Click Sentinel

[thejenn]

Is anyone out there using Click Sentinel for click fraud tracking? I've got a client that has just started using it and while I've been impressed with the level of data that it collects, we've been having a horrible time trying to generate PDF reports. As in it is quite literally taking HOURS to generate them. This client has a fairly extensive campaign, (65,000-75,000 clicks a month) which I realize is a lot of data to go through when generating reports, but I'm curious if this is the norm for other folks.

Also curious if anyone has used the reporting yet in their quest for a click fraud refund and what the result has been.

[Jeff Martin]

Also curious if anyone has used the reporting yet in their quest for a click fraud refund and what the result has been. Do you mean just CS's reporting or any fraud reporting? I've had success with Adwords inquiries through my VeriClix fraud reporting.

[thejenn]

Mostly wondering about CS as I know plenty of folks are getting refunds. This is just the first time that I've had a client using CS and although I find plenty of chatter about them, I'm not finding any actual "I used them and this is what happened" anywhere...

[Jeff Martin]

Keep in mind that some advertisers may not want to broadcast that they are monitoring for fraud. Also, any ethical click fraud firm wouldn't post any client names or results without express permission from those clients.

[thejenn]

Well clearly there are some privacy issues here.

But am I being naive in thinking that it's not really a surprise that anyone with a reasonable sized PPC budget would be screening for fraud?

And it's not like you've got to name clients to say "sure, I've had success with this company." :)

Anyway, I'm not super worried about getting refunds as I'm sure they can get something worked out with Google. But I am curious about the generation of the PDF reports and if anyone else has had similar problems.

[Jeff Martin]

But am I being naive in thinking that it's not really a surprise that anyone with a reasonable sized PPC budget would be screening for fraud? You would be suprised at the number of people who aren't actively monitoring their PPC campaigns for fraud. In addition, click fraud isnt something you could look for only once. Just becuase it didnt happen yesterday doesnt mean it wont happen today.

[thejenn]

I would expect that a lot of small to mid sized businesses aren't, but yeah, I would likely be surprised at the amount of people dropping tens of thousands without ever bothering to do any monitoring.

I mean even a 5% click fraud rate on a $5K campaign is $250.

Though I guess that's part of why it can remain so rampant. Until tracking and refund seeking become standard practice for the greatest majority of advertisers, there's not a whole lot of incentive for the engines to put an end to it. (When they can instead let the money come in and write the occasional refund to keep folks happy.)