Google and Yahoo! have launched their own Click Fraud websites dedicated to educating users of their pay per click platforms. The focus of these two new sites is to educate users of their pay per click systems about click fraud in general, what they are doing about it, and how you as a user can improve your chances of not being abused by click fraudsters.
Both sites offer some great information about Click Fraud and worth reading from time to time if you’re a Pay Per Click advertiser. Let’s just take a quick look at how both sites define Click Fraud, and then you can visit both sites to find out what else they have to say.
Yahoo’s definition of Click Fraud:
1. What is click fraud?
“Click fraud” is generally considered to be clicks made with bad faith, or for the sole purpose of generating a charge to the advertiser, with zero possibility of a legitimate site visit or transaction occurring. While we agree with this definition from a technical perspective, it is impossible to determine whether someone is clicking with bad faith. In other words, we can’t read users’ minds.Instead, Yahoo! Search Marketing has to look at what identifiable behavior may indicate bad faith. In terms of identifiable behavior, we define “click fraud” as detected clicks by illegitimate bots and certain repetitive clicks. We have created sophisticated software, our proprietary Click Protection System, that attempts to identify this behavior and filter out related charges for these clicks, so that you are not billed for them. However, we do not disclose how we define repetitive clicks or the details about our proprietary technology, because we don’t want to educate those who are acting in bad faith.
It’s important to understand that traffic quality and click fraud are two very different things. The term “traffic quality” can be applied to all clicks, those that fall in the “click fraud” category and those that don’t, and refers to how well a click converts for an advertiser. Some factors of traffic quality include how well clicks convert from domestic and international users, and from our various distribution channels and products. We also consider receiving unexpected, increased amounts of traffic or traffic from unwanted sources to be traffic quality issues, and we will work with advertisers individually to address any specific traffic quality concerns, regardless of whether they are directly related to “click fraud.” It is important to us to bring good value to our advertisers, and we are working on many initiatives to ensure that you are getting the most value out of your clicks.
Google`s Definition of Click Fraud:
What are click fraud and invalid clicks?
You may have heard the terms ‘click fraud’ and ‘invalid clicks’ and wondered how or if they’re different. Here’s a definition of each:
- Click fraud refers to clicks generated with malicious or fraudulent intent.
- Invalid clicks are clicks on AdWords ads that Google suspects may constitute click fraud. Advertisers are not charged for these clicks.
While Yahoo! offers an extensive description of the topic, Google opts for their true form of simplicity. In fact, the Google site is actually very simplistic in nature compared to the Yahoo! site. Nevertheless, both sites offer some great information about the topic, and we encourage you to visit the sites and see for yourself.
