Click Flipping- The Impact of Arbitrage

Shotguns and Mud Puddles

In the “shotgun into mud puddles beta experimental podcast” I participated in with Sam Harrelson we touched on Google Adsense and CPC arbitrage (sometimes called “Click Flipping”) noting some of the research I had conducted in the past around the Kmeth Worm and the term “mesothelioma”- mesothelioma is a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. This was one on the more sophisticated cases I have studied and the perpetrators were using the TrafficCleaner service, a simple IP filtering service called through an IFrame- which is pretty “forward thinking”.

We also discussed the impact this has on the Google Adsense network, other contextual CPC-driven networks, the model’s overall integrity and long-term impact this has on publishers, in particular bloggers. The impact not only as it is measured in eCPC, but on CTR, and the user’s experience.

Bumping into Content

While surfing around I checked the BumpZee widget and noted Matt Coddington making a visit, while perusing his content I noted NBB and surfed over to NetBusinessBlog.com where I found an interesting article on he wrote on arbitrage tactics. Worth the read.

The Smoking Video

This article featured an interesting YouTube Video Clip that outlines at least a couple of forms in which “click flipping” can manifest- there are many, many more ways it can take place e.g. CPC to CPA, CPC to CPC from one-tier to another tier, security flaws, etc. This video breaks it down the very basics, and the potential dangers, far better than I can write about them. One example highlights on of the worst examples- click flipping from inside the same network. Watch it below:

From the YouTube page about the video:

There has been a recent explosion in abuse of AdWords, Google’s PPC (pay per click) advertising platform. It is apparent that the techniques do not follow Google’s own clear guidelines. Unfortunately, users and legitimate advertisers pay the price, while Google and the unscrupulous advertisers profit.

Google has always put its users first and one would hope that they will continue to abide by their charter. My aim with this video is to urge them to do something about these issues sooner rather than later.

Please send an email to Google, or to your favorite business or technology publication/blog

This video was posted 10 months ago…I also note that the video maker uses Alexaholic to compare the various penetration of these sites. However, if you listened to the Shotgun beta podcast you will learn how easily Alexa is gamed- we spell it out step-by-step. (You don’t even need ten computers- three or four will suffice.)

Still that doesn’t take away from the real and present danger of the click flipping economy. I have to wonder if these would be considered “invalid clicks”? The samples in the video do seem to violate the TOS so why allow them in at all as they erode the user’s experience that Google has always been great in protecting?

Social Widgetry to Find Information

As an aside I wanted to use this post to demonstrate the power of widgets and how information can be found. Note how I followed one widget to a site, read information and dug deeper into a new site, which led me to a video and in turn I am now embedding that piece of flash video in this post. All of this happened without a search engine query being directly invoked.

Jeff Doak, CTO at Kowabunga, is correct- affiliate marketing needs a revolution and I agree- for they are certainly taking place all around us.

About Wayne Porter

Wayne Porter is one of the original founders of ReveNews.com, and served as the CEO and founder of XBlock Systems a specialized research firm on greynets and malware research before being acquired by unified communications security leader, Factime Security Labs. His work includes serving as a panlist at the Federal Trade Commission to shape legislation on software and the creation of two patent-pending technologies for corporate networks. Wayne is a frequent speaker at e-commerce & business events including CJU, ASW and RSA and frequently cited in the press. He has been designated a Microsoft Security MVP three times and is recognized on Google’s Responsible Security Disclosure page- in addition to receiving the first Summit Legend Award. Wayne currently works as a Security Consultant on Social Media and operates a consultancy on digital worlds. His hobbies include reading science fiction, playing chess, fishing, writing, collecting shiny digital gadgets, playing racquetball and studying memetic engineering. He maintains a personal weblog at WaynePorter.com detailing his explorations in security, web 2.0, and virtual worlds.
You can follow Wayne on Twitter: @wporter.

Website: http://www.wayneporter.com