Google Shares Click Fraud Stats

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In response to advertisers' call for more openness about its click fraud detection methods, Google will begin sharing invalid clicks data with AdWords advertisers.

"Today, we’re announcing the launch of a new AdWords feature enabling advertisers to have a much more detailed picture of invalid click activity in their account. The metrics of 'invalid clicks' and 'invalid clicks rate' will show virtually all the invalid clicks affecting an account," Shuman Ghosemajumder, business product manager for trust & safety at Google, announced on the Inside AdWords blog.

Advertisers will be able to see daily reports of the number of clicks Google has deemed invalid on their ads at the campaign or account level, as well the percentage of invalid clicks within the total number of clicks for the reporting period. Invalid clicks data are available for campaigns since January 1, 2006.

The clicks that are reported are filtered by Google before they are charged to the advertiser, and are not included in any other reports. Clicks that are deemed invalid after the fact, such as those that are discovered when a publisher is terminated from AdSense, will continue to be credited to the advertiser's account as a credit, and not reported in the invalid clicks count.

The problem of transparency was cited in the 47-page, third-party report created by order of the judge in an ongoing class action lawsuit against Google.