More than one in six clicks recorded by online advertising research firms are fraudulent, according to a study by online fraud prevention firm Click Forensics.
But, as WebProNews reports, the results are far from uncontroversial. Last time Click Forensics released its results they were fiercely disputed by Google, which argued they grossly overestimated the scope of click fraud.
According to Click Forensics, the overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.2% in the third quarter of 2007, up from 15.8% in the preceding quarter.
“It’s more important than ever before for advertisers, publishers, ad networks and search engines to cooperate and share data in order to stem what’s on target to be an even worse problem in 2008,” Tom Cuthbert, the president and CEO of Click Forensics, told WebProNews.
What Google will say about these results remains to be seen – for the moment, the jury remains out on the veracity of key online advertising measures.
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