The Interactive Advertising Bureau is putting together a working group of member companies, including the biggest search players, to come up with guidelines and standards for defining and measuring clicks.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has announced that it is forming an industry-wide Click Measurement Working Group to create a set of Click Measurement Guidelines, in what is a joint effort with the Media Rating Council (MRC). The guidelines will provide the detailed definition of "click" and standards for measuring and counting clicks, including the identification of fraudulent and other invalid clicks.

Member companies that have confirmed their participation in the working group thus far include Ask.com, Google, LookSmart, Microsoft and Yahoo.

The Click Measurement Guidelines will also outline an industry-driven auditing and certification recommendation for organizations involved in performance based marketing, such as search engines, ad networks, third-party ad servers - any other type of company that counts clicks as a part of the media currency, IAB said.

The click guidelines are part of the broader Global Ad Impression Guidelines launched in 2004. Most recently, the Broadband Video Measurement Guidelines were released.

"Click Measurement is the next phase of the Interactive industry's groundbreaking Global Measurement Guidelines initiative," said Greg Stuart CEO of the IAB. "These guidelines demonstrate our continued commitment to being the most accountable advertising medium and providing marketers with the highest possible level of transparency."