Click-fraud
I tried to post a comment about click-fraud earlier today on a SiliconBeat post, and in a rush to get to lunch, took out a chunk that I thought wasn’t important, only to realize when I got back that my post made no sense. Instead of re-posting, I decided I’d comment about it a little more here.
Besides the recent column by Mike Langberg in the Mercury NewsÂ? about click-fraud, there is also the announcement at the beginning of the month about Yahoo! being implicated in Spyware click-fraud. My post was in response to a post by Niki Scevak, and went as follows:
Although Niki makes some good points, if there is a general fear or concern about online advertising, it will only work against the Web 2.0 movement. Web 2.0 companies looking to take advantage of PPC ads won’t get the ads they need, because there are no assurances of the legitimacy of the ad clicks. It will be a case where a handfull wreck it for the masses.
This actually agrees, almost completely, with what Niki said: “The people who lose from click-fraud are certain advertisers who fall victim to it more than the average and the legitimate publishers of the network.” The section I had taken out of my comment (and I had worded it so well!) basically indicated that advertising dollars would shift away from the affiliate networks. Because start-up companies rely on these networks almost exclusively, it could cause “the Web 2.0 house-of-cards [to] come crashing down sooner than we think.” Newer sites, and specifically those grouped in this new Web 2.0 wave, are more likely toÂ? commit click-fraud than an establishedÂ? website, so I don’t think “legitimate publishers of the network”Â? are really as concerned as websites just joining the network.
Another aspect of my comment that I removed was the impact of click-fraud on a larger scale. If there is a concern about the legitimacy of PPC ads, advertisers are going to be less inclined to initiate or increase their online ad budgets, something that has been relatively slow already. The Internet has also been taboo, whether it’s buying online, advertising online, or even being online at all. Anything that makes advertisers more hesitant to advertise online will only create negativity for the industry. This, in turn, can affect confidence in theÂ? Internet and potentialÂ? investment. Click-fraud for the Internet industryÂ? as a whole, especially up-and-coming Web 2.0 companies,Â? is about as good as Enron was for the investment industry or BSE (”Mad Cow“)Â? for the beef industry.