The major web search companies are joining together to
help tackle the problem of click fraud in web
advertising.
Internet advertisers usually pay search companies and others
according to the number of clicks on the ads distributed on
advertisers’ behalf.
Click fraud usually involves websites that host ads bumping up
the clicks on ads to generate more business, or companies trying to
deplete the ad budgets of rivals by generating multiple clicks on
the ads.
The US-based Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Media
Rating Council are teaming up with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft,
Ask.com, LookSmart and others to form the Click Measurement Working
Group. One notable absentee from the group is AOL.
The group will establish guidelines for identifying valid and
invalid clicks on ads.
The guidelines will be used by the industry to help measure the
actual problem of click fraud, as search companies increasingly
find themselves in legal battles with advertisers over click
charges.
Google recently settled a class action click fraud case with a
£48m pay-out, although this settlement is being challenged by some
of the plaintiffs.
The company also recently announced it would make public to
advertisers for the first time its estimated click fraud figures on
their ads.
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