Yahoo Click Fraud Settlement Increases Transparency - Yahoo Goes Above and Beyond
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Yahoo has publicly committed itself to taking steps to increase the transparency of its click through protection process that go above and beyond the terms of the settlement. You read that right. To some extent, these two points are almost mere details, but properly implemented, they could go a long way toward reassuring advertisers that Yahoo is handling their click fraud issues with all the care and prompt attention they deserve.
The first one, in fact, deals with response times. Yahoo stated that it will provide advertisers submitting click fraud or traffic quality inquiries with a specific time by which they will know the results of the company’s investigation of the issue. If it’s a really complicated investigation, Yahoo will at least let them know when they can expect to receive a progress report. Granted, this is a somewhat vague point; after all, Yahoo isn’t saying it will resolve all issues by a specific time, only that it will let advertisers know when they can expect some kind of resolution or status report. We’ll have to see how this works in practice.
The second point concerns the advertiser refund notices themselves. Yahoo has pledged to include additional detail in these reports, so that advertisers can have a clearer idea of the traffic quality and click fraud issues covered. Like the first point, this is a little vague –- how much detail will be included? How clear and understandable will it be? But, as with the question of response times, it seems like a step in the right direction.
So what have we learned from this tale of two settlements? Well, if Yahoo handles this correctly, it stands to gain some very good press, at least with its advertisers. Stand Yahoo’s settlement next to Google’s, and add in Google’s general reputation for secrecy, and I know which company I’m nominating for “most worthy to use the ‘Don’t be evil’ slogan.” Of course, Yahoo really needs the good publicity right now, given the current mess of its China policy. Now if it can figure out a way to turn this transparency policy into something the average search engine user thinks of as “cool,” it might raise its market share. As it stands now, it may only raise Yahoo’s long term advertising revenues –- which isn’t a bad thing either.
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