Google CFO sounds an alarm on click fraud
CNN/Money"Google exec calls click fraud the 'biggest threat' to the Internet economy"
Krysten Crawford, staff writer reports that: Google Chief Financial Officer George Reyes said about click fraud "I think something has to be done about this really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model"
Krysten writes that Google "are openly fretting about the rise of click fraud...The main perpetrators appear to be competitors of advertisers and also scam sites set up for the sole purpose of hosting ad links provided by Google, through its AdSense unit, or Yahoo!, through its Overture service. Humans or specially designed software then click on those ad links in order to "steal" revenue from advertisers."
Alchemist Media, estimated that as much as 20 percent of all clicks on paid search ads are shams.
According to regulatory filings leading up to its IPO this summer, Google has regularly paid refunds related to fraudulent clicks.
Although no solution was offered in Reyes speech Krysten further reports that "For the most part, search engines have been self-policing. They all claim to have in-house fraud detection teams and top-of-the-line technology that can detect miscreants.
Google last month filed its first civil lawsuit against a Texas-based Internet company, Auctions Expert International, that it said defrauded Google and advertisers by systematically clicking on ads."
Despite this Google are said to be "the most stubborn and the least willing to cooperate with advertisers" that complain about click fraud. She said the company is only now changing its tune because advertisers and recent media coverage have put pressure on the company to do more."
The article concludes that maybe the click fraud problem is far more serious a threat to online advertising than has previously been thought.
posted by Jen @ 6:24 AM
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