Click Forensics 4.5 Helps Advertisers Monitor Online Campaigns for Affiliate-Based Click Fraud

November 6, 2006; 05:56 AM
At the Ad:Tech 2006 Conference at booth #1114, Click Forensics, LLC today unveiled a new version of its enterprise-class click fraud detection service, Click Forensics™ 4.5 for Enterprise. The updated version includes a number of new features that allow advertisers for the first time to distinguish the click fraud rates of pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns that run on search engine sites and their affiliate properties, allowing them to adjust their campaign spending to maximize return on investment.

Many of the new capabilities available in Click Forensics 4.5 will also be provided to members of the Click Fraud Network™ by the end of the year. Currently, more than 2,800 companies are members of the Click Fraud Network. Members of the Network can monitor online advertising campaigns for unwanted clicks free of charge for campaigns with up to 100,000 clicks per month.

“As we monitor our clients’ pay-per-click campaigns, it’s important to know the difference in click fraud rates of campaigns that run on the search engines and on their affiliate sites,” said Jason Clement of Carat Fusion. “Doing so helps us make better decisions about where we should invest our online advertising dollars.”

With Click Forensics 4.5, advertisers and agencies are able to compare their own campaign information with industry click fraud data to better monitor fraud vulnerabilities by search terms, affiliate sites, search providers, time of day, and country of origin – helping to maximize dollars spent on search advertising. New features of Click Forensics 4.5 include:

• Enhanced Summary Reporting: Shows the PPC campaign conversion rates, cost per conversion and click fraud exposure by keyword and search provider. The report also enables advertisers to see the adjusted amount they paid for each valid click.
• Site Origination Reporting: Shows advertisers the sites from which potential click fraud is originating. This includes the IP address of the site within a search engine’s affiliate network. The report allows advertisers to make more informed decisions about where their PPC advertisements run so they can improve campaign ROI.
• Cost-Per-Click Data: An automated keyword cost import process compares and optimizes keyword costs with threat levels in order to provide advertisers with the ideal cost of keyword terms.

“Because ads appearing on search engine affiliate sites are more vulnerable to click fraud, it is essential advertisers are able to watch these venues more closely,” said Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics. “With Click Forensics 4.5, organizations can see if certain affiliate sites are driving low-quality traffic to their ads and then make decisions on where the ads appear in the future. This helps better protect their investment in PPC advertising and improve the overall performance of their campaigns.”

Availability

Click Forensics 4.5 for Enterprise is now available. For more information, visit www.ClickForensics.com. Advertisers who wish to monitor their online PPC advertising campaigns of up to 100,000 clicks per month free of charge, can sign up for the Click Fraud Network at www.JoinTheNetwork.com.

About Click Forensics

Click Forensics, LLC is the leading provider of third-party technology and services that help online advertisers, agencies and search providers to better identify pay-per-click fraud. The company runs the top independent click fraud detection service in the industry, the Click Fraud Network (www.ClickFraudNetwork.com), which monitors online advertising campaigns for click fraud free of charge. Click Forensics also provides an enterprise-class solution to help advertisers with campaigns of 100,000 clicks or more per month to track click fraud. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings are available at www.ClickForensics.com.