Click Fraud – Can Search Engines Tame This Devil?

Click fraud is a kind of online crime that occurs in PPC (pay per click online advertising when an individual, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud whether they like it or not.

Use of a computer to commit this type of Internet fraud is a felony in many jurisdictions, for example as covered by Penal code 502 in California, USA, and the Computer Misuse Act 1990 in the United Kingdom. There have been arrests relating to click fraud with regard to malicious clicking in order to deplete a competitor's advertising budget.

One common type of Internet crime is click fraud. Click fraud is an Internet crime that is related to online marketing. Sites that face the problem of click fraud are Pay Per Click, Online Advertising or other such market driven sites. These sites work on the basis that those in charge of the site can track the effectiveness and profitability of the site through the number of clicks that are made. Each click is paid for by the advertiser to the advertising agency or network. In click fraud these clicks are fraudulent and the clicker is only imitating the actions of a genuine user without interest in the content of the site. The intention of the fraudulent clicker is usually to run up the bill of the person paying for the clicks or to disrupt the tracking of clients on the site.

Malicious intent is the backbone that drives click fraud. Often it is the competitors of an advertiser who indulge in click fraud in order to make the advertiser pay for clicks that are not valid. The intent behind click fraud here is to harm the competitor financially with the hope that this would weaken their competitiveness. At other times, click frauds can be done in such a way that it is made to look as if the publisher is clicking on their own ads but in reality it is the competitor of the publisher. If a publisher is found to be clicking on their own ads, that could lead to them losing their clients.

These are in no ways the only reasons for click fraud. An array of malicious motives can drive someone to indulge in click fraud. If the click is not made by a genuine surfer with interest in the clickable material, then that is a click fraud.

A significant root of the problem is the disagreement amongst search engines and others involved about the graveness of click fraud as a problem in the Internet marketing world. While some say that it is a very serious problem, others say that even though it is a problem, the fact that the Pay Per Click industry is booming proves that it is not a problem that is big enough to hinder the industry. Either ways, the questions is can anything be done about click fraud? And more importantly, what can and what are search engines doing to prevent click fraud?

Despite access to technology, proving click fraud is not an easy task. It becomes difficult to segregate the genuine clicks from the fraudulent ones. Though it is a tough problem to tackle, there are a few things search engines can do to lessen it. Search engines have been taking their own precautions to prevent as much click fraud as is possible.

There are softwares that search engines can use in order to filter out bad activity from the good ones. The kind of patterns that these websites look for are suspicious activities like too much clicking within a time period or other such activities. In addition to that, search engines can appoint data analysts who can work out the patterns of clicks on websites to figure out if these patterns are problematic.

One problem that search engines do pose with regard to click fraud is that the logs of clicks they collect are private information. Some experts believe that if they were to reveal this information to clients or other valid third party, it might be easier to prevent click fraud.

The answer to “can search engines counter click fraud” lies in the future. As technology advances more methods of preventing click frauds are being devices. Search engines are doing their bit to tame the devil that is click fraud. There is, however, a long way to go before click fraud is completely wiped out and becomes a thing of the past.