AdAdvantageSuccess Home Page for Internet Marketers!

Home   |   Marketing eCourse   |   Online Marketing Kit   |   Web Hosting   |   Links   |   ClickBank Portal
Advertising Information   |   Blogging & RSS   |   Branding Information   |   Copywriting  |   Traffic Building
Email Marketing   |   Ezine Publishing   |   Site Promotion   |   PPC Advertising   |   E-Books

Googles Wonderland: Trouble In Paradise?


The fairy tale existance of Google is starting to experience shockwaves.

So, what's the source of these shockwaves? Click fraud. As my readers know, I've written several articles on the subject of click fraud, suggesting that since it's the market leader, Google should take a more proactive approach with the problem of click fraud.

Until now, Google has been mostly quiet about the subject, issuing this single statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission:

"We are exposed to the risk of fraudulent clicks on our ads. We have regularly paid refunds related to fraudulent clicks and expect to do so in the future. If we are unable to stop this fraudulent activity, these refunds may increase. If we find new evidence of past fraudulent clicks, we may have to issue refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid to our Google Network members."

So, why isn't Google doing more about click fraud? In one of my articles, I theorized that with the amount of money involved, it's actually more cost effective for Google to issue an occasional refund to its advertisers, than to develop technology to eliminate click fraud.

That theory was echoed in a recent article, in which the author wrote:

"Google's primary defense against click fraud has been to refund advertisers their money if they complain and Google sees evidence that fraudulent clicks have occured. The problem with this is that the burden of proof is on the advertiser ... and Google knows that most advertisers will not take the time to argue. Therefore, Google has a financial incentive not to deal with click fraud on their own. It not only costs them to deal with the problem but if they do find a solution to stopping click fraud ... it will cost Google much more when they don't get paid for 20 percent or more of their clicks."

However, all of that may be about to change. At an investor conference last Wednesday, Google CFO George Reyes stated:

"I think something has to be done about this really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model."

My question is this: What took Google so long to come to that realization? It's not like click fraud just magically appeared yesterday. The media has been reporting on the problem for at least the last 3 years.

Smug in its ivory tower, did Google think the problem was just going to go away by itself? Or was it waiting for Overture or one of the smaller pay-per-click companies to solve the problem, so it wouldn't have to deal with it?

These are troubling questions, to say the least. Even more troubling is Google's passive approach to a serious problem, which in my opinion has been reprehensible.

It should be interesting to see what Google's next move is. Google CFO George Reyes statement notwithstanding, I'll believe Google is serious about eliminating click fraud, when I finally see it!

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net.

Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net


MORE RESOURCES:

JumpFly PPC Advertising News

Starting New PPC Advertising Campaigns - Begin With Google AdWords
JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - Nov 24, 2008
New clients will often ask us here at JumpFly which search engine is the best to begin pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on. Clearly, Google is the first ...


JumpFly PPC Advertising News

Cost Per Conversion in PPC Advertising
JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - Nov 14, 2008
... of spend as it relates to your average sale value — so is 5% a good ratio between pay-per-click (PPC) advertising spend and revenue generated? Is 10%? ...


JumpFly PPC Advertising News

Why Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising is Great
JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - Nov 7, 2008
Honestly, I don’t understand why every single company or person trying to sell a product or service is not doing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. ...


3FN Improves Hardware Monitoring and Replacement Services
HostSearch.com - 6 hours ago
3FN Marketing is an online ppc advertising network that offers advertisers to benefit from the optimized targeted pay per click advertising. ...


AORN Works Selects 90octane for Strategic Pay-Per-Click ...
MarketWatch - Dec 1, 2008
... largest perioperative nursing association, has hired conversion-driven marketing agency 90octane to manage its pay-per-click (PPC) advertising program. ...
AORN Works Selects 90octane for Strategic Pay-Per-Click ... International Business Times
all 16 news articles


Search Engine Journal

Five Critical PPC Budgeting Problems
Search Engine Journal - 23 hours ago
Some companies do not budget their PPC advertising spend. But many set specific monthly budgets. Sometimes a part of the annual spend is left back to assign ...


Dallas SEO Services Company Hired IRS Tax Law Firm
PRLog.Org (press release), Romania - 5 hours ago
While many online businesses choose to use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, SEM is a long-term strategy focused on a creating global visibility to potential ...


Review: Google Insights Can Help Merchants Optimize PPC/SEO Campaigns
Practical Ecommerce (subscription), Grand Junction - Nov 25, 2008
Like it or not, many online retailers depend on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) to drive shoppers to their digital ...


JumpFly PPC Advertising News

Is the party over for Google? Trouble at Google AdWords?
JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - Nov 25, 2008
The reason for continued growth in PPC advertising despite this crisis is because it works. While “decelerating growth” may be a sobering reality for Google ...


More from the Mailbag: Quality Score Mysteries and Great PPC ...
Search Engine Watch - Nov 20, 2008
New topic: many readers ask me whether I can recommend good beginner resources for learning PPC advertising. While this column aims to be a soup-to-nuts ...

PPC-Advertising - Google News

Home   |   Marketing eCourse   |   Online Marketing Kit   |   Web Hosting   |   Links   |   ClickBank Portal
Advertising Information   |   Blogging & RSS   |   Branding Information   |   Copywriting   |   Traffic Building
Email Marketing   |   Ezine Publishing   |   Site Promotion   |   PPC Advertising   |   E-Books
Copywrite ©      2006 www.AdAdvantageSuccess.com      All Rights Reserved.