Click Fraud: Web Analytics Firm on the Hunt for Internet Search Marketing Ghost.

MIAMI -- Clicklab Releases v2.0 of Its Web Analytics Platform; Helps Online Advertisers Detect and Document Click Fraud

Online advertisers facing high pay-per-click (PPC) charges on search networks are increasingly worried about click fraud, a premeditated practice of generating illegitimate clicks on paid links. Cited in Google's pre-IPO filings as one of the potential risks investors should worry about, click fraud exposes a fundamental weakness in the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) business. As much as 50 percent of PPC advertising fees in certain competitive categories may be attributable to click fraud, according to Clicklab CEO Dmitri Eroshenko. Yet until now most advertisers weren't sure how to address the click fraud issue.

"If you suspect that your web site is a victim of click fraud," said Eroshenko, "your only recourse is to establish an appropriate web metrics and conduct a thorough statistical analysis of web traffic originating from each source and keyword."

Today's release of all-new Clicklab v2.0 brings the following key innovations to the web analytics industry:

- Score-based statistical algorithm for detecting and documenting click fraud. Clicklab applies a series of tests to each visitor session to detect fraudulent session signatures, and assigns penalty scores to each failed test. Click Inflation Index gives advertisers an indication of quality of traffic from each source and keyword.

- Custom web metrics, a.k.a. Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Because each web site has different conversion criteria, Clicklab allows clients to define custom KPIs for each site. Advertisers can select from a library of common web metrics, such as revenue per visitor, order conversion rate, or time elapsed between the first visit and purchase.

- Usability and conversion tracking tools include several types of visitor click path presentation; checkout funnel tracking; A/B testing; and custom "action" pages.

Other features include segmentation by visitor, product, or keyword; drill down; ability to break down any web metric by any other metric; and advanced search.

"(Clicklab helps us) identify traffic trends, find the best keywords for our business, measure conversion rates, and minimize under-producing advertising campaigns," said Coryon Redd of batteries4less.com, who has been a satisfied client for over two years.

Reseller-friendly pricing policy and ability to track multiple client sites under one account make Clicklab a web analytic service of choice for marketing agencies.

References

http://www.clicklab.com/click-fraud

Keywords

Online advertising, Internet marketing, pay-per-click, PPC, web analytics, web metrics, web site usability, click fraud, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, ROI tracking, conversion tracking.

About Clicklab

Clicklab pioneered the field of conversion-driven web analytics and ROI tracking in 2002, and since then has been profitably serving clients in the advertising, online retail, travel, health, and publishing sectors. Clicklab is a privately held firm headquartered in Miami, Florida.