One of the biggest concerns facing the PPC/text ads/SEM industry is click fraud. In case you are new to this, click fraud is where ads are clicked in order to increase the earnings of the site displaying the ad. Click fraud can also be done against competitors to drain their advertising budget as well.

The two biggest advertisers in the search engine marketing game, Yahoo! and Google, have indicated a number of times click fraud is one the biggest challenges their advertising service faces. With that being the case, the two companies undoubtedly welcomed the news from Click Forensics, which reported click fraud rates had dropped from 12.8 percent during the second quarter to 11.9 percent for the third. The drop affected all top level search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.

Overall, click fraud rates were lower during the third quarter, coming in at 13.8 percent. The second quarter percentage was 14.1, while the first quarter had a rate of 13.7 percent. Expect the fourth quarter to see a slight increase in these numbers with the holiday season fast approaching and increased PPC spending. It certainly sounds like fertile ground for the fraudulent clicker.

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

The email service provider of choice for identity theft is, according to a report from checkmyfile.com, Yahoo!… a dubious honor if there ever was one. 82% of these attempts are done so using a Yahoo email account. Furthermore, people who use Internet email accounts when shopping online are more likely to be blacklisted as identity thieves.

The study also found Internet businesses are more likely to issue refunds to shoppers using these email accounts because the charges will not recognized by the actual card carrier. This means quite a few fraudulent credit charge attempts are done by identity thieves using and email address from one of these popular services.

What is it about Yahoo Mail that makes it so attractive to identity thieves? It has to do with these the perception of these accounts being reliable and therefore the user is trustworthy (although, reports like this may change that perception). The report reveals it’s also harder to trace the member who signed up for the account, making these email services an absolute haven for identity thieves. If Yahoo and the other web mail providers aren’t careful, their email addresses might wind up being unusable for ecommerce purposes. (hat-tip to SC Magazine)

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

While they certainly aren’t the first search engine to use Google’s advertising program to promote their search service (Yahoo has done this in the past), Ask.com is the latest to do so. However, Ask’s approach is a little different from previous campaigns.

Instead of bidding on phrases like “search engine” and “online marketing,” Ask.com focused on obscure words like “raccoon“. When a search of this keyword is executed, the results feature an Ask.com advertisement saying, “Use the New Ask.com to find it. Save time. Search better.” Once clicked, users are taken to an Ask.com smart answer page featuring information on the original keyword query.

Whether or not this proves to be effective remains to be seen. However, a number of search engine gurus are impressed with Ask’s strategy, like Barry Schwartz from SearchEngineRoundtable.com, who says:

I am seriously impressed by this long tailed approach to marketing Ask.com. I have always wondered why search engines didn’t use this approach more. Heck, bid on a ton of obscure, low priced keywords, to send traffic towards your own engine. Shopping search engines do it all the time. Travel also, heck most niche vertical engines do this. Why not the main search engines?

If you find any other obscure Google searches featuring Ask.com ads, please let us know. So far, I can only duplicate these results using queries for animals with odd names (raccoon, aardvark, llama).

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

As one of the acting administrators of WebProWorld, I’ve come across a number of subjects asking how to improve email marketing efforts. One of the most effective methods, according to a report issued by InternetRetailer, is to use a branded subject line. This information comes from a study conducted by Silverpop Systems, which says a branded subject line can increase opens by up to 60%.

If that amount comes anywhere close to being accurate, then using this type of subject line should be an automatic reflex. Other areas to concentrate on include emails with special offers. The study reveals users are less likely to open an email offering a percentage discount (save 20%) in the subject line. However, if the subject used dollar amounts instead of percentages (save $20), openings improved by 45%.

As you can see, two fairly simple alterations can have sweeping effects on how many people open your marketing email. With that in mind, it would be foolish to ignore the information provided by Silverpop’s study.

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

Is Google launching an affiliate program? Actually, they have begun testing a Cost Per Action (CPA) model that, if adopted, would enhance the current Google AdSense payment system.

