NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is there an inexpensive way to spot inflated
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is there an inexpensive way to spot inflated
TaoTree, Inc. (tou_at_tou.com)
Thu, 19 Feb 1998 09:04:06 -0800
clicks-thru?
Sender: owner-online-ads_at_o-a.com
Precedence: bulk
margaret_at_workingsmarter.com wrote:
> Presently the advertisers statslogs merely show how many times the
> banners have been displayed and how many folks click-through. We
> have no means of knowing when and even which are the referring
> ISPs which click through.
We run a banner exchange program and we keep a database of all the
information we can gather about every single click including the URL of
the page, and the IP address of the remote_host (ie. the person who
clicked on it). If there is a huge discrepancy between our stats log
and an advertiser's log, we can look there for answers.
> I am increasingly alarmed by remarks like the one recently made Mark
> Welch's post that there is far greater widespread abuse of inflating
> adviews than envisaged by most lay advertisers. I also read warnings
> at many advertising networks prohibiting their hosting members from
> engaging in dishonest tactics such as auto redirection, autoloading etc.
I would wonder about any advertising network that doesn't have such a
prohibition. "Cheating" is easier to do for impressions than click
throughs, but it is still simple enough to come up with cheating methods
for click throughs. For example, we recently caught someone who had 48
banners on a "secret" page trying to cheat.
> I would very much like to hear from both advertising sites as well as
> small advertisers like myself how they tackle this issue. Is there any
> means (without paying for expensive third party auditing) of spotting
> if advertising sites which whom you had purchased clicks-through are
> perhaps inflating their stats in any way?
First, check with the advertising network and see what they have in
place to guard against cheaters. We have a filter that will filter out
repeated click throughs. An ad network that runs on click throughs
should have at least that.
For the small advertiser, here are some things to do:
1) If possible, use a separate index page for each place you advertise
with. That way the only people coming to that page should be from that
advertising site.
2) If you have access to your server logs and a good log analyzer, that
should be sufficient for you to check your logs against the advertising
site's stats.
3) If you don't have access to server logs or a good analyzer, set up an
SSI program or CGI script that will log all the information for you.
(If anyone needs this, we can set it up for them.)
Remember, that almost assuredly, there will be a discrepancy between
your logs and that of the ad network because of users clicking on the
banner but then not waiting for the site to come up, or if your site is
temporarily down. There is actually a way for the ad network to even
remove this discrepancy, though I'm not sure if it is feasible.
> Would very much appreciate veterans posting responses or emailing
> me privately if they either operate advertising sites or have advertised
> with sites which render more than just the minimum statslog showing
> click-through rate. I am interested to know what is the average click-
> through rate charged by advertising sites which also track referring ISPs
> of clicks-through etc so advertisers can more readily spot if any clicks-
> through appears to be autoloaded from the same website.
If an advertising site does not track referring IP addresses, I would be
wary.
-joel shellman
Internet traffic Exchange
http://trafficexchange.tou.com/
a service of TaoTree, Inc.
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