• John Battelle's Searchblog, Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1 PM

John Battelle's quick write-up about Click Forensics' latest click fraud report poses a huge question for the paid search industry--just who is right when it comes to click fraud stats, Click Forensics or the engines?

Click Forensics' latest data shows that almost 30% of all clicks on the content networks are fraudulent, and the overall rate of click fraud is about 17%. Battelle acknowledges that the third-party click auditor "certainly benefits from press about high click fraud," and that the engines continuously respond to the stats by saying "all of this is overblown and misunderstood"--but he still can't come to a conclusion about the report either way. "So why does Click Forensics keep at it?" he asks. "Who's right here?"

Reader comments provide insight into how the search community views Click Forensics, the stats, and the engines' responses--ranging from an agreement that fraud on content networks is quite high, to disbelief that the giants would leave themselves open to new class action suits from defrauded marketers. Readers also raise questions about transparency in the PPC industry in general, and share some of their own click fraud stats.

Read the whole story at John Battelle's Searchblog »