Weekly Summary - Missed This Yesterday
Just a few things I wanted to note from this past week. I haven’t spent much time at all keeping up with all the blogs or the news this week, so only a few links this time:
Major advertisers caught in spyware net
Are you a Customer Delighting SUPERstar?
Up to 38% of Google’s revenue may be fraudulent, lawsuit claims:
Can someone out there name another industry that has fraud rates anywhere near this level? Maybe loansharking? Drug dealing? I’m drawing a blank here..
Email Marketers Likely Unprepared for State Laws
Microsoft to Buy Adware Company???
The company that Microsoft has pursued is controversial: Claria, an adware marketer formerly called Gator, and best known for its pop-up ads and software that tracks people visiting Web sites. The Gator adware has frequently been denounced by privacy advocates for its intrusiveness.
Hmmm now I’m going to see if I can actually get any work done today! 
Empress:
July 2nd, 2005 at 2:29 pm
All I can think of for fraud… that might be close to that level - credit card fraud?
Terry:
July 3rd, 2005 at 9:16 am
Yikes if cc fraud is that high - I’d hate to be a credit card company! :lol:! But 38% estimated click fraud - that’s really frightening. I don’t know that I can believe it’s that high. That’s saying every 2.5 clicks (or so) on Google Adsense are fraudulent.
Surely it can’t be that high?
I’d say one in three
Just joking.
Randy Charles Morin:
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:32 am
The 38% is taken completely out-of-context. The originating quote is that they detect click-fraud rates as high as 38%. This means that the samples were as high as 38%, not the entire survey. In other words, the entire survey was considerably less and may have been statistically zero.
Terry:
July 3rd, 2005 at 2:14 pm
Thanks for pointing that out Randy - you’re right it’s not 38% across the board. In this article Click Defense rounds the average out to 20%:
Red Herring Google Sued For Click Fraud
And here is the 20% average again:
Reuters.com - Google sued over “click fraud” in Web ads
So on average 1 in 5 clicks are fraudulent (according to the above two articles), with some instances being as high as 1 in 2.25+ (the 38%) - other instances would test lower.
Randy Charles Morin:
July 4th, 2005 at 11:48 am
Lies, damn lies and stats. Click Defense has an agenda. I suspect the thruth is much lower.
Terry:
July 4th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
I think the numbers are probably too high as well Randy. At least I hope so!
I’m wondering if the click fraud problem is due in part to Google not setting a high enough standard for its adsense publishers. Here are a couple Blog Entries I made awhile ago.
There really is a percentage of the ‘unprofessional’ participating here. “Click my Google Ads for Beer Money” and private click exchange clubs springing up, as well as incentivized clicking - this stuff is everywhere. It really needs to be wiped out and taken care of IMO.
Maybe have a minimum base traffic level in order to participate in the adsense program? Like 3,000 or 5,000 visitors a month?
Randy Charles Morin:
July 4th, 2005 at 1:08 pm
These click scams are easily detected. If a blog has a CTR of 50%, then you know something is up. Also, if the CTR is high and 90% the click-thrus are coming from one IP address, then again, this isn’t rocket science. As much as people complain about click-fraud, I read as much about blogs that were cut-off from Adsense because of click-fraud. IMHO, Google is doing a great job, not perfect.
Terry:
July 5th, 2005 at 2:52 am
Well I love this little diddy that just came out:
Reporting publisher click fraud to Google just got easier
I’m disappointed though that the average user would have no idea that they could report click fraud in that manner. In fact nowhere on that form does it display an option for click fraud reporting. You just have to somehow miraculously know the procedure to report click fraud.
Terry:
July 6th, 2005 at 1:43 pm
Uh oh - another study that affirms the 30% range Click Fraud Tested, Interesting Results