Click fraud still a huge thorn in Google's side


Although many of us here at BloggingStocks.com have written before on the threat click fraud is having -- and will continue to have -- on Google and others like Yahoo! and Microsoft, is Google doing anything about it? It's paid lip service so far regarding the advertiser and investor community, vaguely stating that it has systems and artificially-intelligent computer programs in place to weed out click fraud.

But, non of this talk has quenched fears that click fraud -- which can be hard to measure -- is actually becoming worse. My belief is that click fraud is most likely one of the largest threats to Google at this time. To hell with the competitors -- Google's own short-sightedness here could be a major problem. The more popular an Internet destination and tool becomes, the more strongly the fraudsters and criminals come out of the woodwork wanting to take a free ride into a cash-making world of their own.

With the percentages mentioned in this source story, and with the sad statistic that the higher-priced clicks ($2+) being targeted by default, is Google possibly due to advertiser drop-out if click fraud continues to grow? That would be devastating to Google's search advertising revenue, which is funding the entire company right now. Unless advertisers see hefty returns on Google advertising even with click fraud happening to their ads, it does not make sense to continue throwing money down the Internet drain. The click fraud light is shining on Google -- and GOOG shareholders should be wary of the light that could shine on your holdings.

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