TrafficClub Hit with the Click Fraud Stick
Apparently TrafficClub (Moniker’s parking service) is delaying payment because an upstream partner thinks they smell click fraud.
I’ll tell ya, I would hate to be a parking company these days. Their margins are getting seriously squeezed. Yahoo and Google are taking bigger cuts(why? because they CAN) and there are so many parking services now that domainers will hop to a competitor for a higher rev share.
On top of that, they’re getting slammed for allowing click fraud. I’ve been deep into tracking click fraud for a couple of years because I’ve been an advertiser for one of the most expensive PPC areas. Obviously, the amount of attempted click fraud grows exponentially with the price of the click.
Click fraud drives me insane because it’s such a preventable problem yet Yahoo and Google do so little to really prevent it. Well, I think Google actually does a decent job.
What I find curious is that G or Y may do these investigation and they may find some evidence of bogus traffic. They then withhold payment. But credits back to the advertiser are rare. So, who keeps that money?
