Anchor Intelligence unveiled new data on click fraud rates for the fourth quarter of last year in conjunction with an overall report on click fraud throughout 2009, and the picture remains an ugly one.
Anchor, the California-based traffic quality provider that Ecommerce Junkie regards as the most reliable industry source of click fraud information, states in its 2009 Year in Review that click fraud rates jumped by nearly 40% between the third (18.6 percent) and fourth (25.7 percent) quarters last year—meaning that by the end of 2009, one out of every four ad clicks across the web constituted some attempt at click fraud. That’s a percentage that should make all online advertisers very nervous.
Now, to be fair, some increase in Q4 rates probably should’ve been expected. After all, it’s a time period that includes Cyber Monday and the holiday shopping season at large, when more ads are being bought and placed, and millions are using the web for holiday shopping.
But with that increase in ads and traffic came an even more expansive effort from fraudsters. Botnets, the automated ring leaders of click fraud activity, continue to grow in number, are increasingly hard to track, and are getting even more devious. Anchor noted that newer advertisers, for example, saw an even higher rate of fraud towards the end of the year as these botnets and click fraud farms expanded to every corner of web advertising.
The report also noted that the U.S. and Canada continue to be the largest sources of attempted click fraud by volume, while warning that 2010 could be even worse as cyber criminals look to exploit the growth and popularity of social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
“As botnets become more flexible and resilient, click fraud will be increasingly difficult to identify without a collaborative and systematic, network-based approach,” said Ken Miller, Anchor’s CEO. “By releasing this report, we hope to provide a barometer by which the industry can assess the level of threats to online advertising while also conveying the importance of advertising with ad networks and search engines that partner with third-parties to certify their traffic quality.”
As we said, a 25-plus percent rate of click fraud, as well as Anchor’s warning that things may not improve anytime soon, should concern any web advertiser. Many industry insiders privately say that click fraud will never completely be abolished and suggest that perhaps, budgetingfor losses because of click fraud will become standard practice. While we’re not willing to give in quite that easily, it’s obvious that click fraud perpetrators are adapting and evolving faster than wecan counter.
That means that ultimately, the burden for dealing with click fraud is on you, the advertiser. We’ve said time and again that it’s vital to educate yourself how click fraud works and keep constant tabs on your click logs to learn the signs consistent with botnet activity. Doing so will put you in a better position to spot instances of fraud, and thus help you better determine which web advertising optionsare the safest.
As Anchor Intelligence’s report proves yet again, click fraud is not going anywhere anytime soon. Are you prepared to deal with it here in 2010 and beyond? Feel free to leave us questions or tips in the comment section below.
