| |
By Joseph Pratt
Recent online successes have been driven by that cost-effective means of advertising known as search: the true modern marketing wonder whose impact is seen in almost all daily online activity. Almost all online ad companies, including ICMediaDirect.com, have launched search divisions for the very fact that it produces results. While search marketing itself is unprecedented in almost every way, its burden of facing unique challenges as a business rooted in an evolving technology is not a new story. As with most technologies, there are a number of current issues that have begun to plague CPC paradigms like search. The most elusive of these: Click Fraud.
Click fraud is the deliberate sabotage of CPC advertising campaigns resulting in misleading data and faulty expenditures. Essentially the practice stems from the understanding that resources spent on advertising often comprise more than 10% of a company’s expenditures. Negative competition and/or lack of business ethics have led the less scrupulous to click on a competitor’s advertisements solely for the sake of depleting the advertising resources of that competitor. Thus the resulting statistics read: between 5-20% of all monies in search are fraudulent charges. Figures such as these certainly warrant heavy consideration by all ad companies before offering search.
As pressures from advertisers mounted in the form of lost business, major search engines like Google have committed to combating the practice in efforts to preserve reputation. However, as our vaccination for click fraud has evolved, so has the disease itself. The answer may not necessarily lie in seeking guarantees from the end publisher. The smarter organization may choose instead to rely upon more responsible and experienced ad companies, like ICMediaDirect.com whose networks are setup to combat issues like Click Fraud, to run their campaigns.
Currently Click Fraud works like this: a trusting advertiser bids for top placement for sponsored search results using given keywords. The top bidder’s ad prominently appears when their purchased keyword is punched into the publishing engine. This ad is also, by virtue of top bid, widely distributed to search engine affiliated websites. On the evil end, a rogue entity has set up website affiliates specifically to display the related campaign for clicking. Then, either real people, a.k.a. ‘hired clicks’ usually from somewhere in India or Pakistan, are then paid to sit and click on the site’s ads, or software, a.k.a. ‘click-bot,’ is created to perform the same task. Click Thru Rates are up, but ROI is zero. This has the unfortunate advertiser paying the search engine for the clicks, which is then shared with the rogue site that generated the clicks to begin with.
Similar to the major epidemics of years ago, the likelihood of complete click-fraud elimination is low, but its dangers can be tempered by an improvement not only in technology, but in technique as well. Understanding the behavior of the fraud is key.
The difficulty in dealing with click fraud lies in the complexity of effective campaigning. Often Click Thru is high with low sales figures even without the added stain of click fraud. However, with preliminary testing and advanced filtering, phony clicks can be combated.
These fraudulent clicks alter the integrity of the marketplace on several levels. First, they artificially increase the costs of advertising, potentially scaring off advertisers. While technically the top search engine names may unwittingly profit from click fraud, charges that they promote, or even condone, this activity is false and rather illogical. One can imagine what would happen to Google’s stock price if they admitted that any percentage of their legitimate Ad Sense income was based on fraud – El Tanko. As long as click fraud remains an accepted part of the business model it remains a liability for those who unwittingly house the ill-mannered guest. It is for this reason that the big publishers have set up their ‘fraud squads’ and tech divisions to locate the bad guys. However, the effectiveness of these measures is also subject to inquiry.
Currently there is one absolute and indisputable way to eradicate click fraud from the Internet - eliminate the Cost-Per-Click model. Yeah, right. So, this means the problem must be combated in the trenches until an obvious and better solution presents itself. The best way to fight click fraud is by first combating the fraudsters with technological advances to catch secondary website affiliate bot clicks; second, more thorough screening process for search affiliates. Without these actions on behalf of the advertisers, this problem may be left unchecked long enough to drive advertiser money into safer channels. What a shame it would be to see the current health of expansion of search advertising brought low by ever-adapting click-fraud. Advertisers must be reassured in order to maintain the integrity of this vital and compelling means of advertising. And, hard as this may be to believe in light of recent positive Interactive advertising activity, spending the money to knock out fraud will make this market grow even more.
At ICMediaDirect.com we employ a fraud filtering technology within our network of distribution to protect our advertisers from this potentially debilitating practice. Any aberrations in click activity are quickly detected, traced and investigated. In addition, we judiciously screen our partnerships through set and rigorous criteria that repels parasites looking to set up traps for bot-clicking. Because it costs more to lose business, we do it right the first time. So far it has proven effective.
We have our solution. What is yours?
About
the author
Visit his website: http://www.icmediadirect.com/
About
Top Traffic Wholesaler
website
Top Traffic Wholesaler is a leading company in Internet Marketing and Website Promotion. We specialize in search engine submission and optimization as well as tools and resources useful for better ranking / positioning in search engines. Guaranteed and customized service.
Other Useful Articles
| |
An affiliate marketer may have all the things needed for him to be able to
succeed in a business such as affiliate marketing. He may have the necessary
drive, diligence and perseverance to be able to understand how the system works.
He may have all the tools necessary in maintaining the business, including a
really unique and interesting website which could earn him a fortune if only the
whole world could see it.
...
Read
this article
Everyone wants to know how these websites
get to the top of the search engines for a keyword. After all if you are
going to start a home
business, you will
need to do this. These are tested tips that actually work. For an example visit
www.msn.com and do a search for affiliate cash vault. You will see that my site
www.internet-business-at-home.com is ranked at #2 for that keyword. Here is how
I did it:...
Read
this article
Many people think that directories have become obsolete. The truth however is
that while their SEO importance has decreased in the last few years, they should
still be an
integral part of link building for new sites....
Read
this article
|
TopTrafficWholeSaler.com
Greatest Place To Choose - Lowest Price To Get
Contact
us
Online Web Site Advertising
Website Targeted Traffic Service
Search
Engine Submission Service
|
