Click Fraud Problem: Massive In It's Smallness

I just looked at part of a client's web log file for one day. What I saw was a DISGUSTING amount of questionable traffic activity and much that was CLEARLY CLICK FRAUD. Now I don't know how much is being detected and credited or blocked by the search providers, but there is little doubt in my mind that fraud is rampant and customers ARE losing money.

I said the problem is Massive in it's Smallness because the fraudsters have mostly caught on that if they drink too deeply the well dries up. So now the idea is to just sip here and there, clicking different ads on different sites using different IP addresses. Steal a penny from a billion people and you can retire with little risk of anyone saying anything. I can't look at a PPC ad anymore without thinking about Aphids.

I've reported some of this before, contacting parking page service providers and large search providers. They always seem concerned, but I never hear back much of ANYTHING from them. And my offers of setting up something on my sites where they can SEE, what the visitors they send are doing has been ignored. There could be other reasons, but frankly I think it's because they DON'T WANT TO KNOW. My suggestions that they move to a Flat Rate Advertising model have also been dismissed.

Well, until the outrage reaches a critical mass, ain't nothing gonna change. So I advise clients to just keep a close watch on advertising budgets and conversion numbers. And make sure the conversions are real! We are seeing an increasing amount of bogus contact forms sent from our sites because they will register as "conversions" by those doing click fraud.

(hris
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