Mark Cuban cuts to the chase on Google's nemesis, click fraud

I've touched on the click fraud subject before, and how this wary scenario could damage Google and the Google brand by un-fostering trust in internet search over the long-term. When I say long-term, I mean in the next five years or so -- that's a lifetime in the internet space. Why do high-profile folks like Henry Blodgett and Mark Cuban bring up the subject of click fraud so often? Because it's a real and highly-underestimated problem facing the entire pay-per-click advertising industry. You know, the one currently dominated by, oh, what's the name -- oh yeah, Google?

Cuban points out several examples of splogs and other click-farm type of scenarios that are happening -- right this second. There are so many forms that online fraudsters can use to bilk ad dollars into their pockets that it's unreal this is not a more alarming situation than everyone in the press makes it out to be. And, Cuban's just not talking about fraudulent clicks by click farms. He's talking fake blobs (splogs) and other methods meant to get real clicks from real people (not fraud).

This happens by having automatically-created venues of Google AdSense ads created at will that customers will eventually land on from somewhere. The law of averages says that some customers will click on ads on these splogs, and then the rest is history. Genuine income is generated here, but it's not really derived from traditional click fraud.

There is a lot of work to do here, and I agree with you here Mark. I just hope the industry doesn't stay hunkered in the shadows while customer trust is betrayed, because some may not come back if they are slighted. Could this problem damage Google's brand? Should GOOG investors be skittish or serious? If I held Google shares, I would be demanding an action plan from the Google folks.