Yahoo! Search Marketing

FAQ

1. What is click fraud?
2. What is the Click Protection System?
3. What happens if someone clicks repeatedly on my ad?
4. Does Yahoo! Search Marketing monitor the effectiveness of its Click Protection System?
5. How do I know the Click Protection System is working?
6. Why does my third-party tracking software packages show that I'm not getting as many clicks as Yahoo! Search Marketing is reporting?
7. If the Click Protection System addresses click fraud, does that mean that my other traffic will convert?
8. Do you bill only for one click per IP address per day?
9. Will your Click Protection System detect if my competitor tries to click on my links?
10. Does your Click Protection System filter out spiders and robots?
11. What can I do if I have questions about the clicks I've been charged for?
12. I asked a Customer Service representative to review clicks in my account, and they asked me to provide some information from my web server logs. Why?
13. Does Yahoo! have enforcement guidelines related to click fraud?
14. How do I know which websites to block using the Blocked Domains feature?

1. What is click fraud?
We look at "click fraud" as clicks made with "bad faith,", with zero possibility of a legitimate site visit or transaction occurring. That includes clicks made for the sole purpose of generating a charge to an advertiser. Of course, it's impossible to precisely determine whether someone is clicking with bad faith. In other words, we can't read users' minds.

So instead, we look at what identifiable behaviors may indicate "bad faith." We use sophisticated software, our proprietary Click Protection System, that attempts to identify clicks by illegitimate bots ,certain repetitive clicks, and other unusual clicks, and then filters out related charges for these clicks so you aren't billed for them. Of course, we can't talk about how we define "repetitive clicks" or provide details about our proprietary technology, because we don't want to help The Bad Guys.

Keep in mind that "traffic quality" and "click fraud" are two very different things. "Traffic quality" refers to how well a click converts for an advertiser and can be applied to all clicks, both those that fall in the "click fraud" category and those that don't. We work with advertisers individually to address specific traffic quality concerns, regardless of whether they directly address "click fraud."

2. What is the Click Protection System?
Our Click Protection System is designed to help detect click fraud and invalid clicks. It uses sophisticated software that evaluates each click on our advertisers' ads, and evaluates search and click data to make both rules-based and pattern recognition-based inferences about which clicks constitute click fraud. While the details cannot be disclosed, the core mechanics involve many data points.

If the data points analyzed indicate that a click is invalid (which may or may not be considered "click fraud"), our Click Protection System software marks the click in our billing system, and the advertiser is not charged for it. Advertisers still get the traffic, but they are not charged for it.

3. What happens if someone clicks repeatedly on my ad?
The Click Protection System uses a variety of techniques to filter click fraud and/or invalid clicks before they show up as a charge on your reports. If our systems identify an invalid click (which may or may not be considered "click fraud"), our Click Protection System software marks the click in our billing system, and you are not charged for it.

4. Does Yahoo! Search Marketing monitor the effectiveness of its Click Protection System?
Yes. We don't assume that our Click Protection System technology is perfect, and there will always be those who attempt to find and exploit weaknesses in the software. We also have dedicated employees working full time to help safeguard our advertisers against clickfraud. When our specialists discover click patterns that seem to suggest click fraud, we may upgrade the Click Protection System to prevent the billing of such clicks in the future, regardless of whether we are certain that click fraud occurred.

5. How do I know the Click Protection System is working?
The Click Protection System software works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to protect you from click fraud and invalid clicks. You can find evidence of this when checking your weblogs-you may see that you have received clicks that you weren't billed for.

We provide our advertisers with traffic from many sources, so your Web logs may show a click or a page view as coming from Yahoo! or one of our distribution partners, which can be confusing. To more easily monitor which clicks are coming from your Yahoo! Search Marketing advertising campaign, you can use our tracking URLs on all of your ads. For more information, click here.

6. Why does my third-party tracking software packages show that I'm not getting as many clicks as Yahoo! Search Marketing is reporting?
There are a number of reasons why the number of clicks you see in your independent tracking are different from the number reported by Yahoo! Search Marketing.

