Update: Google Audits Click Fraud Auditors

Breaking: Here at Search Engine Strategies, Google just let it be known they’re auditing the click fraud auditors — and finding fault with their methodolgy.

Take a look at Google’s AdWord’s blog for an overview. We’re working on a longer story for ClickZ News. Obviously, Google has a financial interest in discrediting click fraud detection tools, which have been popping up like weeds for the past year or so. Which is all the more reason why the tools themselves require auditing.

Interesting, cicuitous stuff here. Stay tuned for deeper coverage.

Update: Alchemist Media’s Jessie Stricciola, a eader in the battle against click fraud, is giving Google a thumbs-down, calling the report a “roundabout attack.”

“We’ve always been very upfront about presenting these reports,” Jessie told me. She — and others — are upset that Google effectively sprung a 17 page report at a session here with no opportunity for prior review. Moreover, several of the vendors criticized in the report are claiming only a couple of their datapoints were analyzed, rather than their entire methodology.