Industry Click Fraud Rate Holds at 16.2 Percent in Second Quarter 2008

Botnets Grow to Make Up More than 25 Percent of All Click Fraud

AUSTIN, Texas – July 22, 2008 – Click Forensics™, Inc., . today released industry pay-per-click (PPC) fraud figures for the second quarter 2008 from the search advertising industry's leading independent click fraud reporting service - the Click Fraud Index (www.ClickFraudIndex.com).

Now in its third year, the Click Fraud Index monitors and reports on data gathered from the Click Fraud Network™, which more than 4,000 online advertisers and agencies have joined. The Click Fraud Network provides statistically significant industry PPC data collected from online advertising campaigns for both large and small companies across all the leading search engines. Key findings from data reported for Q2 2008 include:

• The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.2 percent for Q2 2008. That's down slightly from the 16.3 percent rate reported for Q1 2008 and up from the 15.8 percent click fraud rate reported for Q2 2007.
• The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 27.6 percent. That's down from the 27.8 percent rate reported for Q1 2008 and up from the 25.6 percent average click fraud rate reported for Q1 2007.
• For the first time, traffic from botnets was responsible for more than 25 percent of all click fraud traffic in Q2 2008.
• In Q2 2008, the greatest percentage of click fraud originating from countries outside North America came from China (4.3 percent), Russia (3.5 percent), and France (3.2 percent).

"Although click fraud rates were relatively unchanged in the second quarter, we found that the methods used to commit click fraud have become increasingly more sophisticated and difficult to detect," said Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics. "The threat from botnets is the biggest concern as they have grown to cause over one quarter of all click fraud. Online advertisers should be extra vigilant in watching for traffic from botnets in their search marketing campaigns."

The Click Fraud Index publishes data collected from the Click Fraud Network (www.ClickFraudNetwork.com), the industry's first independent third-party click fraud detection service dedicated to helping companies more accurately monitor their online advertising campaigns for pay-per-click fraud. Click fraud data is tracked and published on a quarterly basis for specific search providers, industries and trends. The service is unique in that it monitors online campaigns for click fraud by correlating data collected from search provider campaigns and the advertisers' own web sites – providing the industry’s most accurate view of click fraud to date.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics is the leading provider of PPC traffic quality management and click fraud prevention solutions that help online advertisers and publishers stop click fraud and improve search marketing campaigns. The company also publishes the Click Fraud Index™, the top independent source of industry click fraud data. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures and Shasta Ventures. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

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Click Forensics, Click Fraud Index and Click Fraud Network are trademarks of Click Forensics, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contact:
Karl Scholz
For Click Forensics
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