According to ITPro.co.uk, Google has invited a limited number of webmasters to test this new program, which pays participants if a visitor acts in a manner related to the buying process. If visitors make a purchase or request further information from the advertiser, the site owner displaying the ad will be rewarded. As you can see, the description of Google’s CPA program sounds just like an affiliate program, with the major difference is you aren’t buying products from Google.

The CPA program is not being viewed as an AdSense replacement, rather an enhancement that works side-by-side with Google’s ad service. Judging from ITPro’s article, it is not clear whether or not you get to display both AdSense and CPA ads at this point. However, volunteers do have more control over the ads that appear while they are apart of this program:

Web owners will be able to choose from a selection and will have greater flexibility in promoting them such as putting text alongside the ad and recommending it - although simply saying ‘click here’ is not allowed.

ITPro also feels this program will reduce the potential for click fraud, which stands to reason. If you only make money from the sale or other positive visitor action, multiple clicks on the same ad will be meaningless.

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

JupiterMedia CEO Alan Meckler made an intriguing post in his blog announcing a refocusing on B2B content, tradeshows and acquisitions. He called the post JupiterWeb Rising.

One thing we can read from this is that Alan’s mention of acquisitions means that JupiterWeb is going to be aggressive in becoming a major player in online B2B publishing and tradeshows.

Alan Meckler’s history of purchasing B2B eBusiness and webmaster focused sites is legendary. Alan and his team purchased possibly more than a hundred websites from 1996 - 2001. One of them included my first web startup, NewsLinx in late 1998.

I worked for Meckler Media, which then changed to internet.com from 1998 to 2000. Much of Alan’s executive staff, which directed their acquisition push, is still there including the President of JupiterMedia Chris Cardell and their Editor in Chief Gus Venditto. Curiously, Chris Elwell, who is in charge of JupiterWeb is leaving the company November 3 to start his own company.

The mention of tradeshows by Alan indicates to me that Alan sees an opportunity to recreate the huge success he had with Internet World which he sold for a quarter billion dollars to Penton Media on the day I first met him and his staff in 1998. JupiterMedia was also of course the owner of the Search Engine Strategies conferences, which they sold only last year to Incisive Media for $43 million.

The face of SES Danny Sullivan recently announced that he is leaving Incisive and stated he will continue to work in the search space. He also told one of our WebProNews reporters that he does not have a non-compete agreement.

Is Alan planning to reenter the search space via Danny? Now that would be interesting…

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Rich Ord
CEO, iEntry, Inc.
Publisher of WebProNews

There is little question about the importance of title tags when it comes to SEO. While it’s true good content is an important aspect of a successful site, what good is quality content if the title doesn’t catch your attention? How many people would’ve read To Kill A Mockingbird had it been titled Hanging with Atticus and Scout?

Apply that thinking to title tags, meta descriptions and search users. Why would a potential visitor click your site’s link if it had a poorly written description or misleading title? These site attributes are extremely important when it comes to search engines because with search users, you are trying to inspire them to click the link pointing to your site.

Rand Fishkin talked about meta descriptions and title tags at his blog, telling readers to pay close attention to the way these attributes are displayed in search results:

We see a high level of variation because while Ask & Google use the title and meta description directly from Netflix, Yahoo! and MSN are pulling data from the Yahoo! directory and DMOZ (respectively). I’d bet $50 that Netflix could get a 20%+ boost in their CTR at MSN simply by using the NOODP tag?

Fishkin also informs readers to consider their meta description ad copy and when you consider how search engines function, he’s absolutely correct. Would you click a poorly written search ad? If not, then why would you expect a search user to click a site with an ineffective description?

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

Last year, one of the biggest debates concerning Google had to do with the existence of a sandbox, or a place sites were “placed” until they proved to be trustworthy and therefore, admitted into Google’s SERPs. While these debates never reached a consensus, a lot of people used the sandbox excuse when their site didn’t perform like they wanted.

