Google isn’t real worried about click fraud - could the end be near?
August 11, 2006 – 9:35 amIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
One thing you have to hand to Google: they really are imperious in their actions. They know they rule the online world, and they never seem to stop for a second and listen to anyone’s concerns. The growing concern over click-fraud won’t be an issue that can be laughed off, and it won’t just disappear overnight. Yet Google, really doesn’t think they have a problem with click-fraud, after all. They aren’t concerned by what I consider to be a very alarming statistic:
According to a report in June by Outsell Inc., 27 percent of advertisers surveyed said they had reduced online ad spending because they could not be sure that the clicks were from authentic users
I’m well aware why they did it. I also cancelled my spending with Adwords in the past over the same concerns. It’s easy to be concerned. It doesn’t take much high tech effort to do click-fraud. In fact a large family and a few family members or friends would be enough. But there’s people well beyond that activity, preferring to built click botnets with infected computers. Picture an army of zombies clicking around the clock, sucking your bank account dry. Suddenly, the rosy picture of online spending that Google has been painting isn’t quite so pretty.
Google is fighting back, aiming words of disagreement at the accusers:
The reports “have led to vastly inflated estimates” of the problem, said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google’s product manager of trust and safety. “We saw media reports and data from consultants submitted by advertisers and it didn’t make any sense. This report details the flaws and explains the discrepancy. We want to help consulting firms.”
But one part Google needs to understand fast: it’s people’s perception of the problem that matters most. Whether the reports are inflated on not, people now think of Google as having the issue. Personally, I’ve been feeling the crunch in the last 45 days as advertisers “appear” to be pulling some support from the program. Add to this uncertainty the fact that Google has also been releasing a great number of experimental advertising products, and you have to wonder how close the end really is.
As a customer of Google’s, I was completely underwhelmed with their customer service. Paying them was a sterile procedure, and I’m sure it only makes sense to people to continue to pay as long as they get results. But these people also need assurances that the problem of click fraud is not being ignored.
Time will tell just how big this issue gets, but I think it looms extremely large right now.
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