Actualités

US - Ted Rooke de Nurun cité dans BtoB Magazine (article en anglais)

While click fraud can be a very real problem for pay-per-click search engine marketing, we estimate that fewer than 8% of all clicks generated are fraudulent.

BtoB Magazine

Problem: Getting ripped off by click fraud.
Solution: While click fraud can be a very real problem for pay-per-click search engine marketing, we estimate that fewer than 8% of all clicks generated are fraudulent. The perceived threat is much greater than the actual threat. We also believe it is ultimately the engine's responsibility to police the situation. However, we have identified some key tactics advertisers can use while engaging in PPC in order to mitigate the threat of click fraud.

1. Determine the campaign's cost per action (CPA). Managing your campaigns against a CPA (any action will suffice) will enable a campaign to "self-correct" the effects of click fraud. Terms with high, or even moderate, levels of fraudulent clicks will not show positive ROI.

2. Limit your use of high-cost, broad terms. Terms that have a high cost-per-click are typically the terms the perpetrators will focus on because they produce the most revenue.

3. Minimize the use of content targeting within your campaigns. Most fraudulent activity is conducted by unscrupulous content partners looking to increase their revenue from the paid search platform. If you do use content targeting, be sure to police the partners yourself before allowing them into the campaign.

4. Use a third-party ad serving tool. Doing so will allow you to determine if the clicks being counted by the engines match the clicks being counted by your server. Should discrepancies occur, you can question the engine's results. By using a third-party ad server, you can also determine the arrival rate of the clicks coming from the campaign. Should the arrival rate for a given term set, or on a given day, vary drastically from the norms of the campaign, it may indicate fraud.

5. Regularly compare traffic results from the organic listings to the paid listing. Use your Web analytics tool to determine the volume of site visits that are coming from specific keywords from both the natural and paid listings to determine a standard ratio. If you see a significant increase in the click share coming from paid listings, it may be a sign of click fraud.

Ted Rooke is director of search engine marketing at nurun, a global interactive marketing agency.