Click fraud is a way scammers make money or siphon cash from competitors by automating click on pay-per-click advertising links.
Google’s report questions the methods used by three companies: ClickFacts, ClickForensics and AdWatcher, all of which have published reports claiming click fraud is more rampant than Google says its own logs show.
Among the problems Google highlights is the apparent inability for some measurement methods to account for surfers clicking the Back or Refresh buttons in their browsers.
Google says that in some cases, these third party reports measures a higher number of fraudulent clicks than the total number of clicks when genuine and fraudulent clicks are added together.
Click fraud is considered one of the major threats to Google’s financial growth. Advertising accounts for almost all of its revenue, so advertiser confidence is key to its continued success.
