Cybercriminals increase Internet advertising click fraud
By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY
Click fraud is on the rise, as cybergangs step up the use of infected PCs to divert advertising dollars into their hands.
In the first three months of this year, 17% to 29% of clicks to online ads were fraudulent, according to separate estimates by Click Forensics and Anchor Intelligence, leading suppliers of click fraud detection technology. That’s up from 15% to 25% in fourth-quarter 2009.
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Click Fraud Rates Hit Two-Year High
by Laurie Sullivan
The industry click fraud rate climbed to 17.1% in the last quarter of 2008 versus 16.6% a year earlier, according to stats released by Click Forensics today. The increase represents the highest level recorded since the company began tracking rates in 2006.
The Complete Article…
My understanding:
It appears that 1/3 of this click fraud is being created by bots – automated software.
The most of the Click Fraud is coming from Canada, Germany and China.
It is important to monitor and check your Google Analytics often – otherwise, it’s going to cost you.
My suggestion is to avoid the content match, I feel this is where a good amount of the fraud stems from and keep the focus on Search Engine Queries.
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