Yahoo Partners With 3rd Party Click Fraud Company, Click Forensics

Yahoo and Click Forensics have partnered to combat click fraud together. The partnership was announced on the Auditing Paid Listings and Click Fraud Issues panel at SES NY today. Yahoo said:

• Click Forensics will allow advertisers to securely share relevant account information, such as site-side click behavioral data, with Yahoo!. Industry analysts like Dr. Tuzhilin have said that data such as this is helpful in identifying poor quality traffic, including click fraud.
• With this deal, Yahoo! is the first search engine to cooperate with a third-party, such as Click Forensics, to obtain additional feedback and promote its goal of advertiser satisfaction and return on investment.
• Click Forensics is the first 3rd party click auditor to work with Yahoo! in an effort to help advertisers better understand their click data.

Honestly, I am a bit surprised by the announcement but overall, I am happy. In hindsight, this partnership makes a lot of sense and I am interested in seeing where this takes both Yahoo, Click Forensics, and the search ad industry in the future.