What is bot traffic?

What is bot traffic?

Modern publishers face numerous challenges in monetizing content while adhering to high standards set by advertising platforms. One of the most serious issues is bot traffic. These automated programs disguise themselves as real users, generating fake views, clicks, and interactions, which undermines advertiser trust and reduces publishers' revenues.

What is Bot Traffic?

Bot traffic refers to website or application visits by automated programs that mimic human behavior online. Some bots, like search engine crawlers, are beneficial and perform critical tasks like web page indexing. However, malicious bots generate fake clicks and ad impressions, steal content, harvest user data, or overload websites.

The main distinction between bots and humans is their predictability. While humans visit sites influenced by emotions and spontaneous decisions, bots operate according to pre-defined algorithms, mechanically performing repetitive tasks.

The scale of bot usage on the modern internet is staggering: between 40% and 80% of online traffic is robotic.

Traffic Analysis

Is Bot Traffic Legal?

The creation and use of bots on the internet can be either legal or illegal, depending on their purpose and application. Legal bots, such as search engines (Googlebot) or customer support chatbots, provide value. However, bots engaged in malicious activities—traffic fraud, unauthorized data collection, or DDoS attacks—violate data protection and cybersecurity laws.

In Russia, there is no specific law directly regulating the creation and use of internet bots. However, their activities are governed by general regulations on personal data protection, copyright, and information security.

Good Bots

Helpful bots operate in the background, enhancing internet functionality. Examples include:

  • Search engine crawlers: scanning and indexing website content for search engine results.
  • Site monitoring tools: tracking performance and detecting operational issues.
  • Chatbots: assisting users by answering queries and solving tasks.
  • Copyright protection bots: identifying cases of unauthorized content use online.

For example, HBTracker is also a bot. It automatically visits websites, mimicking regular users, to gather data on header bidding auctions. This data is then stored in a database for further analysis.

Good Bots

Malicious Bots

Malicious bots pose a serious threat. Examples include:

  • Spam bots: filling forms and databases with unwanted information.
  • Click fraud bots: generating fake ad clicks to waste advertisers' budgets.
  • Scrapers: copying website content to create duplicate pages.
  • DDoS attack bots: overloading servers, making websites inaccessible.

Malicious bots distort analytics, reduce revenue, and undermine user trust. Detecting and blocking them promptly is critical.

Why is Bot Traffic a Problem?

  • Revenue Loss: Bot traffic directly affects publishers' revenues. Advertising networks and SSPs increasingly implement strict fraud detection mechanisms. Suspicious traffic may result in reduced or canceled payouts.
  • Reputation Damage: Publishers with high bot traffic lose advertisers' trust, leading to lower programmatic auction bids (eCPM) and terminated partnerships.
  • Data Distortion: Bots compromise audience data integrity, hindering behavioral analysis and optimization of user experience and advertising campaigns.
Bot Traffic

How to Detect Bot Traffic

Detecting bot traffic requires careful analysis of metrics. Key indicators include:

  • Unusual Traffic Spikes: Sudden surges in traffic during non-promotional periods.
  • High Bounce Rates: Users leaving the site immediately after entering.
  • Abnormal Session Durations: Sessions that are either too short or too long.
  • Numerous Registrations with Suspicious Email Addresses.

Tools like Google Analytics or Yandex.Metrica can automate some of the work by filtering known bots. However, combating advanced bots may require additional solutions such as Radware Bot Manager, Fingerprint Pro Bot Detection, or DataDome.

How to Stop Bot Traffic

Several effective strategies can help block bots:

  • CAPTCHA: Ensures the visitor is human, though this method’s effectiveness is diminishing.
  • IP Blocking: Restricts access from suspicious IP addresses.
  • Use Third-Party Technologies: Employ services like MOAT, Sizmek, or AdRiver to analyze traffic patterns, timestamps, and activity signals to distinguish bots from real users.

Traffic Verifiers assess the quality of internet traffic by checking its source, authenticity, and alignment with declared metrics. They use behavioral analysis algorithms, geolocation data, IP addresses, and device information to detect suspicious activity, such as bot traffic or click fraud. Verifiers also monitor content interaction to confirm that clicks, impressions, and other actions are performed by real people.

  • Real-Time Filtering: Leverage anti-bot solutions within advertising SSPs and DSPs to filter traffic before it enters advertising auctions.

Platforms like Cloudflare, Yandex, and Google utilize advanced algorithms to identify bots in real-time. Their methods include:

  • Analyzing request data (user-agent, source, IP address, and other parameters),
  • Monitoring user behavior (mouse movements, page scrolling),
  • Applying anti-bot filters (patterns, whitelists, and blacklists) and other unique protection methods.

CAPTCHA, in various forms including audio CAPTCHA, remains the primary verification method on these platforms.

It is also essential to regularly monitor traffic, update software, and reinforce firewalls. Timely vulnerability detection is key to reliable website protection.

Robo-Cat

How Bots Impact Advertising

Malicious bots distort advertising metrics, inflating click and impression rates. This harms both advertisers and website owners:

  • Advertisers: lose money to fraudulent clicks.
  • Publishers: lose trust and revenue due to rising fraud levels, potentially facing platform bans.

For publishers, high fraud levels may lead to platform blacklisting, especially if suspicious activity persists.

Conclusion

Bot traffic is a reality for every website owner. While the temptation to buy cheap traffic for resale exists, advertising protection systems are constantly improving. A single blacklisting incident can damage reputation for years. Advertisers seek only quality, verified traffic. Is it worth the risk?

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