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November 30, 2005

Click fraud and Google AdSense, Wed., Nov. 30, 2005, 5:46 PM

Google has acknowledged the problems that exist with click fraud. ROBTV tonight on the SqueezePlay show had a discussion. I have discussed the matter as one of my concerns with AdSense, but I have also been fair in this regard because I have said that I know a couple small business operators who openly state that AdSense has contributed significantly to their business success, and that the advertising dollars paid out was worth every dollar.

But GOOG is a stock under pressure these days. Traders ought to note that if GOOG cannot rebound strongly off an RSI that was down near 10 on the Daily price series data, that would be an ominous sign if you happen to be long.

As the ROBTV host said tonight (5:30pm) in her Google segue: AdSense is contributing to the Google bottom line in a big way, but you may be surprised at who's doing the clicking."

Adam Skulthorpe of ClickRisk, the click fraud expert that was interviewed by ROBTV discussed the situation, saying that he had discovered up to $500 million in fraud in 2004, and that he believes 2005 fraud is going to amount to about $1.1 billion, and exceed $1.6 billion by 2008.

He said that most clients of his were found to be paying about 16 pct too much, but that some were actually up to 70 pct over-paying.

Moreover he discussed a class-action suit against Google, and others, that alleges the vendors knew it existed but did little or nothing to stop it.

This is a ten-minute interview that will come up on Replay at ROBTV.com in a couple hours when the 5:30pm videotape is uploaded to the website.

You know, I gave a heads-up to this problem more than a year ago, but many readers did not take it seriously. I said the problem would be in the billions. Now I discover that clearly it is.

Discussion of Adsense Click Fraud
http://www.sofizar.com/google-adsense-fraud.php
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/searchinsider/wpn-49-20040505ClickFraudTheGoogleKiller.html
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3503376

Anyway, let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Although I personally chose not to use the web advertising model, I know it's essential to the continued success of the Web, and to small business operators in particular.

The problem is one of finding and prosecuting the culprits. These people should be chained together and dropped into the ocean. They stand to bring regulators into the Web where, please, we don't need it, and don't want it.

Posted by Posted by Bill Cara on November 30, 2005 05:39:46 PM | Category: 45 Info Technology