BusinessWeek Publishes Big Investigation on Click Fraud

Click Fraud, the practice of generating automatic clicks on search ads, is becoming a significant threat to search engine advertising, according to a BusinessWeek cover story. The article exposes how Google and Yahoo are passively profiting from click fraud and, in theory, "have an incentive to tolerate it."

According to a BusinessWeek investigation, there's a thriving click-fraud underground populated that includes "paid to read" rings that click ads over and over again around the world. This is causing advertisers to get antsy and it poses a significant threat to Google and Yahoo.

My take on all of this is that advertising is clearly at a major crossroads. The old model of throwing stuff up there and seeing what sticks is dying. Search engine marketing, while certainly effective, can have its challenges too and clearly can be gamed. Over time, people are going to say "enough." They're going to want companies to engage them in conversation before they are convinced they should buy. This is why I believe we're about to enter the golden age of PR.

Tags: clickfraud