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(Continued) The Rank for $ales Weekly Newsletter, Mar. 11, 2006. Page 18 
Google settles click fraud lawsuit This piece of news Thursday really grabbed my attention! A Google representative says it has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused it of incorrectly charging advertisers for fraudulent clicks on their Internet ads. Google said that as part of the proposed settlement, it would reimburse advertisers for up to a maximum lump sum of $90 million in ad credits. Disclosed on Google's blog Thursday, the out-of-court agreement is a major development in the online search industry, which some say is rife with click fraud. Many Internet marketers complain that Google doesn't do enough to combat the growing problem of click fraud and that its clients are suffering important financial losses as a result. According to Fathom Online, Internet advertisers pay Google an average of $1.43 each time a user clicks on their ads. But in some cases, scam artists repeatedly click on those ads to cause a rival company to be overcharged.  Lane's Gifts & Collectible, a retailer in Texarkana, Ark., was the lead plaintiff in the suit, which was filed in an Arkansas state circuit court. An attorney for the company did not return a telephone call for comment. Ask.com, the Oakland search engine, and also a defendant in the class action, said Wednesday that it expects to be removed from the lawsuit because of Google's settlement. Ask.com was part of the litigation only because it displayed Google's ads. My take on all of this I think all search engines (not just Google) need to come forward with this and help better fight the growing problem of click fraud activity that is rampant on the Internet today. If click fraud is to continue like it is today, this will seriously undermine search advertising at all levels and will largely diminish the public's trust in both the search engines themselves and the search engine marketing industry as a whole. Well, thats it for this week. Have a pleasant and relaxing weekend. I will see you all next Saturday! Serge Thibodeau, Please note that I am available for SEO consultative work or to help you optimize your website for the major search engines. Feel free to contact me for an honest and fair assessment.  All logos, trade marks and service marks on this newsletter are the exclusive property of their respective owners. Note: Although I always try my best to answer each individual question that I receive, there are times when it's just impossible for me to answer every one I get, as the amount of emails sent to me keeps increasing all the time. Also, please note that, for confidentiality reasons, the names of people writing to us are never disclosed. Please send all your questions, comments or general enquiries to: questions@rankforsales.com Subscribe to the free Rank for Sales Weekly Newsletter <<< Previous page Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18  Bookmark the RFS Newsletter by simply clicking here. Search engine industry news corner:  About Rank for $ales Rank for $ales can be reached via email at info@rankforsales.com or you can call from anywhere in the US or Canada, via our toll free number at 1-800-631-3221. Our offices are located near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Visit our web site at www.rankforsales.com About Serge Thibodeau Pagina+™ is offered by Rank for $ale's parent company: GCIS Inc. Besides serving as editor and CEO of Rank for $ales, Serge Thibodeau currently writes professional search engine optimization articles in some of the following publications:
SEO Today (www.seotoday.com) Additionally, Serge Thibodeau has successfully developed and deployed Global Business Listing, a powerful and flexible 'paid inclusion' search engine that will further increase any company's rankings and visibility in the major search engines. On the Web, at: www.globalbusinesslisting.com Bookmark the Rank for $ales newsletter by simply clicking here. Legal Notice This newsletter is sponsored by Rank for Sales, a professional SEO firm in business since 1997. We suggest you bookmark our newsletter and place it in the list of your favorite websites by clicking here. Feel free to contact us if you need to have your website optimized by a professional SEO firm, or if you have any question on the subject of search engines. |
