Search Engine Marketing News
PPC fraud down in Q3, says report
Friday, 24 October 2008Pay-per-click (PPC) fraud levels fell by 0.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, according to a new report.
The latest figures from Click Forensics showed that the average click fraud rate seen by the search engine marketing industry was 16 per cent in the three months to September, down from 16.2 per cent in the second quarter.
However, the proportion of click fraud perpetrated by botnets rose during the third quarter, with 27.6 per cent of all click fraud traffic accounted for by botnets, up from 25.2 per cent in the previous quarter.
Russia, France and the UK were responsible for the highest levels of non-North American click fraud, Click Forensics said.
"The growth in click fraud traffic from botnets continues to rise and it should be one of the top areas advertisers and the industry should monitor closely," commented Tom Cuthbert, president of the company.
A recent report by Efficient Frontier suggested that Google accounted for more than three-quarters of US PPC spending in the third quarter, although its search ad growth fell by almost two per cent compared with the second quarter.