Fake news, fake websites, and fake consumers dominated the headlines at the end of 2016. The Methbot scheme that stole $5 million a day shook the advertising world with its sophistication in deceiving programmatic algorithms into placing ads on the scammers’ sites and paying for “views”.
Fake news also outperformed real news during the election and helped produce election results that few predicted would happen.
This trend of false information is likely to grow in 2017. Technology makes it easier to disguise false information. Digital media makes it easier to disseminate it. And unfortunately the reward makes the risk worthwhile for those seeking to profit from it.
Local advertisers and marketers will be among the most susceptible to the negative impact of the fake information epidemic. They have long been targets of scams such as bogus billing, and this seemingly renewed interest in generating false content, communications, and information will only make it worse.
New scams are emerging and old scams are being tweaked to increase their success rate. Local businesses and their marketing providers must be aware of the ways that fake information is being used to protect against advertising that isn’t seen, campaigns that hurt your brand, competition that isn’t fair and bills that are fabricated.
Here are the 8 ways false information is being used that you need to know:
- Fake News
- Fake listings
- Fake ads
- Bogus billing and invoices
- Fake reviews
- Phantom bids
- Fake websites and audiences
- False URL’s
Check out this month’s Search Engine Land column titled “The fake information epidemic and how it will hurt local search in 2017” for a full discussion on how false information is being used that can hurt your business and for tips on how you can protect against it.
