Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

Fighting click fraud: Is it really down for the count?

DAVID GEORGE-COSH

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 2:20 PM EDT 28/08/07

Internet advertising networks say everything's under control, but independent analysts say the battle's far from won ...Read the full article

This conversation is closed

  1. David C from a constant traveller from, Canada writes: What is funny about this is that I have never bought something advertised online at any of the sites we visit. In fact, when those big ads come up in place of a webpage I am looking at, I navigate away. I am surprised at how much money is spent on internet advertising..

    Of course I also change the channel on the TV when an advertisment comes on. . must be me LOL
  2. Cymro yn byw yma Canada from Canada writes: David C from a constant traveller from, Canada writes: when those big ads come up in place of a webpage I am looking at, I navigate away. I am surprised at how much money is spent on internet advertising..
    Of course I also change the channel on the TV when an advertisement comes on.
    ****************************************************
    CONGRATULATIONS, ME TOO! And I vet all phone calls and NEVER, NEVER pick up the phone, if I do NOT know who is calling.
    And I NEVER NEVER open an email if I am not convinced I know who sent it.
    IF everybody did likewise, the world would be a better place.
    A lot of people would have to get honest jobs.
  3. aloysuis paczjoskteyochuk from Canada writes: Because advertising on TV is a necessary nuisance in order for me to watch free television I accept it, but oddly when the commercials are at a higher volume then the show that I am watching I simply mute it and ignore the ad. If they were at a lower volume more people would probably pay more attention to the commercial trying to hear it. I find the best and probably the most remembered ads are the ones that have something on the screen that has nothing to do with the product advertised leaving the person watching trying to decipher the whole ad meanwhile the name is etched in your mind. An example that comes close to what I am talking about was the MTS ad with two bison quietly standing in a field looking at a riding mower. What has that got to do with phone service?
    Internet ads I just ignore and emails are opened only if I know the sender, and even then if the heading looks suspicious I will email the sender to verify if that sender was the actual sender.
  4. Mr. Happy from Canada writes: How about this for another example of click fraud: GOOG & YHOO shareholders clicking on 2 or 3 adwords everytime they use the search engine. You'd be surprised how quickly it can add up :^)
  5. Walt O'Brien from Binghamton, NY, United States writes: My favourite website for clarifying what this type fraud comes down to is http://www.clickmonkeys.com

    Want a good laugh, check it out. It's too true to be satire.

    I defy anyone to show me the use of advertising to the extent it can be "scientifically" quantified. It's an art, like pickpocketing, selling snake oil, and, erm, sword-swallowing.
  6. John Stanton from Toronto, Canada writes: The above commentors are confused. Just because they are not in the market for something, they make blanket assumptions that ads are ineffective, and that everyone feels the same way they do. Think about. If this were true, there would be no advertising. Fact is, if you are actually looking for a Johnson bracket, and you visit a site about Johnson brackets, and lo and behold Johnson bracket manufacturer A has an ad directed at solving your problem, you will click on it, and learn something useful you didn’t know before. And this may lead you to buy the product. This is why there is an ad industry - supply and demand. However, if you are surfing a generic site like this to read articles, and it flashes random messages at you, sure its annoying, and its certainly less effective for the advertiser. As for click-fraud - its pretty far-fetched. Any organisation with the sophisticated technology required to make money with this, and get away with it, may be targeting those few fortune 500 companies that advertise online. But there’s no money for them in targeting the other 99% of advertisers. And if your competitors keep clicking on your ads, its easily detected and discounted. Big deal, it costs a few bucks on occasion, if it happens. Its like those people that take a pile of newspapers out of the vending machine after paying for only one. It hasn’t yet brought that industry to its knees, has it? Its just another small incremental cost of business.
  7. Craig Cooper from Toronto, writes: All you have to is try using Google Adwords and you'll know that the MAJORITY of the clicks are frauds, simply by tracking other activity (not sales) on the site.

    Been there, done that.
  8. A. Nonymous from Internetville, Canada writes: Click fraud is essentially here to stay. But then again, it's just another way for the marketers to justify their 'ROI' or Return-On-Investment on yet another form of advertising. I don't watch commercials, I skip (block) ads.

    If your product is any good, word of mouth is the only advertising I trust.

    Let the marketers spend their money, Murphy was right, there IS a sucker born every minute.
  9. Gordon Murray from Canada writes: Some that visit/read blogs and other informative sites click on ads to reward good content, at least in part, and some to wonder at what advertising now is being paid for (quality and context of ads).

    Maybe some ads are for some webpages a busker's tin cup, the click to the ad deserving some tin rattle.

Comments are closed

Thanks for your interest in commenting on this article, however we are no longer accepting submissions. If you would like, you may send a letter to the editor.

Report an abusive comment to our editorial staff

close

Alert us about this comment

Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.

Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.

Back to top