April 21, 2005
Is Click Fraud a Problem?
Our initial research shows that click fraud is a real problem and in fact, in some high cost categories (above $1 per click) it is rampant.
Un-audited data shows that click fraud ranges anywhere from 10% to 30% depending on the category.
The major search engines due screen for click fraud and often will refund some or all of the fraudulent charges. To get the full report in June, visit www.marketingexperiments.com
Posted by marketplacesna at 06:03 PM
March 15, 2005
Why First Place in the PPC's May Not be the "Best" Placement
Why First Place in the PPC's May Not be the "Best" Placement
While many merchants have high ambitions and want number one placement in the PPC engines, this is not always recommended. There are a couple reasons for this:
First place is going to be the most expensive position in the PPC Search Engine. Often it is the most expensive by some margin as competition for that space is stiff and competitors push those bids higher. Frequently the cost savings between the first and second or third positions is very large.
The next is, search engines like Google capture a customer in an earlier stage of the order process compared to a comparison shopping site. In this stage customers many times like to see what else is out there. Are they getting the best deal? Is the competitor’s product better? That said, if first place could be purchased for marginally more than third, I do not advise against it. However, the gap between the cost of a first and third position is typically very large.
I have seen merchant that required first place and the position did justify the higher CPC but often the best position for profitability and maximum ROI is not the first place in the PPC Search engines.
http://www.aaron-rosenthal.com/2005/03/why_first_place_2.html
Posted by marketplacesna at 03:29 PM | Comments (622) | TrackBack
March 08, 2005
Is Click Fraud Real?
Click Fraud in Google - Is it Real???
Click Fraud is the big buzz around the web marketing circles. My question is not does it exist, but rather does it exist in the magnitude that many marketers believe it does.
My general feeling is that while it is prevalent around the web and there is some level of malicious clicking, it is not a widespread as believed. Google has taken a particularly hard look at this lately. No longer is blocking i.p.'s from repeat clicks an acceptable counter-measure but now Google has launched an entire department to developing counter-measures to click fraud.
So how good a job is Google at preventing /stopping click fraud?
I recently suspected Click fraud in a friend’s content "Adsense" campaign. I wrote a short up description of where and why I suggested it and send a response to our Adwords rep (not Adsense or there fraud department). The promptness of the response to come blew my mind.
An immediate internal response from this Adwords rep was sent to the Adsense department. I then received an email from my Adwords rep with the chain of actions to come along with a forwarded email on to the Adsense department. Adsense then contacted me as after they briefly investigated this and determined it was necessary to send the concern on the fraud department. Understand all this took place in a matter of two hours. If there responsiveness is an indication of how serious they take this stuff then we one can see that click fraud is taken very seriously at Google.
What are some experiences you have had with Click Fraud?
http://www.aaron-rosenthal.com/2005/02/click_fraud_in_.html
Posted by marketplacesna at 04:59 PM | Comments (404) | TrackBack
March 07, 2005
Yahoo is Renaming Overture
I found out today that Yahoo is Renaming Overture:
This just in....Yahoo is changing Overture's name to "Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions". Is there any real brand advantage in doing this??? Come on, everyone knows who Overture is. Right?
You can comment on this here:
http://www.aaron-rosenthal.com/2005/03/overture_is_bei.html
Posted by marketplacesna at 02:28 PM | TrackBack
February 16, 2005
New Way to Do Click Fraud
Marketing Vox is reporting a new way to conduct click fraud - "impression spam".
New Search Fraud Method: 'Impression Spam'
16 Feb 2005
ReveNews points to a new form of search engine marketing fraud, where competitors temporarily turn their own campaigns off and then flood certain keywords with thousands of searches. The many impressions without clicks causes Google to decide that the competitor ads are not as relevant and may even cause the suspension of their campaigns. The practice, called impression spam, was first reported by antifraud site StopScum.com earlier this month. Purported victims of impression spam writing in to StopScum.com say that Google has recognized the problem and even has helped prevent some obvious examples, but for the most part will not recompense advertisers for losses. Google does compensate advertisers for losses incurred from click fraud.
http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2005/02/16/new_search_fraud_method_impression_spam/
The Marketing Experiments Journal is currently compiling research on Click Fraud and offer several tips for preventing click fraud.
A business owner can combat click fraud and impression fraud several ways:
Carefully monitor rapid drops in website conversion with corresponding spikes in paid search traffic. This type of rapid change in metrics could indicate someone or something is manipulating your search campaign. Large amounts of click-traffic with no new sales or leads often indicate click fraud, particularly if you have historical data that shows a higher average website conversion rate from the same core search terms.
a. Implement a click-fraud tracking tool. There are several monitoring tools that will look for irregular patterns in your click traffic and flag potential fraud.
b. Pay attention to the search terms that have been deactivated in your Google account because of apparent low conversion. If the campaigns have been running for some time successfully and suddenly some of your key terms have been deactivated, it may indicate impression fraud.
c. Report any click fraud to Google so that their fraud team can attempt to identify the source of the fraud. Google has various click fraud screening tools that monitors all click traffic and they have even more advanced screening tools that their staff uses to identify the source of click fraud. Like SPAM, we believe much of the click fraud comes from just a handful of criminals.
d. Monitor your traffic in general on a daily basis. By implementing an accurate web analytics tool you can monitor the quality of your traffic.
Posted by marketplacesna at 04:11 PM | TrackBack
January 18, 2005
Google Gets Gruff over Click Fraud - CNET
Google filed a lawsuit against an Internet operation that it claims systematically clicked on text ads to defraud its advertising network.
The case, filed Nov. 15 in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County in California, is among the first civil lawsuits to relate to click fraud. The lawsuit charges that Texas-based Auctions Expert International signed up to display Google's targeted text advertising on its Web site, and then fraudulently clicked on the ads to profit from its pay-per-click system.
http://news.com.com/Google+gets+gruff+over+click+fraud/2100-1024_3-5463243.html
Posted by marketplacesna at 11:08 PM | TrackBack
Exposing Click Fraud - CNET Article
The practice, known as "click fraud," began in the early days of the Internet's mainstream popularity with programs that automatically surfed Web sites to increase traffic figures. This led companies to develop policing technologies touted as antidotes to the problem. But some marketing executives estimate that up to 20 percent of fees in certain advertising categories continue to be based on nonexistent consumers in today's search industry.
http://news.com.com/Exposing+click+fraud/2100-1024_3-5273078.html