ClickForensics: 42% of click fraud traffic from botnets

"The significant rise in botnet-generated click fraud lines up with recent findings of several well-known malware and online fraud tracking experts," said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. "Botnets perpetrating click fraud and other online schemes continue to grow in number and sophistication. Advertisers and ad providers need to be especially vigilant about such activity as we enter the competitive search marketing holiday season."

Industry wide, click fraud continues to account for about 14% of traffic; although this is a slight increase (from 12% in Q2) the number should still be worrisome to PPC marketers.

According to the report:

• Q3 2008 saw click fraud raise to 16%
• Botnet traffic has increased more than 25% over the past two years
• UK, Vietnam, Germany, along with the United States and Canada produce the most fraudulent traffic

Is your traffic safe? Although no business is completely safe from click fraud, there are ways to protect the company. First, know what a malware attack looks like - in email and from a PPC standpoint. Second, study the metrics you receive. By knowing what typical traffic looks like, you'll be more alert when large increases or decreases in traffic occur, which means you may spot fraudulent clicks more quickly.

Tags: click fraud, ClickForensics, cost per click, CPC, paid clicks, paid search, pay per click, PPC, search marketing