GoTo

GoTo fixed their time delay for dropping sites.

[Billythekid]

Well, GoTo fixed the loop hole where you budget $25 a month and bid top position on a big keyword and end up with several hundred dollars worth of click throughs for $25.
It worked before they redid their bid submission software but the "trick" no longer works as the page is dropped instantly after reaching $25. It was fun while it lasted. Hey, most of the click throughs came from competitors anyway. I'm talking corporate competitors according to my logs. :(

[tedster]

Yes, that competitor clickthrough situation can be a problem. GoTo says they will look into blatant abuse.

I don't mind one click or so per competitor -- we all check out our competition.

[Brett_Tabke]

I think it is a very serious problem. If you look at some of the top keywords around search engine promotion, those guys are paying $3 and $4 for the top listings. Are they nuts? Who do they think is clicking on their listings?

If just one of their competitiors gets an "attitude" and goes off clicking just twice a day from a unique IP, that is $200 a month in bogus clicks.

[Laisha]

The bottom line appears to be that while the search engines and directories implement new and convoluted guidelines to prevent abuse, unethical people will always be able to find a way to get around them. It's an organic brain thing, I think.

I have often thought that what we need is a guild of ETHICAL SEOs, much like Pro-Ethics [iwanet.org] is a guild of ethical webmasters.

That way, we could, perhaps, have our voices more readily heard by the SEs/directories.