I think you're right that in aggregate it doesn't matter. There are enough people willing to put up with it for Google to be impressively profitable.
But sign up for an AdWords account, turn on the display network, and then tell me click fraud doesn't matter when some site in India takes half your advertising budget for the day. Google isn't as smart as everyone assumes.
In my experience, it's not an edge case - it's common and Google doesn't know or care about it if you're not spending the $10k per month they require to actually talk to a person. You just have to suck it up and not allow ads to be automatically placed.
Exactly. Click fraud is just part of the cost of doing business, like shoplifting for a retail store. The problem is that the individual stores don't have a lot of control over the level of fraud that Google will tolerate. There's a big difference between stealing a Slim Jim from the 7-11 and stealing a diamond necklace from Tiffany's. If you are successful on AdWords it's only a matter of time until the fraudsters realize it and leech on your success.
But sign up for an AdWords account, turn on the display network, and then tell me click fraud doesn't matter when some site in India takes half your advertising budget for the day. Google isn't as smart as everyone assumes.
In my experience, it's not an edge case - it's common and Google doesn't know or care about it if you're not spending the $10k per month they require to actually talk to a person. You just have to suck it up and not allow ads to be automatically placed.