June 20, 2006

SEMPO (the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) and Fair Isaac Corp., an analytics provider will be working together to investigate and better understand click fraud activity and its impact on the search advertising industry.

Last year, after SEMPO’s annual survey, it showed that more search marketers were really concerned about click fraud activity and the overall quality of their advertising.

"Now SEMPO wants to learn more about click fraud and how it can be minimized or prevented", its chairman Gordon Hotchkiss said today.

“We found that the level of concern about click fraud year over year went up ... and that one of the major concerns advertisers have is the value they are getting from search,” he said.

SEMPO directors realized the need for an authoritative study on the problem, and Fair Isaac, Minneapolis, has studied Internet advertising in the past.

SEMPO members can contribute anonymous click-stream data to the study in exchange for analysis of their search engine advertising and potential click fraud.

In related news, SEMPO and online competitive intelligence firm Hitwise, New York, will start streaming a feed of search term data on the SEMPO site. On SEMPO.org, Hitwise will start streaming the top 10, branded U.S. search terms across 20 online industries rotated weekly. Hitwise’s “Search Intelligence” data represent the search behavior of 10 million U.S. Internet users across the top engines.

Hitwise analyzes search term trends across online categories including: shopping — apparel & accessories; entertainment — television; and travel — destinations & accommodations.

In related news, SEMPO and online competitive intelligence firm Hitwise, New York, will start streaming a feed of search term data on the SEMPO site.

On SEMPO.org, Hitwise will start streaming the top 10, branded U.S. search terms across 20 online industries rotated weekly. Hitwise’s “Search Intelligence” data represent the search behavior of 10 million U.S. Internet users across the top engines.

Source: DM News