Google Click Fraud Suit

Via WebProNews.

Google is being sued for alleged click fraud committed on its Google Adwords PPC programme. The PPC industry in general is said to deliver some 20 – 40% fraudulent clicks and someone isn’t standing for it anymore. I quote:

A class action lawsuit was filed in US District Court against Google alleging breach of contract, negligence, unjust enrichment, and unfair business practices-all involving charges of click fraud. Click Defense Inc, a click fraud protection firm, filed the suit in California in the name of an unknown number of plaintiffs for an amount not less than $5 million.

Google and Click Defense make unusual court room opponents. Click Defense’s business consists of claiming back lost advertising revenue caused by click fraud, on behalf of their clients, presumably on a “no cure/no fee” basis. The ambulance chasers of the PPC industry, as it were! Whatever the outcome of the case (if there is one), the free publicity in itself makes this a profitable move for Click Defense.

Google on the other hand have always maintained that they do everything possible to detect and prevent click fraud but it can’t be denied that undetected click fraud actually lines Google’s pockets [however unintentionally].

In a bid to combat click fraud Google has terminated (without payout) the accounts of an increasing body of Adsense members (the guys that serve up a large proportion of the Adwords ads), on the grounds of suspected click fraud. Many claim complete innocence but Google remains unresponsive.

Click fraud will of course never cease completely. Only replacing Pay per Click by Pay for Performance could eradicate click fraud. But technically, that’s a lot more challenging than placing ads and counting clicks…

Keywords: click fraud, google click fraud, adwords click fraud, adsense click fraud