Searching Beyond the Paid

Friday, November 12, 2010

Click Fraud: Big Problem, or Fear-Mongering?

Two weeks ago, I wrote an article for Search Engine Watch about click fraud. In it, I claimed that it wasn't on the radar of most SEMs anymore, and that the engines basically do a good job of filtering out most of the invalid clicks anyway.

The discussion in the comments is interesting. One commenter suggests abandoning PPC altogether in favor of "inverse search." Okay….. Another commenter called me a "fear monger." Okaaaayyy…..

Despite these odd comments (and let me be clear - not all of the comments were odd), I still don't think click fraud is a huge issue. We diligently monitor our PPC client campaigns for fraud, and I'll be honest - I can't remember the last time I discovered out and out click fraud. Low-quality clicks, yes - but click fraud? Nope.

What do you think? Are you worried about click fraud? Have you reported fraud to the search engines lately? Is it on your radar?

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2 Comments:

  • Personally, my time is better spent working on improving QS, landing page experiences, ad copy, etc. while letting the platforms handle click fraud monitoring (for the most part).

    By Blogger Robert, at 11:08 AM EST  

  • Robert, I agree 100%. Optimizing campaigns & landing pages is much more leveraged than worrying about a few invalid clicks.

    By Blogger Melissa, at 11:42 AM EST  

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