Click fraud is a serious problem complicated by the fact that click fraud data is in short supply. The <a href="http://www.clickfraudindex.com/" target="_blank">Click Fraud Index</a> aims to change that.

Thomas Claburn, Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

April 18, 2006

1 Min Read

Click fraud is a serious problem complicated by the fact that click fraud data is in short supply. The Click Fraud Index aims to change that.

The good news is that the incidence of click fraud appears to be lower than the disturbingly high figure of 20% to 40% that has been suggested.

The bad news is that at 14%, that's still a lot of bad clicks.Any company losing 14% of its marketing budget should sit up and take notice. As the Click Fraud blog notes, "It still means that click fraud could account for over $750 million in 2006." I suspect Google will look very smart for settling its click fraud problem for a mere $90 million, at least until cases brought by other companies come to trial.

The subject is sure to come up at the Ad:tech Conference in San Francisco next week.

About the Author(s)

Thomas Claburn

Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

Thomas Claburn has been writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications such as New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and television, having earned a not particularly useful master's degree in film production. He wrote the original treatment for 3DO's Killing Time, a short story that appeared in On Spec, and the screenplay for an independent film called The Hanged Man, which he would later direct. He's the author of a science fiction novel, Reflecting Fires, and a sadly neglected blog, Lot 49. His iPhone game, Blocfall, is available through the iTunes App Store. His wife is a talented jazz singer; he does not sing, which is for the best.

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