Search marketers may get a yearly look inside the confidential mechanisms Yahoo! uses to combat bogus clicks, if the company’s proposed settlement of a click-fraud class action suit wins final approval.
The proposed settlement, in a suit brought in California last June by click audit firm Checkmate Strategic Group, would offer a backstage look at click-fraud protections to a “panel of individual advertisers” once a year. Both Google and Yahoo! have been reluctant to reveal their fraud defenses to search advertisers, out of fear that information about those defenses might leak to online fraudsters.
The settlement would also extend the window for examining advertisers’ past click fraud claims dating back to January 2004. Yahoo!’s former policy only permitted claim reviews within 60 days of the suspected fraud. The settlement would also have Yahoo! pay almost $5 million in legal fees.
Unlike Google’s proposed settlement in an Arkansas suit brought by Lane’s Gifts & Collectibles—in which Yahoo! is also named—the new settlement does not set an upper limit on search-ad credits to repay advertisers whose claims are judged valid. The Google settlement now out for class approval offers $30 million in ad credits for fraud dating back to 2002, plus $60 million to pay lawyers’ fees.
The proposed Yahoo! settlement will also lead the company to create a “traffic quality resource center” that would educate advertisers about Yahoo!’s search traffic and click-fraud protections, and to appoint a dedicated employee to act as ombudsman for advertisers on traffic quality matters.
The company also plans to coordinate with third-party monitors to arrive at an industry-wide definition of click fraud and keep a list of recognized click bots.
According to press reports, Yahoo! associate counsel Reggie Davis said final approval of the Checkmate settlement would probably resolve all click-fraud claims against the company, including those in the Lane’s Gifts case.
A court will rule on July 24 on final approval of the Google settlement in that case.
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