Google has said it is in the process of issuing refunds to all those who had booked ad slots on its sites but were inundated with fake page visits. The search giant also stated they are investigating the matter to ensure there isn’t a recurrence of the same again.
The latter bit naturally translates to making changes to its advertising platform DoubleClick Bid Manager which is largely automated. Google, however, hasn’t stated what could have gone wrong but this can be taken as a submission of its advertisement technology having serious lapses, at least enough for scamsters to play havoc.
This also isn’t a sudden development given that Google has been informing of its finding for some weeks now. However, even though the refunds, in some cases at least, easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, companies aren’t impressed enough.
Some of the ad marketers and agencies complained the refund amount to be far too less and does not even cover what has been lost to fraud traffic. The amount is just about 10 percent at the most of the total money spent to acquire the ad slots, ad agencies stated.
The ad marketers’ grouse apart, the trend of ad fraud where automated programs click on ad instead of real humans is shaping into a bigger problem than Google had anticipated. With revenue from online ads contributing the lions share to the entire Google empire, this no doubt could emerge a far bigger issue for Google to tackle than to deal with its competitors.
Goggle is, however, putting up a brave face and has stated they are working closely with its advertising partners to introduce more ‘transparency’ in its entire ad program. The company also said they are devising methods to ensure spammers are deprived of any monetary benefits from their ad spamming acts while the real businesses are shielded from any negative impacts that such acts might have.
However, it could still be weeks if not months to be sure if Google’s renewed efforts to take on the new ‘ad fraud’ menace is paying dividends. The outcome can well define the future of the company as it pushes for more ad revenue from all its online exploits to boost its bottom line.
