Early Thursday, Google posted a notice to its AdWords blog outlining a new plan to help advertisers prevent click fraud. Well it's about time. Click fraud is the practice of illegally driving up the
cost of clicks by deploying automated software or paid consumers to repeatedly click on ads. Advertisers use this to drain competitors' AdWords budgets, while publishers use it to generate more
revenue from AdSense. Click fraud is the scourge of the search marketing industry. Action from Google was long overdue, especially considering that the search giant makes money in spite of the
problem.
Now, AdWords participants can block certain Internet Protocol addresses from receiving their ads. That way, if a single IP address is repeatedly searching for the
same products and clicking on the same ads (an indicator of click fraud), the advertiser can block that computer, and they will no longer be charged for its actions. Google will provide clients with a
standard interface for reporting click fraud and requesting investigations. The program also publishes how much money is saved from filtering false clicks. This could help curb the problem for
advertisers, though it doesn't address its abuse by publishers in the AdSense network.
Read the whole story at CNET News.com »