Insight into the Jump in Click Fraud

This morning, Click Forensics released the Click Fraud Index numbers for Q4 2008.  The overall rate jumped to 17.1%.  This means that across our community of advertiser data, we find that one out of every six clicks are invalid and not worth paying for.  There were three factors that drove the increase.

[caption id="attachment_303" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Source: Click Fraud Index"][/caption]

First, the increase lines up with past increases in Q4, somewhat of a seasonal bump.  This year however, was magnified by the economic downturn and a correlating increase in cybercrime.  I wrote about this last week.

Secondly, there was a 14% increase in the botnet rate, surpassing 30% for the first time.  There have been quite a few reports from McAfee, Symantec and others noting a similar trend.  Botnet attacks are becoming more sophisticated and difficult to stop.

Finally, for the first time in awhile, we saw an uptick in click farm activity.  Unfortunately, there lots of sites that pay people to click on ads.  This type of activity is difficult to catch and unfortunately, advertisers lose when this occurs.

While the jump is alarming, there is a growing current of cooperation to address the problem.  At Click Forensics, we continue to work with advertisers, agencies and ad providers to build solutions to ensure advertisers get what they pay for.  

Coverage of the news can be found here:

CNET

WebProNews

MediaPost

TechCrunch

New York Times 

Search Engine Land 

Search Engine Watch 

Tom

A Lesson in Sportsmanship

Without question, one of the greatest coaches in my lifetime has been John Wooden.  With ten championships over a twelve year period, no one would question Coach Wooden is among the best.  Ask any player who played for the "Wizard of Westwood" and you will learn they all learned more about life than about basketball.  It was Wooden who said, "Sports do not build character. They reveal it."

Character has been revealed through sport in a game played in Dallas where Covenant defeated Dallas Academy 100-0 on Jan. 13.  Leading 59-0 at the half, the team continued to shoot three-point shots and press on defense.  Credit goes to Dallas Academy for never giving up.  I was struck by their attitude and desire to improve shown in this video from the Dallas Morning News.

While not a point was scored by the team it's clear to me that there was a point made.  After the fact, the Covenant team players and coaches apologized and offered to forfeit the win.  Lesson learned.  Wooden is right, sports reveal character... in both winning and losing.  The key is learning to apply those lessons to life.

Wooden went on to greatness not because of his knowledge of basketball, but because of his perspective on life.  Let me leave you with John Wooden's Seven Point Creed, given to him by his father Joshua upon his graduation:

• Be true to yourself.


• Make each day your masterpiece.


• Help others.


• Drink deeply from good books.


• Make friendship a fine art.


• Build a shelter against a rainy day.


• Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

All good words to live by.  Thanks coach Wooden for 98 years of leadership.  And congrats to the team at Dallas Academy for reminding us that in life, there are more points to be made off the court than on it.

Tom

Getting an Uptick in a Downturn

It's no secret our county’s economy is slowing and times are getting tough.  While there is great optimism, there is an undercurrent of concern.  In anytime of economic downturn, one unwanted byproduct is that crime increases ("Statistics point to increase in crime").  Unfortunately, this includes cyber crime and specifically, click fraud.

For almost three years now Click Forensics has been tracking click fraud.  While the overall rate somewhat stabilized during 2008, the number of advertisers affected and the dollars lost continue to rise.  As we face more sophisticated attacks in 2009, I wanted to highlight some recent advances in the battle and share some specific steps advertisers can do to ensure they get what they pay for.

Cooperation has been a theme for 2008.  Progress is being made on three fronts by leaders in the industry.  First, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) continues its work on defining guidelines for counting clicks.  Click Forensics continues to take an active role in this important effort and supports it as a good first step.  Secondly, leading search providers, including Google and Yahoo!, have enhanced their products with better tools to manage campaigns and announced traffic quality centers to provide additional resources to advertisers.

The third initiative has been the joint effort of Click Forensics and Yahoo! to build the FACTr process (Fully Automated Click Tracking Reconciliation).  For years, advertisers have been frustrated when they have found invalid activity in their pay per click campaigns.  Now there is a simple, automated process that connects advertisers to the ad providers.  The FACTr system was built by Yahoo! and Click Forensics and launched publicly in July of 2008.  By the fall, other ad providers including LookSmart, Miva and Google were added.

While progress continues, here are specific steps advertisers can take to protect their online investment.  First, advertisers should monitor campaign performance at the most granular level. Click fraud attacks come in spikes of activity.  By watching campaign performance on a daily basis, advertisers can see anomalies and alert the ad provider quickly.  Looking for spikes in clicks, drops in conversion ratios, and higher than normal impression levels are all signs something may be out of line.

Secondly, now is a good time to double check campaign settings.  A large number of unwanted clicks come as a result of campaigns not being set up correctly.  Look at geo-target settings to ensure they match your campaign goals.  Review day part settings to ensure you have optimal ad delivery for delivering quality traffic.

