An independent expert has backed Google’s efforts to
combat “click fraud” in a report commissioned as part of a $90m
(£48.5m) settlement of a lawsuit filed against the search engine
giant by advertiser Lane's Gifts.
Google, which makes the bulk of its $2.46bn revenues from
pay-per-click advertising, was challenged by Lane Gifts in the US
courts. The advertiser claimed that Google was driving up
advertising costs by failing to take reasonable steps to combat
“click fraud” – where website visitors click on paid advertising or
affiliate links without any intention of purchasing.
As part of an agreed settlement, the two sides commissioned New
York University professor of information systems Alexander Tuzhilin
to independently assess Google’s filtering measures against click
fraud.
In his report, filed with the courts, Tuzhilin says, “Based on
my evaluation, I conclude that Google's efforts to combat click
fraud are reasonable.”
“The current set of Google filters is fairly stable and only
requires periodic 'tuning' and ‘maintenance’ rather than a radical
re-engineering, even when major fraudulent attacks are launched
against the Google Network,” the report says.
It highlights a policy change by Google last year, when the
search giant stopped billing advertisers where website visitors
clicked twice on the same advert. But Tuzhilin also criticises
Google because it took two years to make the change.
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