CNET: A perfect storm for pay-per-click?

Paid placement auction values are based on the degree to which the media is well targeted, and Hans Riemer points to the potential disastrous impact on the industry if search traffic providers like Google and Overture don't do everything possible to keep this quality up. Riemer's perfect storm scenario would be caused by affiliates flooding the pay per click networks with fraudulent traffic. But, fraudulent traffic need not be the only cause. Any significant dilution in quality, whether due to poor targeting, fraud or any other reason, will reduce the advertisers' return on investment, click costs and - ultimately - marketer interest.