Finally, avoid paying for clicks from low quality traffic sources.  By utilizing the site exclusion functionality made available by ad providers, you can block bad clicks from ever getting to your campaign.  Click Forensics has a process called, Intelligent Exclusion™ that dynamically identifies bad traffic sources and eliminates them from the campaign.  We see a 43.5% decline in the overall invalid rate for advertisers who use this process.  Keeping the money in your pocket is always better than having to go back and ask for a refund!

Like you, we are hopeful that the economy will make a quick recovery.  As it does, we will all benefit.  In the meantime, it’s more important than ever that advertisers are on the lookout for threats to their ad budgets.  You can count on all of us at Click Forensics to continue to work on behalf of the entire industry to bring solutions to the marketplace to ensure advertisers get what they pay for.

Tom

LOST: Simply the best show on televison

While I'm not a huge TV fan,  I do like to watch sports, news and Seinfeld reruns.  It has been a long time since there was a series that interested me enough to pay attention week in and week out.  In September of 2005 I had rotator cuff surgery on my shoulder.  I came home from the surgery the day that LOST had the recap episode from season one and the first episode of season two.  As I lay on my side, somewhat drugged up, I watched and immediately became hooked.

LOST interests me for three reasons. First, the show is extremely well acted.   Michael Emerson is amazing and well deserving of his Emmy nominations.  Other actors on the show are equally engaging.  There is an interesting mix of science fiction, action, romance and even comic relief.  The balance built by the producers and delivered by the actors is impressive.

The second aspect of LOST that I like is the plot.  It is incredibly complex and woven together by interesting dialogue, unexpected twists and turns and intense dramatic moments.  I am not easily impressed, but the story of LOST has kept me guessing now for several years.  I have no idea where it will end but am confident that all aspects are well thought out and will converge in a way that makes sense to me.

The third part of the show that I find remarkable is the music.  The intensity of the drama and action is magnified by music that penetrates your mind in a way that draws you in.  It fits perfectly with the plot and enhances the experience instead of distracting from it.  There are two types of music on the show.  There is the amazing background music played as the drama unfolds.  Then there is the music that is filled with clues to help unlock the mystery of the show.  Songs like "Walking After Midnight" and "Building a Mystery" lead to clues to the the show.  Others such as "Good Vibrations" or "Xanadu" offer a fun way to break the intensity of the show.

There are a million little clues embedded in the show LOST.  Watching them unfold and try to piece the show together has become a fun pastime the last few years.  I even supplement my LOST watching with LOST listening to podcasts.  ABC has an excellent podcast and I enjoy listening to Jay and Jack, two guys that comment on the show in an entertaining way.

So if you have not gotten "lost" its not too late!  The show starts again this week for season five and concludes next year.  There is a definite end point and while it will take some time to get caught up, it is well worth it.  Two thumbs up for ABC on LOST and I look forward to seeing the last 32 episodes play out.  Then, I guess it will be back to Seinfeld reruns  :-/

Tom

"Digitize Me" Take Aways...

I enjoyed leading the seminar, "Digitize Me: Practical and Useful Tips for an Online World".  I wanted to provide links to the presentation as well resources.  They are all listed below.

Digitize Me
View presentation.

NBC Today Show - "OMG My Mom's on Facebook!"

Handouts:

Social Networking Summary

Students Rules for Online Safety

Family Contract for Online Safety

USA Today article ' "Kids Reveal a lot about themselves online"

Resources:

Social Networking: A Parents Guide (FTC)

MySpaceMyKids

NetSmartz.org

WiredSafety.org

The Child Safety Network

GetNetWise.org

SafeTeens.com

Books:

MySpace Unraveled

MySpaceMyKids

Facebook for Dummies

Monitoring Software:

CyberPatrol

CyberSitter

NetNanny

Facebook Poll Question

I've been asked to teach a Facebook seminar and have been working on it over the holiday. I'm curious as to how others are using Facebook, please take a moment and answer the question below. I'll share results and my presentation in a future blog post. Feel free to add a comment... thanks!

[polldaddy poll=1249020]

Jack FM, Not Your Father's Radio Station

Let me be clear, I really don't like commercial radio. I spend a lot of time in my car and usually listen to podcasts. (Some of my favorites include the LOST Podcast with Jay and Jack, The Onion Radio News and Today in iPhone). No commercials, I listen to what I want when I want and it's always fresh... three things radio is not!   Sometimes I will listen to CD's or music on my iPod but rarely the radio, when I do... it's sports talk.

Somehow, I stumbled onto Jack FM. I have to say I like it! Rarely do I hear the same song twice and the variety is amazing.  I have fairly diverse tastes in music (ranging from Rascal Flatts to Van Halen to Pavarotti).  Jack FM seems to play a little of everything (minus the Pavarotti!).  I learned today that Jack FM has over 50 stations nationally (and a few around the world).  Interesting concept that seems pretty efficient.

So wherever you are, there may a be a Jack FM near you.  Tune in, crank it up and dance away... unless of course you are driving~

Tom