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Google Gets Transparent with Invalid Clicks

posted on July 26, 2006


Google’s figured out a way to calm down the hype surrounding click fraud – let Adwords advertisers see for themselves which clicks Google has detected as invalid.

According to CNET, starting today Google will start revealing to advertisers the number of invalid clicks for their ads.

…advertisers will be able to see the number of invalid clicks Google found, as well as what percentage that represents of total clicks registered, said Shuman Ghosemajumder, business product manager for trust and safety at Google.

So, anyone know exactly what Google considers to be an “invalid click”? I’m sure they can identify multiple clicks from the same IP, but what about the more complex zombie networks?

I think this is a very smart and sincere move on Google’s part. Most advertisers will be content, now that Google is showing them exactly what clicks have been discounted. That being said, a lot of advertisers will still benefit from conducting their own click-fraud monitoring – at least until they feel comfortable that Google is picking up the same invalid clicks as they are seeing.


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  • http://www.acorg.com MikeOK

    Hi Andy
    I really like this move on Google’s part. It’s the dark that they all should fear. My hope is that all of the major players open their logs to one another. This way, I believe they could find more fraud and maybe tame some of the larger zombie networks. By analysing all PPC traffic as a whole, this cloudy picture could become a lot clearer.
    Likely a new organization should be formed with representatives from each contributing company. I can understand the initial hesitation to this but it might be the only way to save this golden goose.

  • Anonymous

    5 years ago, there was much debate on pooling our knowledge and data with a number of the 2nd PPC engines to help identify affiliate fraud practices; but nothing came of it. For this initiative it needed GoTo or Findwhat to lead, and both organizations at the time considered their respective methods as part of their business advantage. To a large measure they where right. Over the years, we at Mamma.com have found unique and interesting methods to extract valid eyeballs and ROI from traffic that in large, is worthless. I’ve equated this to something like oil refinery.

    Cheers,

    Patrick Hopf
    EVP
    Mamma.com

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