Execs & Accounts for December 4, 2006

U.K.-based financial services firm Barclays has chosen WebTrends as its Web analytics provider. The company will use the WebTrends On Demand service for all its Web sites. Barclay’s has increased its online marketing efforts in recent months, investing in SEM, SEO, affiliate marketing and banner ads along with a large TV campaign.

Carat Fusion has tapped Click Forensics to provide click fraud monitoring services for its clients’ pay-per-click campaigns. The Click Forensics service helps advertisers detect click fraud and unwanted clicks in paid search and contextual ad campaigns, and automatically reallocate dollars away from high-risk keywords or channels. Carat Fusion will begin testing the service on a variety of campaigns.

ValueClick has acquired U.K.-based comparison shopping network Shopping.net for approximately $13.3 million in cash. Shopping.net’s Web sites, including shopping.net, classifieds.co.uk and mortgages.net, will be integrated into ValueClick Europe, which also houses PriceRunner.com, which was acquired in 2004.

SEM agency iCrossing has acquired Newgate Internet, a paid search, reputation management, and word-of-mouth agency. Newgate will be absorbed into iCrossing, making it one of the largest paid search agencies in the U.S. It brings several large retail brand clients with it, including Williams-Sonoma, The Gap and Lego.