Is clicking an add without intent click fraud?

Comment from Does anyone else tip bloggers?

A tip? Keeping the PPC model alive and working? If you're clicking on an ad merely to reward the blogger, you're committing a mild form of click fraud and compromising the performance-based PPC ad system.

It’s reasonable to take the step of browsing the ads on a blog you would like to support, but you should click only when an ad genuinely entices you. Otherwise, you're doing all parties a disservice. At least that's this purist’s view.

That's John Lewis Needhams opinion. Of course, he does work for Google and since he's my brother-in-law he usually adopts the contrarian point of view. (Here's a picture of the do-gooder.)

I would argue this. PPC is someone elses business model and is simply advertising. Viewing advertising is not a promise to pay or anything else. If you're paying for PPC advertising (as I do) you know that your conversion rate is low. Advertisers are hoping that their landing page is targeted enough to get people to stay and hopefully buy. Using the web or clicking on a link instills no moral obligation to purchase anything. Google/Yahoo is pitching advertisers on a model that charges them only when a viewer takes an action (clicks on a link). Google/Yahoo or other PPC providers have no moral athority to determine 'why' someone is clicking on an ad if it's not a concerted effort to make money.

Clicking on a blogs link as a 'thank you' or 'tip' to the blogger isn't fraud. It's not even close. As an advertiser I want my business in front of potential buyers. If content based advertising works, any advertisement or ppc link that's provided should be of some interest to whoever's reading the blog.

Perhaps terrorists will be able to target the US PPC model?

Comments

[Jeff Lewis]

I would argue that the tipping anology doesn't work well here, because when you leave a tip at the restaurant, you are leaving *your* money. When you tip someone by clicking on ads on their page, you are using someone else's money. I suggest emailing them and asking where you can send the check... ;-)

[Jeff Barson]

Tipping might not be the most appropriate term. When you're tipping a waiter you're paying for a service. When you're clicking a link a third party is paying for advertising to you. Click on a video on cnn.com and they'll play an ad before the story. Why should there be a complaint about clicking a link that should be targeted at you?

[Jeff Jordan]

When I "blog tip" I just look for the advertisement that most interests me -- and I rarely look down a line of ads to find that none of them interest me in some way or another. I think that blog tipping, when approached this way, helps the advertiser because it motivates me to do something that I would never have done before -- actually take the time to read his or her ad and consider the offering.