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August 07, 2006
$8bn click fraud - and it is still worthwhile
$8bn of click advertising fraud over the past two years says Consumer Reports in a new investigation--yet the online advertising medium continues to be effective for millions of retailers.
This demonstrates the power of online marketing--search engine marketing to be precise. Most click fraud happens on third party web sites that carry an advertising network such as Google AdSense. [Google AdWords are the ads that GOOG serves up on its own web sites, mostly next to a search box.]
The search box is a marvel in the advertising world. When you fill in the search box you tell Google what you are thinking about at that moment. It is the closest thing to mind reading.
It is not rocket science to serve contextual ads and that is why search engine marketing is so effective, and so efficient. So what if $8bn in clack ad fraud took place? The final ROI was worth it for most online advertisers otherwise they wouldn't have run repeated advertising campaigns.
Going forward, that $8bm in click fraud is money that GOOG, YHOO, MSFT, AMZN, EBAY and others, can potentially recover and make their own. That's money in the bank if they can get ahead of the fraudsters, which isn't going to be easy--but they have the scale to do it.
August 07, 2006 | permanent link
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| tag: GOOG
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