Click fraud, a practice that weakens the effects of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign, has recorded low incidences in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Click forensics, a click-fraud detection company, says that the country’s click-fraud rate for the last quarter of 2009 was 15.3 percent.
While the numbers indicate growth compared to the third quarter, it represented a decrease compared to the 2008 fourth quarter. At this time in 2008, the click-fraud rate was at an all time high at 17.1 percent.
The researchers used credit search engines, Web publishers, and other ad networks. The company did a better job of detecting click fraud in during the holiday season.
Click fraud occurs when PPC ads are clicked on by mistake or for malicious reasons.
In fake click fraud campaigns, publishers display PPC ads to increase commissions, which they split with ad networks.
Another common malpractice is when companies click on their competitors ads to increase their ad spending with clicks that don’t result to business.
Source: PCWorld

You must be logged in to post a comment.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Vincent Adams and Last Click News, Patrica. Patrica said: Click fraud rate has stayed relatively low for 2009 4Q: Click fraud, a practice that weakens the effects of pay-pe… http://bit.ly/6zo4hp [...]
While Click Forensics is consistently painting a rosy picture regarding click fraud, you need to look to Anchor Intelligence for a more accurate portrayal of the situation: which indicates the rate of fraud is actually closer to 26 percent. One needs to question if Click Forensics’ cozy relationships with Google and Yahoo is clouding their outlook on click fraud because there’s NO WAY the rate is only 15 percent.
Nevertheless, I’m an online retailer that avoids PPC/CPC altogether and I’d recommend that to anyone. Sortprice.com in particular is a great site to post your products for unlimited clicks.