----------------------------------------------------------------- SearchReturn Discussion List "Understanding Internet Search Technology" ----------------------------------------------------------------- Moderator: Published by: Disa Johnson SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- August 15, 2006 SearchReturn Issue #083 ----------------------------------------------------------------- SEND POSTS: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Refer a friend: http://www.searchreturn.com/subscribe.shtml ----------------------------------------------------------------- .....IN THIS DIGEST..... // -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- // "Click Fraud Battle" "Millions Of AOL Searches" "Yahoo! Project Panama" "Big Online Spending With SMB" ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Click Fraud Battle http://directmag.com/news/google_clickfraud_surprise/ Essentials: A 17-page Google report delivered from the stage at Search Engine Strategies last week took panelists completely by surprise - and without time to respond. The report contained information compiled by engineers that found click fraud as reported by third party monitoring services overestimates the problem. The report showed the monitoring services fail to properly account for users that go back to landing pages, along with other factors including a confused cookie problem that fails to track back to the originating click between Yahoo! and Google. Characterizing the methodology of third party monitoring services as "very, very flawed," Google stopped short of saying there was intentional wrongdoing, but using a live platform without informing other panelists and sharing the report ahead of time did not allow the proper discourse about the problem as the room needed. Panelists could only offer a delayed response after the chance to read the paper. The truth is somewhere in between. What is true is that search engines take fair measures against click fraud, and the problem is far worse than they think. For example, Google produces a statistic that 800 clicks reported as fraud converted at nearly the same rate as 24,000 clicks that were not in dispute. A conversion does not automatically disprove fraud. Conversion tracking may be designed to calculate signups, and fake signup numbers can exceed what Google reports as fraud. The most pernicious type of click fraud from PTR (Paid To Read) gangs of clicksters is well suited for actually completing the signup conversion process with completely fake information. The search giant either discovers bad clicks and doesn't charge the advertiser for suspicious clicks - even those that lead to conversions, or they wrongly assume a conversion is automatic proof of a good click, even when it certainly is not. The thing about conversion fraud is that it really is fraud. PTR users that take the time to complete a form to show fake conversions are those that do so specifically to fool the search engine. When calculated together, these fake clicks and conversions at times can total to high click fraud estimates that Google criticizes. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Millions Of AOL Searches http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4116578.html Essentials: While AOL moves towards an advertising based business model, they slipped up by publishing 19 million search queries from 658,000 AOL search users. What appears like an honest mistake last week has proved difficult for the company to explain away. Even if no personally identifiable information was released directly, revealing these search data allowed analysis that outted some users easily identified by their search activity. The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a complaint with the FTC describing AOL's mistake as warranting notifying the affected users, and providing a years worth of credit monitoring against identity theft. In the keynote by Eric Schmidt at Search Engine Strategies last week, the Google CEO commented on the privacy issues search engine queries raise, and that such information is some of the most sensitive assets the company has under heavy guard. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Yahoo! Project Panama http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623100 Essentials: Yahoo! showed advertisers at Search Engine Strategies some of the features they can expect of the upcoming project panama upgrade to the Yahoo! search marketing platform. Confirming a new ad ranking system that includes quality factors outside bid amount alone, Johns Slade mentions how this can lead to "a great position for less money." Other useful features include an alert system that will notify advertisers when their budget is low, if their credit card fails or when campaign performance dips below a certain target. A/B testing is featured with optimization settings that will automatically show higher performing creative, and several new opportunities to advertise with images, coupons and phone calls are planned for the system. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Big Online Spending With SMB http://www.netb2b.com/article.cms?articleId=28830 ComScore reported last week that non-travel online retail sales is on track to break $100 billion in 2006. Large enterprises have reacted by attracting users and sales with online marketing initiatives, but the online platform for marketers has proven especially adept at providing leverage to small to medium sized business over competition from large enterprise where adaptation to the online medium has been relatively slow. In a study of small to medium sized businesses, more than half (52%) reported spending the majority of their marketing budget online, and 62% reported participating in natural search engine optimization. More than a third (37%) reported they intend to increase their online spend. This differs dramatically from the typical major enterprise, where it is common that the online marketing spend is less than 10%, and only a few dabble with natural optimization at all. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stay Tuned. Got feedback?: http://www.searchreturn.com/feedback.shtml Archives: http://www.searchreturn.com/digest-archive.shtml Alternate formats: http://www.searchreturn.com/info-formats.shtml Manage Subscriptions: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/manage-subs.shtml Problems unsubscribing? Contact the postmaster: mailto:postmaster@searchreturn.com Information on how to sponsor this publication: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/advertise.shtml Published by SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com Website Membership: http://www.searchreturn.com/register.shtml The contents of the digest do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SearchReturn or Disa Johnson. SearchReturn and Disa Johnson make no warranties, either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the contents of the SearchReturn Digest. Copyright 2006 Disa Johnson. All Rights Reserved. -----------------------------------------------------------------