Detecting Click Fraud and Bot Traffic (non-human traffic) on your website

Pearl Diver- Detecting Click Fraud and Bot Traffic (non-human traffic) on your website

In the digital landscape, ensuring human web traffic is a vital metric for the success of any website. However, the presence of click fraud and bot traffic can significantly skew analytics, compromise advertising budgets, and affect the overall health of your online platform. This guide aims to help you identify signs of click fraud and bot traffic, allowing you to take proactive measures to maintain the integrity of your website analytics.

Using Pearl Diver to Identify Click Fraud and Bot Traffic

Pearl Diver is an effective tool for assessing and confirming if your website is being hit with click fraud or bot traffic. We recommend using a website traffic tracking system ,e.g. Google Analytics, in tandem with your Pearl Diver service as the most effective tool combination to quickly diagnose click fraud or bot traffic.

  1. Google Analytics tracks and analyzes website traffic behavior, traffic sources, and conversions. Users can monitor page views, interactions, and set up goals to measure specific actions like purchases or sign-ups.
  2. Pearl Diver captures information about users who visit your website, and matches this information against a database of professional and personal details to reliably define whether this visitor is a human visitor, specifically from the US, or otherwise.
  3. Your Google Analytics will capture all visits to the website during a period, however it cannot differentiate between human vs non human traffic.

Analyze Unusual Spikes in Traffic:

Monitor your website analytics regularly for sudden and unexplained spikes in traffic. While occasional surges can be attributed to legitimate sources, consistent and abnormal increases may indicate the presence of automated bot traffic.

Check Bounce Rates and Session Durations:

Examine bounce rates and session durations for anomalies. High bounce rates and extremely short session durations could be indicative of bot traffic, as bots often access a single page and leave quickly, causing a spike in bounce rates.

Discrepancies between your Google Analytics 'Users' and the number of 'Sessions' Take an average of how many users actioned the total number of sessions in the same period - typically if the average is 2.5 sessions or more per user, this could indicate a degree of non-human traffic. Please keep in mind this depends on the website setup and the typical customer profile that visits your website.

Discrepancies between your Google Analytics 'New Users' and the number of identified Pearl Diver records

Pearl Diver's average identification rates falls between 5% and 20% and your US based, human traffic to the website within a given month at minimum. As it has been found that an average of 40% of internet traffic is automated, i.e., bots, bot traffic is actually something that is hard to avoid. In some cases, we want bots to crawl our websites. For example, your website wouldn't appear on the Google search results pages if it wasn't for bots. Based on this, assume about 40% of your google analytics users are non human.

Taking the remaining figure, calculate the percentage of Pearl Diver identified records you have compared to your New Users. If this percentage falls below the 5% threshold, you may be experiencing a high rate of click fraud or bot traffic.

Investigate Geographical Data:

Utilize geo-location data to identify the origin of your web traffic. Unusual concentrations of traffic from specific regions, especially those not relevant to your target audience, may suggest the involvement of fraudulent activity or bots.

Examine Click Patterns:

Pay attention to click patterns on your website, especially for PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns. If you notice repetitive and unnatural click patterns, such as a high number of clicks from the same IP address within a short time frame, it may be a sign of click fraud.

Review Ad Campaign Performance:

If you run online advertising campaigns, closely monitor the performance metrics. Sudden drops in conversion rates or inexplicable changes in campaign performance may be red flags for click fraud. High click through rates on campaigns with little to no form fills or conversions can often indicate the potential of bot traffic.

Consult with Web Analytics Experts:

If you remain uncertain about the presence of click fraud or bot traffic, consider consulting with web analytics experts or hiring professionals who specialize in fraud detection. They can conduct in-depth analyses and provide tailored solutions based on your website's unique characteristics.

Our team also have access to tracking tools that allow us to review the number of times our Pearl Diver pixel has fired on your website, and can begin to paint a picture of how many tag fires were able to capture 1st party identifiers we would consistently associated with a human visit versus a non human visit. This often allows us to diagnose click fraud or bot traffic indicators quickly and efficiently.

What do I do if I have click fraud or bot traffic on my website?

Your marketing manger will have experience with solving this problem and will be the best person to advise the best next steps for your website that works for your company and has a good customer experience for your customers.
Do not have access to dedicated marketing resource? No worries! We can connect you with one of our Pearl Diver Partners who work in the digital marketing space. They would be happy to advise or consult on the best next step forward.
Reach out to our support team at support@pearldiver.io and ask to connect with our Pearl Diver Partners for marketing support. The team will be able to get find the best partner to connect you with and facilitate getting a call organized.

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