How Ad Bots Destroy Ad ROI

You know what ad fraud is and how it works, but now it’s time to take a closer look at one of the driving forces behind this type of fraud: ad bots. These networks are what allow fraudsters to extend their reach and maximize their profits while your advertising budget drips away.

Still, not many people understand how exactly these ad fraud bots operate. Bot networks have evolved into sophisticated machines that can dismantle ad campaigns with alarming precision.

Organizations need an equally modern solution to fight back.

Shining Light on Ad Bots

At Anura, we define bots, or Internet robots, as automated scripts that perform tasks online.

In the context of ad fraud, these bots are used to interact with online advertisements. They can click ads, generate impressions, and even fill out forms on a massive scale. The evolution of ad bots has transformed them from simple scripts capable of only basic interactions to highly sophisticated systems that can evade detection and simulate complex human behaviors.

Advanced bots have become master manipulators of the digital landscape. They can easily skew your analytics and exhaust your advertising budgets.

The Good, The Bad, and the Bots

You might be surprised to learn that not all bots are “bad”. There are plenty of legitimate uses for “good bots”, such as crawling search engines. These bots follow the rules, so to speak, and can help improve services and collect data.

For instance, there are bots for Google ads known as the Ad Manager crawler. This bot is used by Google to index the content of web pages and provide relevant ads. It helps ensure ads are being displayed on safe, relevant websites.

However, it’s the “bad bots” that pose a more pressing challenge for marketers. These are the ad bots that go out of their way to cause chaos. They’re designed to mimic real user behavior to disrupt the advertising environment. Though there are laws to prohibit the use of bots for fraud, bad actors still use them for their own gain.

Keep in mind that both types of bots can inadvertently become a drain on resources if not managed correctly. Understanding the distinction and impact of these bots is essential for protecting your campaigns.

How Ad Bots Operate

Ad fraud bots are programmed to mimic human click patterns. This allows bot traffic to appear legitimate while bypassing your typical anti-fraud measures, like CAPTCHAs. By replicating human behavior, these bots engage in activities like:

• Clicking ads: Ad bots can repeatedly click on paid advertisements, depleting budgets and inflating advertiser costs without any return on investment.
• Generating fake impressions: These bots can create the illusion of high traffic volumes, misleading advertisers about the effectiveness of their campaigns.
• Skewing analytics and data: By mimicking human behavior, ad bots corrupt analytical data. This makes it challenging for advertisers to obtain accurate campaign insights.

Ad fraud bots are particularly perilous because they can be deployed at scale and remain undetected. They can work around the clock to make fraudsters a quick buck.

Identifying and Stopping Bot Traffic

So, how can you stop bots from clicking on your Google Ads? Is it even possible to put a stop to fake traffic affecting your campaigns?

Yes, and it starts with being able to spot the tell-tale signs of these scripts.

Detecting Bot Activities in Ad Campaigns

Remember, bots have become incredibly sophisticated to make their fraudulent clicks appear as though they’re from real users. With advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, it’s easier than ever for bad actors to create effective click farms.

These are some of the signs that can point to invalid traffic from your ads.

1. Suspicious Traffic Patterns: Sudden spikes in traffic or unusually high click rates can be indicators of bot activity. This is especially true if these changes are inconsistent with past trends.
2. High Bounce Rates and Short Session Durations: Bots often leave immediately after triggering an ad view or click. This results in high bounce rates and very short session durations compared to real visitors.
3. Geographic Irregularities: If campaign analytics show an unusual amount of traffic coming from regions not targeted in the ad campaigns, this could be a sign of bot interference.
4. Repetitive Behavior: Even more sophisticated bots may out themselves by performing tasks in a repetitive and predictable manner.
5. Mismatched or Missing Referrers: Traffic that comes without referrer data, or with referrer URLs that don’t make sense, can also be a sign of bot activities.

Tools and Strategies to Block Ad Bots

There are lots of tools out there that promise to filter out bots, but they’re often not enough. Solutions like CAPTCHAs and even RECAPTCHAs can be bypassed by more sophisticated bots (and are no match for human click fraud). Even platform-specific solutions offered by major players like Google experience issues with false positives that disrupt the user experience.

To truly block bots from messing with your metrics, you need the right tools and strategies:

• IP Blocking: One of the simplest methods to reduce bot traffic is by blocking IP addresses identified as sources of bot activity. It’s relatively simple to deny access to your site or ads from IPs that have been recognized as harmful or suspicious. However, some bots can still slip through and it’s important to make sure blocking IP addresses doesn’t stop real users from seeing your ads.
• Behavioral Analysis: Tools can’t always catch ad fraud bots. That’s why it’s important to also analyze how users interact with your website and ads so you can identify non-human patterns. Behavioral analysis assesses mouse movements, scrolling patterns, and keystrokes to differentiate bots from humans.
• Advanced Fraud Detection Software: Of course, the best way to fight back against modern bots is with equally sophisticated software solutions. These solutions use machine learning algorithms and real-time analytics to detect and respond to bot activities. These tools can identify even the most subtle signs of bot interference and prevent them from engaging with your ads. This provides a robust defense against ad fraud that you need to deter bots and humans from committing ad fraud.

Stopping ad fraud bots can feel daunting, but is possible with the right tools at your disposal. Experience the power of Anura and discover just how much fraud you have with a free trial.