SEMPO, Fair Isaac to Study Click Fraud

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and credit fraud specialists Fair Isaac have teamed up for a research study on click fraud and click quality in pay-per-click advertising.

The study will use Fair Isaac’s artificial intelligence methods to determine the extent of click fraud and to develop a solution for the search marketing industry. Fair Isaac scientists intend to apply some of the same anti-fraud technology they use for credit cards to differentiate between clicks that are genuine expressions of human interest and those that are not.

“Click fraud is probably the single biggest deterrent to the continued growth of search engine marketing today. As search expands into new markets, including local advertisers, marketers have to feel confident that they’re getting full value for every click,” said Gord Hotchkiss, SEMPO chairman.

SEMPO members and non-member advertisers are being asked to contribute anonymous click stream data to the study, in exchange for analysis of their search engine advertising and potential click fraud.