What percentage of Google's advertising referrals are the result of click fraud? We still don't know, despite the company's $90 million credit settlement with advertisers last week. The
Washington
Post takes an inside look at companies affected by click fraud, both advertiser victims, and the auditing firms they hire to analyze where each click comes from. One advertiser, Radiator.com,
said auditing firm ClickFacts reported "very high fraud rates to us"--35 percent of referrals from Google and 17 percent from Yahoo. The company said it will present Google and Yahoo with the report
next week, seeking a refund. That said, both Google and Yahoo have downplayed the severity of the click fraud problem, the former rushing quickly to stamp out the Arkansas lawsuit with the settlement
announced last week. Some analysts say Google wants to establish a legal precedent before a more serious click fraud suit in California is considered for class-action status at a hearing in May. Click
fraud is impossible to prove without advertiser data. One analyst says the search industry needs a standard for Internet ad auditing, although it's unlikely advertisers will be willing to give up
their sales data, and search engines may not want to commit to fighting fraud for fear of lost revenue. That would be stupid, says the
Post's Leslie Walker, because ignoring the problem could
ruin the search industry.
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