limit is reached, the ads cease to appear in the search results. Click fraud is a very unethical competitive tactic where someone repeatedly clicks on a competitor's ad until the spending limit is reached and the ad then disappears from the search results. It seems that it's only a matter of time before some advertisers become so exasperated with click fraud that they file a class-action lawsuit against a major search engine.
The success of search engine advertising has substantially raised prices that advertisers pay for top spots. Unfortunately, these higher prices have turned click fraud into a dark little industry of its own. Some crooks have hired cheap overseas contractors to just sit in front of computers and constantly click on targeted ads and others are developing sophisticated software to help automate and conceal click fraud.
If you use pay per click advertising it would be wise to carefully monitor your traffic to determine if you are the victim of click fraud. In any event, it's probably safe to say that pay per click advertisers are going to have to accept a certain level of click fraud as just a cost of doing business.
Kirk Bannerman operates his own successful home based business and also coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. For more information visit his website at legitimate home based business
executive chauffeured services Bradford .. Madison to Airport carThe cycle of affiliate programs and money making ventures goes... Read More
I had been using Google's Adsense program to generate some... Read More
Web marketing has taken on many different shapes during the... Read More
Google AdSense is easy to install on a web page... Read More
Yahoo announced that their Publisher Network, formerly available in the... Read More
Google's AdSense program is one of the best, if not... Read More
Wouldn't it be great if every keyword in Google's entire... Read More
There is no question that you can make some good... Read More
You may already have heard of this method to get... Read More
What are Website Conversion Strategies?Website conversion strategies are marketing and... Read More
Here's a feisty trick where you can profit from Adsense... Read More
Adwords PPC Management Tip No. 1Setting up an accountIf you... Read More
Once you venture into the world of Pay Per Click... Read More
Some folks may think that self-publishing began with the invention... Read More
Watch out for a shift in the pay-per-click (PPC) industry,... Read More
Dinner With Mark JoynerAbout 3 Years ago in Los Angeles... Read More
PPC advertising has many great benefits. First of all, you... Read More
When Google introduced their new Adsense revenue sharing program, people... Read More
Google is probably one of the single most important revolutions... Read More
As an AdSense sponsoring web site, your goal is to... Read More
In the mid 1990's websites used to earn income by... Read More
Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be a dream come... Read More
Forbes magazine has reported that pay per click ad sales... Read More
Never mind the irritating, but effective, pop-up window. There is... Read More
I've been working with Google's Adsense program for a while... Read More
O'Hare Chicago prom limo ..Here are three Adsense Tips, together with the required HTML... Read More
When Google introduced their new Adsense revenue sharing program, people... Read More
Google Adwords is a great tool! Careful use can lead... Read More
By using this tutorial you will learn how to increase... Read More
One of the best kept secrets in today's affiliate marketing... Read More
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a good supplement to natural search... Read More
Pay per click or search engine optimization, which one should... Read More
Starting an ultimately effective pay-per-click campaign is difficult. Although the... Read More
Then most difficult aspect of marketing a new product or... Read More
There is no doubting the success of Google's Adsense program.... Read More
MSN PPC Advertising Long-Awaited Debut Announced You probably already know... Read More
"Todd" was keen to compete in one of the most... Read More
Lots of people say to make your ads blend in.... Read More
Have you received your check from Google? If you own... Read More
What was once such a good thing is now a... Read More
It seems to be a phenomenon. You try Google AdWords... Read More
Imagine if you could advertise ONLY to people who have... Read More
In private consultations with some Search Engine Optimizers I am... Read More
An analysis of web's most popular 20,000 keywords by TopPayingKeywords.com,... Read More
Hardly a day goes by without a forum posting in... Read More
The cycle of affiliate programs and money making ventures goes... Read More
Earning more revenue from your website is the goal of... Read More
Google's AdSense program is one of the best, if not... Read More
There is no question that you can make some good... Read More
Make $$$$ with Google Adsense! Top Paying Keywords! $100 per... Read More
Pay-Per-Click Advertising |