The average for attempted pay per click fraud rate has increased from 18.6 percent in the third quarter of 2009 to 25.7 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Anchor Intelligence. The jump in pay per click fraud rate in Q4 happened because of more activity by click fraudsters wanting to take advantage of the increase in holiday ad spend online. The spread of botnets, which is used for automating traffic and coordinating click fraud activity, spiked late in the quarter.
“As botnets become more flexible and resilient, click fraud will be increasingly difficult to identify without a collaborative and systematic, network-based approach,” said Ken Miller, CEO of Anchor Intelligence.
“By releasing this report, we hope to provide a barometer by which the industry can assess the level of threats to online advertising while also conveying the importance of advertising with ad networks and search engines that partner with third-parties to certify their traffic quality.”