Introduction
In the next few pages, I'm going to walk you through what click fraud is, how to identify it and how to stop it. However, if you're not sure of the basics -- not sure what paid search marketing is in the first place -- please skip to the "About paid search" page of this In Focus, then come back.
Let me open with a hypothetical -- but very realistic -- example of why you should take click fraud seriously.
An online retailer selling consumer electronics noticed something interesting about his search campaign one Monday morning. In the last month, his top earning terms like "iPod Nano" have gone from an average $2.00 per click to well above $5.00. His conversion rates, usually in the 1.5 to 2.5 percent range have dropped below .05 percent. Search activity for less than popular targeted terms like "iPood Nannu" have gone from 12 to 15 searches a month to almost 500, and those terms have skyrocketed from five to 10 cents per click to almost $3.00 per click with almost no increase in sales over the previous 30 days.
What happened? The most likely explanation is that a competitor started clicking on our online retailer's sponsored search ads over and over and over in order to drive his costs up, drain the amount of money he can spend on search, and open up those key search terms for his own business.
The takeaway: No other aspect of this retailer's business has changed. Yet in a month抯 time, his search marketing costs have increased by more than 500 percent and his sales have plummeted from $16 million a month to just under $2 million.
Click fraud can cost you a lot of money.
What is click fraud?
Click fraud is an intentional disruption of the pay per click advertising model with malice and forethought for competitive or financial gain.
Click fraud is often associated with unwanted or unqualified clicks but while unqualified visitors may not generate revenue, this activity may not constitute fraud in and of itself.
Left unchecked, fraudulent or erroneous clicks threaten to erode revenue generated from search listings and may ultimately call into question the credibility of search engine advertising.
While no one is certain of the exact size of click fraud in the search engine advertising world, we know it is responsible for perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in advertiser losses each year.
Fraudulent click traffic can also be seen in much higher frequencies in highly competitive and popular search categories such as electronics, auto, finance and travel.
Types of click fraud
Click fraud exists in many forms. Automated bots, competitors and even large click farms are rumored to exist in third world countries.
But each type produces a common result: erroneous click traffic that advertisers have to pay for.
The most common types and motivations of click fraud are:
Competitive fraud: As its name implies, competitive click fraud is most often seen but not limited to heavily competitive categories in which a competing advertiser seeks to remove a competitor by endlessly clicking on the competitor's search terms. The end result is a forced removal either by budgetary attrition or by the advertiser deeming the keyword or phrase ineffective.
Affiliate or contextual fraud: Many websites generate revenue from listings placed on each of their sites: each time a user clicks on a listing, the website gets paid. So, to put it simply, an unscrupulous website owner might arrange for a lot of clicks on the site ads in order to increase revenue from content listings.
Impression fraud: Searches are conducted repeatedly on a term but no clicks are registered. This drives the clickthrough rate for that paid search listing down. At that point, either a search provider's automatic tool will disable the search term (due to a low clickthrough rate) or the advertiser will do it manually. This clears the way for another advertiser's paid search listing to move up in the rankings. Since there is no money changing hands, and technically there is no click action, this type of fraud is difficult to detect.
Automated fraud: Software applications that verify links can contain robots or crawlers that automatically enter sites or follow links; sometimes these robots can inadvertently click on paid listings.
Identifying click fraud
Click fraud can be wildly unpredictable, and the action has to occur before it can be identified.
Some of the most common methods of identifying click fraud are:
Internet Protocol address: IP addresses provide a multitude of information. Geographic targeting tools in search advertising (if you use them) can stop outsiders from clicking on your ad and clicks from countries beyond your scope of business may indicate fraud. A high frequency of clicks from the same IP address can also be an early warning sign that somebody is clicking fraudulently.
Unusual activity: A problem may exist if a search term or keyword grouping normally receives 10 searches or clicks a month and you suddenly receive 1,000. Similarly, if keyword costs begin to skyrocket for no apparent reason, you may be a victim of click fraud. Abnormally high abandonment rates may also tip you off.
How to protect yourself
The business of click fraud prevention is growing almost as fast as the search engine advertising industry itself.
The search engines themselves deal with a lot of the automated and other types of click fraud before advertisers are ever invoiced. However, this does not mean that identifying click fraud should be left solely in the hands of a search provider.
As an advertiser, you have quite a few options in taking action against click fraud.
Do it yourself, but be warned that manually checking IP addresses and reviewing log files for thousands of terms is arduous and impractical.
Outsourcing click fraud prevention: There are literally hundreds of options in selecting a click fraud prevention vendor. Your search engine marketing firm or agency probably offers an automated tool, or you can go with one of the many third parties that have entered the space.
What to look for: If you outsource, make sure that the solution you choose offers tools that provide a high frequency of tracking reports. Look also for a solution that search providers acknowledge.
If you find click fraud, what then? Most often advertisers receive compensation in the form of future advertising credits, but if you are bent on a cash refund be prepared to take an aggressive posture.
Is anybody doing anything?
The search engine advertising industry has grown so quickly there has been little time to deal with issues that arise, much less regulate them. So, at the present moment shutting down click fraud farms in Kazakhstan -- if they even exist -- or stopping competitors from executing fraudulent click initiatives is unlikely.
Another way of saying this is simply that there has been little activity by industry groups in acknowledging or acting on click fraud.
Search providers like Google and Yahoo have been forthcoming about their general attempts to prevent fraudulent traffic. However, these search providers keep their specific fraud detection technologies secret, ostensibly to make things more difficult for click fraud perpetrators.
Many unhappy advertisers have taken matters into their own hands and initiated litigation against search providers. Still other third parties have endeavored to create forums for advertisers to voice concerns and share best practices.
Regulation in the space is inevitable given the growing concerns over click fraud. |
发表于 2006-7-16 10:39:03
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