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Identifying and tracking examples of click fraud is the initial step to eradicating the problem. Click fraud is the enormous drain on the resources of advertisers operating on a national and international scale, estimated to occupy around 30% of all pay per click advertising spend. With so much at stake, its no wonder the search engines are investing so much time and effort into devising solutions.

One means in which Search Engines and other pay per click programme providers have attempted to curb the growing click fraud problem is by means of introducing IP address repetition algorithms. These formulae are designed to pick up on mistrustful click patterns emanating from a singular IP address, which can help to uncover the existence of click farms and competitor-led sabotage, and identifying potential fraudsters at source.

But, there is an array of problems with this method of attempting to identify the fraudsters. First, fraudsters logging on through a dialup modem, DSL line or cable modem can virtually completely bypass this check, as with every new online session, a new IP address is generated. In addition, there is an broad range of software accessible to modify IP addresses, which again can be used for ‘cheating’ the algorithm. Cookie and session tracking are other methods by which search engines can attempt to uncover potential fraudulent activity, but again there are ways around these for the fraudsters.

More comprehensive software is being developed which profiles and reports on the browsing habits of each click-through to allow companies to track and scrutinize mistrustful deeds, although this could be seen by many as intrusive and ineffective as anything on a small scale is still likely to go unnoticed, based on the vast coverage of ads across the internet.

The problem of click fraud a short time ago hit the headlines with a class action raised against Google, prompting Google to offer $90million as a possible settlement. Maybe an acceptance of their responsibilities, Google’s offer goes some way to suggest the extent of click fraud, and its vast costs to the internet financial system.

There are numerous self-help remedies that can be implemented to keep an organization out of trouble. The primary of these remedies is the reliance on search engine optimization and organic listings. If a site is well and completely optimized, it could finally realize a ranking that another site is willing to pay $2.50 a click for. Likewise, with organically high rankings there are no clickthrough rates, for that reason the costs associated with PPC are not applicable. Though the process is significantly more laborious and takes significantly longer to see results, the SEO process is much cheaper in the long run, and with an estimated 25-30% of all clicks being performed fraudulently, an organically high listing can save cash which would otherwise be drained by click fraud for more advantageous reinvestment.

Year on year, as the pay per click advertising market continues to grow and expand, definitely click fraud will follow suit. Unless the effective means of preventing click fraud is developed and successfully implemented, buyers will gradually lose confidence in the advertising medium and turn to more efficient, less wasteful marketing methods, which would badly hit the search engines and could potentially threaten the online financial system as a whole.

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