"Still, the burden for avoiding click fraud falls squarely on the shoulders of online advertisers themselves."
Really? In most other markets, the provider of a service is responsible for stopping the fraud that is being perpetrated through manipulation of the service they provide, not the consumer of that service.
It is virtually impossible for an advertiser to monitor every click on their PPC ads, and it is similarly impossible to determine which clicks were charged for and which were not, so as to make a determination about whether/how much fraud is occurring and to be able to document a complete factual record of fraud. PPC vendors simply do not provide enough information to their advertisers to allow for either of those activities.
That being said, Edelman and O'Brien have humongous personal interest in inflating click fraud statistics; Edelman to support his very long-running campaigns against Google/InfoSpace and O'Brien to support his business model. (Which brings into question your link to SortPrice.com, Guest.)
THAT being said, the 14% figure O'Brien is getting behind is based on Click Forensics terribly flawed analyses, and should not be relied upon. (Sorry guys. Remember when I was working with you to develop your algorithms? Still pretty sucky.)
Seriously, is anyone out there able to report that $140 out of every $1000 they spend on PPC is consistently going to click fraud? More like mid to low single digits.
What you can do:
- DO be diligent in log analyses.
- DO be diligent in filing requests for reimbursement from your PPC vendors for whatever you determine to be invalid clicks.
- DO continue to be aware that fraud is one element that affects every paid advertising participant.
- DO NOT panic when reports about how click fraud is surging become public.
What you see in your own log files, and in your own reports from your PPC vendors is the truth.