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Market researcher Outsell Inc. has determined that click fraud is a big issue-"big" in the sense of a "$1.3 billion problem." Their study also found that the issue has driven advertisers to spend less money with the major search engines.

Click fraud has been considered a major challenge for some time, but Outsell's data indicates it may be much more problematic than was previously believed. The report (available here for only $500) shows how "click fraud takes advantage of the pay-per-click model" and will help you "discover the true magnitude of the click fraud problem."

On that subject, one of the topic headings claims that "On Average, 14.6 Percent of Clicks Are Fraudulent." And as the San Francisco Chronicle reports, the study also found that "three-quarters of advertisers said they had been victims at least once." Taken together, these statistics indicate that a lot of money has been wasted on advertising.

The Chronicle also reported that "27 percent of advertisers reduced or stopped spending on click-based advertising." Also, "an additional 10 percent said they intend to curtail spending." And Chuck Richard, the vice president of Outsell, made a comment in the report. "In our opinion, it is not acceptable that advertisers fund the illicit profits of the scammers," he said.

Outsell's statistics are ground firmly in reality. The "survey was based on the responses of 407 online advertisers representing a cross-section of U.S. business. Their spending ranged from several thousand dollars online annually to more than $10 million." Click fraud is obviously a huge problem affecting all sorts of companies.

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.