July 17, 2006

Today, Click Forensics LLC delivered their latest industry click fraud figures for the second quarter of this year and the report reveals that click fraud has increased.

Click Forensics' report was based on the search advertising industry’s leading independent click fraud reporting service – the Click Fraud Index (www.ClickFraudIndex.com).

That index monitors and reports on data gathered from the Click Fraud Network, which more than 1,300 online advertisers and their ad agencies have joined.

Network members can track their online campaigns for click fraud activity free of charge. Key findings from data reported for Q2 2006 include:

1) The overall industry average click fraud rate was 14.1 percent, slightly higher than the average of 13.7 percent for Q1.

2) The industry average click fraud rate for high-priced search terms was 20.2 percent. High-priced terms are defined as terms that cost over $2.00. These higher-priced search terms often make up the majority of an advertiser’s total spending.

3) The industry average click fraud rate for companies running online advertising campaigns through:

o Tier 1 search providers was 12.8 percent vs. 12.1 percent in Q1

o Tier 2 search providers was 20.3 percent vs. 21.3 percent in Q1

o Tier 3 search providers was 27.1 percent vs. 29.8 percent in Q1

4) The average pay per click term cost for the top key terms across the five biggest search advertising industries, Retail, Financial Services, Health & Fitness, Technology, and Entertainment – for Q2 was $4.51. This compares to $4.75 from Q1.

5) The greatest percentage of click fraud, over 88 percent, originated from within the U.S. and Canada. Outside North America, the greatest amount of click fraud originated from within India. Unwanted click activity originating from India increased 26 percent during Q2.

“One of the most interesting findings from our Q2 data was the difference between the overall average industry click fraud rate and the click fraud rate for the most expensive search terms,” said Tom Cuthbert, president and CEO of Click Forensics, LLC.

“For the first time, we have industry data that clearly shows what many have expected – organizations purchasing higher-priced search terms are significantly more vulnerable to click fraud.”

The Click Fraud Index publishes data collected from the Click Fraud Network (www.ClickFraudNetwork.com), the industry’s first independent third-party click fraud detection service dedicated to helping companies more accurately monitor their online advertising campaigns for Pay Per Click (PPC) fraud.

Using CF Analytics™, a patent-pending click fraud detection technology, the Click Fraud Network allows advertisers to track their online campaigns for potential click fraud. The service is unique in that it monitors online campaigns for click fraud by correlating data collected from search provider campaigns and the advertisers own web sites – providing the industry’s most accurate view of click fraud to date.

The Click Fraud Index tracks and publishes industry click fraud data on a weekly and quarterly basis for specific search providers, industries and trends. Industries covered include Retail, Financial Services, Health & Fitness, Technology, and Entertainment.

Individuals can access information from the Click Fraud Index at www.ClickFraudIndex.com. Advertisers can join the Click Fraud Network at www.JoinTheNetwork.com and monitor their individual pay per click campaigns for up to 100,000 clicks per month free of charge.

Source: Click Fraud Index