Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Click fraud rate lower than expected-

CNET News.com: "The rate of click fraud -- fraudulent clicks on pay-per-click-based online ads -- is less than 14 percent as opposed to the 20-to-30 percent or higher that some companies have previously said, according to a new report from a company that monitors click fraud for advertisers.
The Click Fraud Index shows that the overall industry-wide average click fraud rate is 13.7 percent. The click fraud rate at top tier search engines, like Google and Yahoo, is even less at 12.1 percent, the data show. The rate rises to 21.3 percent at Tier 2 search providers and 29.8 percent at Tier 3 search companies, according to the Index.
The Click Fraud Index monitors and reports on data collected by the Click Fraud Network, a free service advertisers can use to track their online ad campaigns. Click Forensics, which hosts the service, also sells pay-per-click validation services and licenses technology to advertisers.
Click fraud can occur when a Web site publisher clicks on ads on its site to drive up its revenue or when an advertiser clicks on a rival's ads to deplete its ad budget, either manually or by software bots in click farms. There is disagreement and uncertainty in the industry as to how big of a problem it really is. "

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