Now, there are rumors of a new penalty that could’ve replaced Google’s sandbox as the penalty of choice - the minus 30 penalty. I first heard about this yesterday at SERoundtable and now the subject is appearing on WebProWorld. As far as I can tell, the penalty takes certain sites and moves them down 30 rank positions, much to a webmaster/victim’s chagrin. There are a number of examples of said penalty in the WebmasterWorld discussion, but the major points for discussion are whether or not the penalty is manually administered or if its automated as well as what causes the minus 30 to occur.

There are a number of theories as to why the penalty occurs, but the consensus seems to be focused on site-wide optimization efforts using techniques that considered gray or black hat SEO. From WebmasterWorld:

I had the same problem few months ago, I believe was an anchor text over optimization. From #1 to exactly #31, still haven’t recovered, but slowly going back… I have never bought a single link, but I been focusing too much on a very competitive key search on my IB link’s anchor text. And this is, of course, an un-natural behaviour for google… now I know.

Another area of debate is whether or not this penalty is manual or automated; essentially asking does Google apply the penalty themselves or is it built into their ranking algorithm? The consensus here lies with the automated choice, but everyone is as accepting of that explanation. More from WMW:

After all my analyses, I am convinced this penalty is manually applied, not algorithmic. Whatever triggered the 30+ penalty, and I really have no idea what it could have been, has been removed now, given all the changes I made. Let me say that to my knowledge I have never spammed Google. Therefore, if it were algorithmic I would have either risen or fallen in the rankings, not stayed static at #31.

However, this statement is quickly countered by poster nippi, who says, “I am equally 100% sure, this is NOT a manual penalty. Why manually penalize 30 places? If its worth a manual penalty, its worth removal. I’m yet to see a single site that’s been hit by the plus 30 penalty that does not have some or all of these problems.”

I actually prefer this method to the idea of a sandbox (provided it existed in the first place). At least you know where you stand in the eyes of Google and this knowledge should allow you to make the necessary changes to improve your standings.

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

An interesting thread appeared at WebmasterWorld discussing how Google handles links within NOSCRIPT tags. WMW’s Brett Tabke indicates while Google may follow links within these tags (which were introduced in case users were viewing a page with script capabilities turned off), but they will not pass on PageRank.

Tabke’s post should be all the motivation you need to not use Javascript-based naviagation, something search engineers have been saying since I went to my first SES conference… unless you aren’t interested in passing PageRank to your site’s sub-pages. Of course, if you have text links at the bottom of the page to support the top-level Javascript navigation, then your site’s PR should be passed like normal. Just make sure these text links are outside of the NOSCRIPT tag.

Hat-tip to SERoundtable.

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

2006 is shaping up to be an incredibly rewarding year financially for the search engine from Mountain View. Most of us are aware of the Google/YouTube purchase, but that’s not what Google owes this year’s success to.

According to MarketWatch, Google is in a position to “pocket 25% of all U.S. online ad spending in a calendar year,” making them the first company to ever control such an amount. This means of the $16+ billion spent on online advertising in 2006, Google is set to make a cool $4 billion.

The article goes on to reveal Google’s 2006 ad revenue will be almost double the amount of their closest competitor, Yahoo. Last year, both companies made almost equal amounts in ad money, but this year, Google has demonstrated an unprecedented level dominance. What are the reasons for Google’s success? A quote from the Marketwatch report provides some clues:

That’s because Google’s markedly better than Yahoo and other rivals at squeezing more revenue for itself from the advertising it serves up, eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman said during a Monday interview. Also, Google’s reputation as the online ad leader makes it more of a first choice for businesses trying out online advertising for the first time.

Reports like these raise fundamental questions about Google - are they a search engine specializing in marketing or are they a marketing company specializing in search? When you consider the way they have conducted business this year, more and more they are looking like a marketing company that’s really good at providing search services.

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews