WebProNews

Click Forensics has released its pay-per-click (PPC) fraud numbers for the third quarter of 2007.

The report found the average click fraud rate for pay-per-click ads displayed on search engine networks including Google and Yahoo hit 28 percent in the third quarter, up from 25 percent in Q2 and 21 percent in Q1. Around 60 percent of traffic from domains and made-for -ad sites was click fraud.

"Click fraud activity continues to grow especially on made for ad sites, parked domains and on the content networks," said Tom Cuthbert, president and CEO of Click Forensics.

"Advertisers, publishers and search engines need to take notice because content networks are becoming the fastest growing source of click fraud. Ensuring their quality is essential for the pay per click advertising market to continue its growth."

The overall average click fraud rate was 16. 2 percent for Q3 2007. This was up from 13.8 percent for the same quarter in 2006 and from 15.8 percent for Q2 2007.

The largest percentage of click fraud outside of North America comes from France (4.2  %), China (4.1 %) and Germany (3.7%).