New York — The IAC/InterActiveCorp search engine Ask.com is attempting to impress its advertisers with improvised protection of content and scoring its paid serch clicks, has made alliance with metrics firm Anchor Intelligence’s ClearMark software for reaping the solution.
Keeping in course with its commitment to make searching the Web a more safe and secure experience for Internet users, Ask.com is making it more appealing and improving the quality of its advertising solutions through its partnership with Anchor Intelligence’s ClearMark software, the leading provider of traffic quality solutions.
The major goal of Ask’s alliance with Anchor Intelligence is to protect its advertisers and partners from paying for fraudulent clicks.
“Through our alliance with Anchor Intelligence, Ask.com can further apply these fundamental priorities to the experience of our advertising customers,” said Mark Stockford, CIO, Ask.com.
“This move demonstrates Ask.com’s commitment to providing advertisers across the marketplace with the most valuable, striking, and reliable advertising traffic available online.”
Ask.com will now score all of its paid search clicks using Anchor Intelligence’s ClearMark software. This is the first time Anchor has partnered with a major search engine. The move is part of an effort to keep Ask’s advertisers from paying for fraudulent clicks.
“This is a big step for the industry because it gives Ask the opportunity to provide a secure ad inventory for its advertisers,” said Richard Sim, VP of product marketing and management at Anchor Intelligence. “It provides transparency to an environment that historically has been somewhat opaque.”
Sim equated the ClearMark system to a FICO credit score for clicks. The software scores traffic based on the likelihood that the click is fraudulent, illegitimate or unlikely to convert by using proprietary algorithms.
ClearMark, Anchor’s real-time traffic scoring system, segregates traffic according to quality, enabling ad networks and search engines to maximize the value of each click. Anchor Intelligence employs best-of-breed network security intelligence from across the Web, including a private network of spam traps, honeypots, and stealth servers, to identify machines that have been compromised and used for malicious activity on the Web.
The addition of Ask.com into the Anchor Intelligence network of search engine and ad network partners marks a significant milestone for the traffic quality solutions provider as well as the online advertising industry. Ask.com joins the ranks of Technorati, LookSmart, Vivaki (Publicis Groupe), and several other industry leaders in partnering with Anchor Intelligence to protect advertisers and improve advertising performance.
Other media have similar scoring systems, Sim said, giving examples of VeriSign and TRUSTe for ecommerce, Arbitron for radio and Neilsen for TV.
“When people see those logos it means they are participating in a secure transaction that has been vetted and certified,” he added, “I see the online ad space going toward that direction because in today’s market every dollar is being scrutinized by the marketer.”
Advertising is a key factor of Ask.com’s business. Providing the best-quality ads means connecting brands with consumers through the most relevant ads. “It boils down to quality, performance and value,” said Nicholas Graham, VP of communications at Ask.com.
Advertisers should feel confident that the benefits gained through ClearMark include higher-quality scores traffic based on the likelihood that clicks are not fraudulent or illegitimate, and that they are likely to convert. Proprietary algorithms monitor the Web software.
According to the latest Click Fornesics report click fraud reach 17% in Q4 2008; during that time traffic from botnets accounted for about 30% of click fraud. Year over year that is an increase of 10%. Click fraud continues to be the leading impediment for most search marketers; platforms like that from Anchor Intelligence offer search marketers another level of defense against click fraud and botnets.
ClearMark leverages this diverse intelligence to identify traffic with a high propensity to convert and catch traffic from suspicious entities. Armed with this information, Ask.com can protect its advertisers and partners from click fraud, align its highest quality traffic with its most valuable advertisers, and ultimately improve advertiser ROI through improved performance.
“Investing in third-party solutions like ClearMark is a necessary next step for search engines and ad networks looking to retain and grow advertising spend during a time when advertisers are demanding better performance," said Ken Miller, CEO of Anchor Intelligence. “Marketers need to show high returns on their advertising investments, and ClearMark gives search engines the insights needed to make that happen. By selecting Anchor Intelligence, Ask.com has taken that groundbreaking next step to protect its advertisers and their investments online.”
Anchor Intelligence is a traffic quality solution provider for search engines and advertising networks. Last month, Anchor partnered with ad network LookSmart for a similar initiative.
There may be other opportunities between Anchor and Ask.com, but the search engine continues to learn how to walk before it can run, Graham said.