Google Adsense
Google
 
Web thmg.com

Affiliate Revenue

Domain Names E Books Email Marketing Ezine Marketing

Ezine Publishing

Internet Marketing Marketing PPC Advertising SEO

Site Promotion

Traffic Building Web Design Web Development Web Hosting

Googles Wonderland: Trouble In Paradise?


The fairy tale existance of Google is starting to experience shockwaves.

So, what's the source of these shockwaves? Click fraud. As my readers know, I've written several articles on the subject of click fraud, suggesting that since it's the market leader, Google should take a more proactive approach with the problem of click fraud.

Until now, Google has been mostly quiet about the subject, issuing this single statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission:

"We are exposed to the risk of fraudulent clicks on our ads. We have regularly paid refunds related to fraudulent clicks and expect to do so in the future. If we are unable to stop this fraudulent activity, these refunds may increase. If we find new evidence of past fraudulent clicks, we may have to issue refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid to our Google Network members."

So, why isn't Google doing more about click fraud? In one of my articles, I theorized that with the amount of money involved, it's actually more cost effective for Google to issue an occasional refund to its advertisers, than to develop technology to eliminate click fraud.

That theory was echoed in a recent article, in which the author wrote:

"Google's primary defense against click fraud has been to refund advertisers their money if they complain and Google sees evidence that fraudulent clicks have occured. The problem with this is that the burden of proof is on the advertiser ... and Google knows that most advertisers will not take the time to argue. Therefore, Google has a financial incentive not to deal with click fraud on their own. It not only costs them to deal with the problem but if they do find a solution to stopping click fraud ... it will cost Google much more when they don't get paid for 20 percent or more of their clicks."

However, all of that may be about to change. At an investor conference last Wednesday, Google CFO George Reyes stated:

"I think something has to be done about this really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model."

My question is this: What took Google so long to come to that realization? It's not like click fraud just magically appeared yesterday. The media has been reporting on the problem for at least the last 3 years.

Smug in its ivory tower, did Google think the problem was just going to go away by itself? Or was it waiting for Overture or one of the smaller pay-per-click companies to solve the problem, so it wouldn't have to deal with it?

These are troubling questions, to say the least. Even more troubling is Google's passive approach to a serious problem, which in my opinion has been reprehensible.

It should be interesting to see what Google's next move is. Google CFO George Reyes statement notwithstanding, I'll believe Google is serious about eliminating click fraud, when I finally see it!

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net.

Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net


MORE RESOURCES:

How to Coordinate Multiple Campaigns Without Competing Against ...
MarketingSherpa.com (subscription), RI - Aug 7, 2008
Features 5 strategies for organizing an SEO campaign around a main portal and handling PPC advertising partnerships. George Zimmermann, VP, Travel Michigan, ...


3FN Marketing Improves Traffic Quality Implementing New Fraud ...
PR-USA.net (press release), Bulgaria - Aug 3, 2008
3FN Marketing Bidding is a online pay per click advertising network, which offers PPC advertising services powered by various efficient tools and ...


Seth Godin Advocates Click Fraud
AffiliateTip.com, NJ - Aug 22, 2008
Ultimately, those advertisers get priced out of PPC advertising and there is less demand to run ads on the sites with great content that are getting all the ...


Furl Launches New Group Feature
MarketWatch - Aug 13, 2008
, , ) , a pay-per-click (PPC) Search Advertising Network and technology solutions provider, today announced Furl Groups, a key extension of Furl, ...


HopHunt.com Going Crazy Has Given Away Over $70 Million in Free ...
PR.com (press release), NY - Aug 21, 2008
If you are a newbie marketer you are likely to lose money on ppc advertising but if you try to advertise for free at HopHunt using the free ppc ads, ...

PPC-Advertising - Google News

Affiliate Revenue

Domain Names E Books Email Marketing Ezine Marketing

Ezine Publishing

Internet Marketing Marketing PPC Advertising SEO

Site Promotion

Traffic Building Web Design Web Development Web Hosting
Home | Site Map

| PPC Tips | Free Classified Ads | Free-For-All AdsReciprocal Links | Search Engines |
| Award Sites | Webmaster Tools | Free Giveaways | Get Paid to Surf
| Free Business Classifieds | Auction Tips | Debt Consolidation Tips | Become a Notary Public |

Copyright © 2006-2007. The Highland Marketing Group. All Rights Reserved.