The Click Fraud Index Under Scrutiny

I wanted to point you guys to a new service named the Click Fraud Index. In an SEW blog entry Danny Sullivan reports on some recent figures that put click fraud at 13.7 percent, industry-wide. The major problem is that we do not know how "click fraud" is defined in this index and which advertising networks they use to come up with the data exactly. Danny summarizes;

I didn't mean to say the the Click Fraud Index was offering up an industry wide statistics. I meant only to highlight that the data is specific to your particular network only.

Which received more criticism;

hese figures have to be vetted - how are they calculating the percentage, i.e. what does that represent?

For example, if 30% of the universe of all PPC clicks are fraudulent, and the publishers "catch" and don't bill for half of that 30%, then we would see 15% of advertiser traffic that is being billed for as fraudulent. Is that the figure they're talking about?

Or, is the percentage of fraudulent clicks 15% of the entire universe of clicks? And if so, then what percentage of those clicks are being billed for, and what aren't?

Also, how are they defining "click fraud"

So much methodology to vet.

There is a Search Engine Watch thread named Thoughts On New Click Fraud Index & Network? In that thread most are skeptical about the service. SEW moderator, Marcia says;

Brand new, multiple sites, no privacy policy in place. Nice setup for a data mining operation, eh?

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.