Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft announce they are joining forces to combat the click-fraud storm (both reality and accusations). The big three search engines will use their shared expertise, touching 86% of the game. The competitors plan to create common guidelines for clickfraud— starting with defining it, then facing the complexities of tracking it.
AP: John Slade, senior director of Yahoo’s defense against click fraud, predicted the alliance’s guidelines “will be a game-changing step in measuring and fighting click fraud.” It may take more than a year before the guidelines are finalized, said Greg Stuart, chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The decision to develop the guidelines reflects the Internet industry’s “commitment to being the most accountable advertising medium and providing marketers with the highest level of transparency,” Stuart said.
