Yet another click fraud report
Search Engine Watch recently evaluated a report from Outsell Inc. claiming that as much as 14.6 percent of all PPC clicks were click fraud and that this cost advertisers $800 million last year. Danny Sullivan obtained a copy of the report and takes it apart in significantly more detail, finding that these numbers are highly suspect for a variety of reasons, including:
- The report does not distinguish between search and content networks. The latter are thought to account for the bulk of click fraud.
- The numbers may include some affiliates and arbitrage, both of which would skew the results higher.
- First and second tier search engines are not separated by the report.
Andy goes on to say that while the extrapolated total figures are suspect, there is useful information about refund requests and experiences with the search engines.
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