1) We process each click on an ad before redirecting it to your server, so one potential source of discrepancy is if your site (or Web counter) is down or unavailable.

2) Another possibility is that your page had already been retrieved by what is known as a "caching proxy server." A caching proxy server is a computer on the Internet that intermediates Web page requests. These servers "remember" (cache) recent pages they have already served to other users. A subsequent request for a recently served page can be served from this cache, rather than going to your site and asking your site to serve the page. This means that your Web logs will not show the user's click or the page request.

If you'd like to make sure your Web logs record all of your clicks, you can add a "no-cache" directive to your HTML pages in the <HEAD> section of your HTML code. Below, we've provided a no-cache directive that you can use:

Here's an example of how the HTML code appears once the no-cache directive has been added:

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE>Demo cache page</TITLE>

</HEAD>

<H2>Hello</H2>

</BODY>

</HTML>

The no-cache directive provided above instructs caching proxy servers to not remember a particular page. This will cause the caching proxy server to make a request of your site each time a user clicks through, so that your Web logs will have an opportunity to record the click.

7. If the Click Protection System addresses click fraud, does that mean that my other traffic will convert?
Just as your local shoe store gets customer traffic that is "just looking," so do sites on the Internet. Once a potential customer arrives at your site, it becomes your challenge to keep that person interested and provide the right information to close the deal.

However, if you do find some unusual traffic in your logs that isn't converting and you'd like us to investigate further, we'll be happy to do so. Click here for instructions on how to submit your investigation request.

8. Do you bill only for one click per IP address per day?
No. One of the reasons that we don't do this is because there are a large number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that use proxy servers to serve their subscribers. Proxy servers are computers that act as agents for multiple users, and their use can result in thousands of truly unique users sharing the same IP address. For example, almost all users who come to your site from a single workplace (e.g., General Motors) will come through a proxy server. Since many users access the Web from their offices, you will likely see repetition of certain IP addresses in your Web logs.

9. Will your Click Protection System detect if my competitor tries to click on my links?
We do not condone repetitive clicking by competitors on each other's links. Our Click Protection System is designed to recognize certain repetitive clicks, and we work to prevent such clicks from being charged to our advertisers.

10. Does your Click Protection System filter out spiders and robots?
Spiders and robots are instructed not to spider our search ads. Our Click Protection System is designed to identify the spiders and robots that violate these instructions and make appropriate adjustments to your click charges.

11. What can I do if I have questions about the clicks I've been charged for?
Please contact the Yahoo! Search Marketing Customer Solutions department by clicking on the Customer Support link, which is found at the top right of nearly all pages in your account. Select "Click Protection" as your complaint type, enter your request, and attach any relevant documents (copies of weblogs, etc.) before submitting your inquiry. A Customer Solutions representative will investigate your account and contact you directly. Click here for detailed instructions on submitting your request.

12. I asked a Customer Service representative to review clicks in my account, and they asked me to provide some information from my web server logs. Why?
Advertisers have information on their server logs that can assist in the detection of click fraud. For example, the number of pages within that site that are navigated is valuable to our click protection efforts. Yahoo! Search Marketing welcomes information from advertisers that can help identify click fraud.

13. Does Yahoo! have enforcement guidelines related to click fraud?
Yes. Publishers participating in Yahoo!'s distribution network for search marketing are required to adhere to several important requirements related to click fraud. For example, Yahoo! strictly prohibits behavior that includes but is not limited to:
- Using methods to generate queries or clicks by automated or fraudulent means.
- Compensating or rewarding users for clicking on an ad.
- Actively encouraging users to click on an ad through use of gimmicks or graphics (e.g., "click here").
- Using blind links (where users do not know that they will be performing a query or clicking on an ad).

14. How do I know which websites to block using the Blocked Domains feature?
There are some sites, such as those of your competition, that you may want to block for obvious reasons. You may also want to keep your ads from appearing on sites that you know won't appeal to your prospective customers, or on those with which you do not want your brand associated.

To determine which sites or pages may not be performing the way you want based on your business goals, you should review the data from your web server logs, account reports and other account data.

For more info on how to read your web server logs and on tracking URLs, visit this page in the Help Center.