Yahoo’s “Whack-A-Mole” Problem

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Just read Ben Edelman’s latest research into spyware and the money connections, and this one is focusing on Yahoo’s pay per click system and the click fraud that is happening.

When advertisers buy pay-per-click advertising, they largely expect and intend to buy search engine advertising. If a user goes to Yahoo and types a search term, interested advertisers want their ads to be shown. Ads are supposed to be carefully targeted, i.e. to the specific keywords advertisers specify. And an advertiser is only supposed to pay Yahoo when a user actually clicks the advertiser’s ad.

Yahoo’s “Whack-A-Mole” Problem

The many bad partners in Yahoo’s network make fraud particularly hard to block: When Yahoo terminates one fraudster, that fraudster’s partners find another way to continue operations.

Yahoo’s enforcement difficulties are also borne out in its unsuccessful attempts to sever ties with 180solutions and Direct Revenue. After I highlighted these vendors in my August report, it seems Yahoo attempted to terminate its relationships with them. Yet 180 continued not just to show Yahoo ads, but also to perform click fraud, as documented in the first two examples above. Furthermore, as recently as February 2006, I have continued to see Direct Revenue serving popups that ultimately show Yahoo PPC ads. So even when Yahoo seeks to sever relationships with a partner as well-known as 180solutions or Direct Revenue, it seems Yahoo is unable to do so. Ben Edelman.

We Say: He focuses mainly on Yahoo, but says it is occurring on Google’s system as well, but mainly on bad syndication and not so much click fraud, but promises articles on Google in the future. The main thing I like about Ben is the fact he focuses on the money stream flowing into these programs, cut off the money and these “programs” will die quickly.