How serious is problem? It’s hard to judge exactly, but click fraud is commonly estimated at 20% to 35% of all PPC ad campaigns.

A recently launched lawsuit alleges that Google is aware of magnitude of click fraud and does not do enough to alert advertisers of problem.

The class action suit launched by Click Defence says that "Google has an inherent conflict of interest in preventing click fraud since it derives same amount of income from each fraudulent click as it does from each legitimate click." The $10 million lawsuit quotes Google Chief Financial Officer George Reyes as saying that click fraud is “the biggest threat to Internet economy.”

Click Defense is a Colorado company specializing in click fraud detection. They claim that they themselves became a victim of click fraud when they advertised with Google’s Adwords program this year.

They are seeking damages for breach of contract, negligence, unjust enrichment, and unfair business practices.

A Google spokesman said that case is unmerited and that Google will defend itself “vigorously.”

Copyright 2005 by Ross MacIver

This article may be redistributed freely on the Internet or in ezines as long as the resource box and hyperlinks remain intact.

5. Clone your advertisements all over Internet by allowing your visitors to give your online freebies away. Just include your ad somewhere inside them. You could also start an affiliate program and pay people commissions to run your ads. You could also give your affiliates viral marketing tools to use like e-books or articles.

6. Create a free e-zine directory. You'll attract a lot of traffic from e-zine publishers and people who want to subscribe to e-zines. Your listings could include name, subscription instructions, publisher’s name, etc. Of course you could put your own e-zine listing at top of your directory to get extra exposure.

7. Create an alliance with 3 or 4 web sites. Include each of your ads or banners on other web sites. You will all share targeted traffic with each other. For example, you would instantly have 3 web sites selling for you without paying them an affiliate income. You would just be giving them ad space on your web site.