I've already received an advanced press release regarding a major Analytics Vendor who will be adding Click Fraud Detection to their offerings [this will be announced on Monday, Feb 27th at Search Engine Strategies]; since it's not announced yet I can not release the name of the vendor.
But there's another Click Detection product that's free and coming on the market next week as well (hmmm.... maybe click fraud detection is becoming such a concern to advertisers that Analytics firms are finding they need to provide customers a means to detect click fraud). Here's a summary of what the new free Click Fraud detection service does and how it does it:
Fraudulent clicks are created in one of two ways - either a human is physically clicking on your search terms or a robot or script is written to simulate the actions of a human visit. Click Forensics is focused on developing an industry solution to this growing problem. Click Forensics publishes a Click Fraud Index™ that defines the probability of Click Fraud based on click behavior.
Click Forensics found the three factors that affect fraudulent click activity: Technical, Behavioral and Market Attributes of Click Fraud. Behavioral attributes include visit depth, viewing patterns, trend analysis, time between clicks and more. The ClickForensics™ Rating Engine utilizes complete path data and applies historical visit activity by visitor to identify fraudulent clicks. Through a comprehensive research study, they have determined that market factors such as the number of bidders, trend in term cost, competitive pressure and term value all have a direct affect on the click fraud threat level. Click Forensics monitors these attributes on an ongoing basis and builds these into the Click Forensics Rating Engine algorithm.
They developed a system that pulls site data into a relational database and scores behavioral and technical attributes on "learned behavior". The proprietary scoring system incorporates an overlay of market attributes. This data adds to the accuracy of the technical and behavioral scoring by adding in current market information pulled directly from search providers.
However, here comes the tricky part. In order to get the free click fraud information you need to pony up your raw server logs to Click Forensics for analysis...not everyone is going to want to this - and many are not even prepared to do this (since they don't have ready access to their raw server logs).
Infact - here's the information from their own pages:
Acquire: We work with your IT department in one of two ways to acquire your data: first, we securely acquire your log files using 128 SSL encryption. They would be processed overnight and ready for your review in the morning. The other option would be to place our TAG iQ code onto your web site. Either way, we'll work with you to make it easy. Process: We process data into a relational database allowing us to segregate certain attributes. Our first step is to extract paid searches that did not convert. From there we apply our proprietary algorithm of over twenty dynamic attributes. Behavioral attributes include things like visit depth, viewing pattern, trend analysis, and search term value. Technical attributes begin with anonymous proxy identification, IP validation, cookie-to-IP validation, and origination source.
Report: The Click Forensics rating engine summary report identifies threat level by term and search provider. This high-level report immediately alerts you to potential fraudulent activity.
I'd like a sample report that's posted on the website but their was none (you have to contact them and see if your business qualifies for the service - at that point they will send you a sample report).
Based on Click Fraud detection reports I pull out of Keywordmax, this sound like a step up but it also presents additional complications of sharing your IP data with someone else. I felt I could get what I needed out of KeywordMax's click auditor - but i did notice that PPC search behavior was not really part of their package. For example, they can detect the indentical IP addresses clicking on your PPC ad during a short period of time - but they don't factor in these additional behavioral and market information - so maybe this new service will help you.
Based on what I've seen with 2 of my clients running KeywordMax, there may be up to 10% of all PPC charges that may be due to Click Fraud. If your a small advertiser - it may be more trouble than it's worth to pick a fight with Google and Yahoo over a couple of dollars (esp if your campaign is working well). ON the other hand...if your a big advertiser and your spending top dollar - then Click Forensics is a solution you'd want to look at because 10% or more of your PPC spend is a lot of money to lose.
But the biggest test of this service will be what happens when you got back to your PPC providers with the Click Fraud report. Will Google accept it? Will Yahoo accept it? Will they put up a fight? It's only worth the effort if you can get the money back or credit from PPC engines. My understanding is that it's not very easy to get Google or Yahoo to give you money back on a regular basis so I think we'll have to wait and see if all of the work involved is going to mean any real savings in the typical PPC advertising campaign.
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