Report Overview:

While its origins go back to the late 1990’s, its only over the past few years that “click-fraud” has come to the forefront and become a topic of concern for advertisers, web publishers, and search engines alike.

IncreMental Advantage estimates that click fraud cost Internet advertisers close to $ 700 million in 2006. Click fraud has become so pervasive that it has begun to significantly stunt the growth of Internet advertising. Given the global reach of the internet and e-commerce, the issue is not isolated to the United States. And while there are many differing views on the severity of the issue, no one can deny its existence.

Among the issues addressed in this report are:

• Competitors committing click fraud

• Keyword manipulation including jamming, gap surfing, and friendly URLs

• Clickbots and click farms

• Domain tasting

• Click fraud arbitrage

• Litigation against click fraudsters

• Technological solutions

This report features interviews with senior executives of companies offering technological solutions and financial alternatives as a means to combat click fraud. These include:

• Fair Isaacs Corporation

• Authenticlick

• ClickLab, LLC

• Think Partnership

• MordComm, Inc. /AdWatcher

• ClickDefense Inc.

• ClickFacts Inc.

• IonReport, LLC