Zunch PPC Expert Jeff Martin Responds to Google’s Attack Against Third Party Click Fraud Auditors

August 11, 2006; 06:49 AM
In a recent report and public statement by Google Business Product Manager for Trust and Safety Shuman Ghosemajumder, the search giant has laid claim that some third party click fraud consultants are using “defective methodolog[ies],” that inflates click fraud estimates and skews data. To Jeff Martin, Zunch Director of Click Fraud and Pay Per Click Auditing, this seems like a reversal of the recent study conducted by Dr. Alexander Tuzhilin that determined Google’s efforts to combat click fraud were ‘reasonable’ i.e.: they met their contractual obligations.

“Just as Dr. Tuzhilin pointed out that there are inherit flaws in the PPC model which will prevent Google, or anyone else, from fully identifying and filtering click fraud, there are technologies in place which can prevent an advertiser or third party click fraud consultant from accurately accounting for all of the activity all of the time," Martin said. “Dr. Tuzhilin concluded that Google’s efforts in combating click fraud were reasonable, in light of the inherit limitations of the PPC model, equally reasonable are click fraud auditors efforts to bring click fraud activity to the surface.”

Ghosemajumder states that fictitious ad clicks recorded due to mischaracterizing events “may be the most significant flaw.” Simply put, a single user may be counted as more than one visitor by a third party auditing system when either of these common events occurs:
1.     The user navigates away from the page (either by clicking deeper into the advertiser’s site or by navigating away) and uses their browser’s forward or back buttons to return to the page.
2.     The user refreshes the landing page.

“The limitation here is imposed by the Web browser. Whether refreshing the page in question or navigating back and forth to it through the browser’s buttons--Web browsers, by design will retain the original information of the initial visit to the page,” Martin said. “By not maintaining the same variables, the page could end up altered or not rendered at all. Because the original visiting information is stored by the Web browser, when a browser loads the page again it will appear as a normal visit to the page rather than just a return and will be counted accordingly.”

The Google report says in order to solve this problem third party click fraud consultants should rely on the “Google AdWords auto-tagging feature.” Martin said the problem is that the more an independent click fraud consultant relies on data provided by Google and their methodologies, the more the consultant loses their objectivity and the more their methodologies may become skewed.

“By using the auto-tagging feature, consultants would be relying on Google to tell them what a unique click is and what is not. This is at the very heart of click fraud auditing and the most significant means in which to hold Google, or any other PPC network, accountable. Because independent consultants must maintain objectivity and neutrality they cannot rely largely upon auto-tagging,” Martin said. “Independent consultants must rely on click stream data that is not contaminated or labeled by any PPC network as valid or invalid, unique or non unique. To not do so makes the consultant more of an extension of Google and their methodologies which is not the function of the consultant and defeats the purpose of third party auditing.”

When the inherit nature of browser technologies and the independent objective role that third party click fraud consultants provide is taken into consideration, one can assume their efforts and methodologies are reasonable.

“Shuman says Google may “perhaps help third-party auditing firms improve their methods.” Zunch highly encourages Google to be pro-active in working directly with independent consultants as they will continue to fill a vital role in educating PPC advertisers on the risks of advertising on the PPC model as they relate to click fraud, Martin said. “Independent consultants also help in providing advertisers with the missing account activity information they can’t receive elsewhere. It is in the best interest of advertisers and Google to do so.”

About Click Fraud Detective™
Click Fraud Detective™ is a pay per click auditing system that helps advertisers easily identify, monitor and report fraudulent “click-throughs.” The Zunch click fraud detection service provides advanced fraud detection technology that is customizable to each advertiser and can be used in conjunction with existing campaign and analytics tools. Using state-of-the-art methods to tag Internet traffic as it comes to a website via pay per click campaigns, Click Fraud Detective™ empowers advertisers with the knowledge of exactly what is happening with their advertising dollars. Armed with this information, advertisers can recover lost advertising revenue. For more information, please visit http://www.clickfrauddetective.com.

About Zunch Communications, Inc.
Zunch Communications, Inc. is a search-centric, technology driven full-service interactive marketing agency that helps businesses realize their online potential by employing proven and ethical online solutions and techniques that deliver the highest ROI. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Zunch provides integrated interactive solutions that include search engine optimization, paid search marketing, mobile search marketing, website design and development and website analytics. Zunch also specializes in click fraud detection, localization and globalization services, blog marketing and interactive public relations. Zunch is top-ranked worldwide in search engine optimization and award-winning in website design and development. For more information, please visit http://www.zunch.com.