Google $90 million click fraud settlement approved by judge

Just this week, Google announced a new Google AdWords feature that will show advertisers if suspected click fraud has affected their accounts. Soon after, a judge in Arkansas has approved a $90 million settlement against the search giant. The case was brought by Google advertisers who felt they had been cheated by having to pay Google for illegitimate clicks.

70 objections, however, were brought up by the smaller Google advertisers included in the settlement, as they believe the remuneration Google will pay them -- $4.50 for every $1,000 spent on the Google network for several past years -- was just not enough. A handful of plaintiffs on Monday stood before Griffin to express their dissatisfaction with the settlement, and they charged Google with failing to exercise "reasonable" care to stop click fraud and with misrepresenting its efforts to crack down on the problem.

When Google's core customers -- you know, the ones responsible for Google's revenue/business model existence -- come looking for click fraud answers, the search giant needs to speak up. Until this week, I've chided Google many, many times on the poor communication it has for the click fraud issue, one that is just as old as Google itself but one that has become a perceived large problem for Google.

Nobody really knows if click fraud is a huge or small problem (but it exists), and Google's lackluster communications have played a part in the perception. Google is a great company with an excellent (although single-minded) revenue stream -- and it needs to communicate with the companies that help it produce that revenue stream.