MSN adCenter is reporting on and defining low quality clicks and standard quality clicks within their system and taking the extra step to help fight click fraud with a pledge to not bill for low quality clicks, the company announces.
According to a post on the adCenter blog by Brendan Kitts, program manager for click quality at Microsoft adCenter, advises that this could enable internet marketers to identify the level of low-quality clicks their advertisements receive.
Microsoft also took the time to tout several studies that lauded the conversion rates enjoyed by ad clients.
The adCenter blog explained how clients can view these new reports. Kitts also noted how Microsoft views clicks as either standard quality (good) or low quality (bad):
The latest release of adCenter includes exciting ways to improve advertiser visibility into the area of click quality. What does click quality mean, and why is it important to you?
Because all clicks do not necessarily carry the same value, adCenter categorizes them as either standard quality or low quality. Standard-quality clicks are the clicks that you want, that ordinarily result in conversions, and that you are billed for.
And what exactly are the adCenter low quality clicks?
Low-quality clicks are clicks that adCenter classifies as non-billable, including those that adCenter has identified as:
- Invalid clicks
- Clicks that have characteristics of low or unclear commercial intent
- Clicks that exhibit patterns of unusual activity
- Clicks that originate from spiders, robots, questionable sources, or test servers
- Clicks that should be filtered out for other reasons
The program manager claims that such clicks are not labeled as “invalid” due to the fact that they may on occasion result in a conversion.
Some traffic that adCenter has flagged as low quality might ultimately result in conversions for you, which is why the label “low quality,” rather than “invalid,” provides a more accurate description of this class of traffic.
A previous post on the adCenter blog urged marketers to analyze any improvements in sales fully following an advertising campaign to ensure they gain the maximum benefit from any changes made to promotional efforts.
Users can customize reports by selecting from available values for low quality clicks, impressions, or click conversions, among other choices. adCenter clients can find the new reporting in their account management tool.
Kitts also points to a few studies that show adCenter producing a higher conversion rate than other ad platforms, including research from Atlas, Nielsen/Netratings, Compete and WebSideStory (now Visual Sciences).
If adCenter successfully labels low quality clicks and does not bill for them, discounting them from the equation, such conversion rates should improve dramatically. Good work MSN adCenter!