Interesting Wasington Post article

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7529767/

 

Very interesting, wow ... 50K worth the fraudclicks?

this I disagree with though

but I can see that after $50k of fraud clicks you can come to that assumption easily.

 

I think what Google needs to do is to refund advertisers for click-fraud. I'm not sure if they are currently doing that though.

I'm also of the opinion that since Google filed the law suit, some advertisers are viewing that as an excuse to get money out of the Google and the like. "Hey they admitted that click-fraud happens, so click-fraud has definitely happened to my ads too".

At least that's what I think. I'm not an advertiser, so I don't know what stats Google and the like provide, and how easy it would be for you to see if you are a real victim of click-fraud though.

 

I must disagree with you on this one, sitetutor. I have reported many people cheating adsense, and all I always get is the same canned reply. The first time I thought "wow, Google actually replied to my report! They are going to do something about it!" but when I got the exact same reply 2 times later I realized that they couldn't care less about it.

The sites I reported continued cheating the system without any problems. I just got tired of wasting my time trying to get Google to do something about it. Yeah, it is easy do file a lawsuit and hit the headlines when you are after a $50k amount, but what about all those hundreds or thousands of mini-cheaters? People that cheat 30 or 40 bucks a day? Multiply that amount among all the crooks and you will end up with a very scary scene.

 

I stand corrected. I was under the impression they were doing more. But I have seen some improvement or rather been told of it. I can only imagine the amount of complaints they must be getting. How they are going to solve the problem will be a mystery until the day they do so.

Mike

 

Makes you wonder if the article is right and Google does have a lack of staff to handle the complaints

 

They probably prioritize by the amount of damage accused of being done, but in this case it is alarming, $50k and noone did anything? wow

And in the mean time guys like Josh get banned

 

I reported a site that had it big red letters next to the ad "CLICK TO SUPPORT SITE", and a few days later I noticed that they no longer had the text next to the ad, but the AdSense ad was still there. I can't believe google let them keep their account.

 

Nice Post, Fryman.

This part really erks me. There are some that believe that they can handle their own policing. You can bet that they do have the staff.

The hidden message I am seeing here is they (Google) obvoiusly don't see this as a big problem or they would appoint more staff and technologies to combat this.

Every article I have read on this subject at some point mentions that it is NOT in the SE's interest to be aggressive towards this (click fraud) as they stand to gain the most. This begs the question 'Are they a part of the fraud loop?'

 

Let's not forget that being a publicly traded company... Google's primary reponsibility has shifted from it's advertisers to its shareholders.

just my opinion after working for 18 years in the securities industry. Once a company goes public, their main focus is keeping shareholders happy.

 

would this be similar to advertisers paying a tv channel for advertising,,,,but everyone is watching the OTHER station when it is shown?
or paying for leaflets to be distributed only for thehomeowner to take them from the doormat to the bin?

i dont condone click fraud,and this example does not justify it in anyway, but i would assume advertisers have to budget a certain amount of 'waste' for every type of campaign.

there are statistics saying 20% of clicks are fraud...that leaves 80% genuine.
i wish my leaflet campaign had that kind of success

 

I think there's way to much whining going on here (in this forum in general).

You all complain how google does everything wrong, yet you've attached yourself to them like one of those little fish attached to a shark... if click fraud is so bad, do not use their service. If they ban too many people for no reason, don't sign up. If they're not as relevant results as you think they should be, search elsewhere.

EVEN IF 50% of all the clicks were fraud, you still have 50% that is 100% targeted, marketable traffic interested in your ad. You can't get that kind of advertising ANYWHERE ELSE. You spend $20k on a TV commercial that comes on a 2 AM with 100,000 people watching, and maybe 10 of them are interested in your miracle fat loss gizmo.

When will the complaining ever stop....

 

YO YO...do you have an AdWords account? My bet is NO.

When you go to your local convenience store and get milk and eggs but the merchant forgets to give you change from the twenty...would you complain?

 

The auctions expert story is nothing new and shows the flaws of the PPC model. The PPC model isn't a very effective for of advertising for most sites. I tried it my self with abysmal results. I got more leads and sales with just my sig here than with adwords and this was free. I have tried adwords five times already for a variety of products and lost money.

I wouldn't be surprised if most people abandoned the PPC model in say 2 years. That would be really bad for google. I got alot of heat for saying this about adwords and the PPC model, but it simply has to be said.

 

I agree and most shareholders have no clue what it takes to operate a corporation like Google. They are often very shortsighted and rely on the company's reputation to keep it running well.
People who started a company themselves will always be more worried about the future of their company while stockholders can always sell off their stocks and jump off.

btw I don't think people read the TOS at all http://www.bloggertalk.com/showthread.php?p=3041

 

Actually yes I do. I used it for a full month. The site I was using it on didn't convert as well as I hoped and I stopped. I will use it again when I'm done redoing that site for better conversions.

 

Did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason it didn't convert was because you were getting clicks from people cheating adsense looking for a quick buck and couldn't care less about your site or what you sell???

 

You are not alone. Alot of people have had dissapointing returns with adwords. Its just a giant racket.