Anura PR Team
Ad fraud is a huge problem in the online advertising industry. Billions of dollars are lost every year to fraudulent clicks and impressions. This hurts everyone involved - advertisers, publishers, and users alike. In this blog post, we will discuss three top-of-funnel metrics that can be used to identify ad fraud. Having lots of clicks but low conversions, high bounce rates, and strange traffic sources are all signs of ad fraud. Stay safe online by being aware of these red flags!
Leveraging Top of Funnel Metrics to Identify Ad Fraud
Detecting ad fraud can be tricky, especially if data analysis isn’t your strongest skill. Luckily, there are some simple top-of-funnel metrics you can track to gauge your click campaign’s security. These include lots of clicks but low conversions, high bounce rates, and strange traffic sources. Any one of these three metrics can be a warning sign that your marketing campaign may be falling victim to ad fraud, which means you should do some additional investigation into what’s going on and how to resolve the issue.
1. Lots of Clicks but Low Conversions
Do you have abnormally high numbers of clicks with little conversions in return? If so, you might be a victim of ad fraud.
Ad fraud is a problem when you have high click rates but low conversion rates because bots are generally more likely to click an ad than humans. Bots click ads even if they’re not interested in the product or service being advertised, causing inflated numbers that make it look like a lot of people are coming to your website but no one is converting.
Clicks can be generated by bots, click farms, or other methods that won’t lead to any conversions. Ad fraudsters will get paid whether someone converts on your site or not, so they have no reason to target humans who might actually convert. Ad fraud bots don’t care if they click on and visit your site, so they’ll click as many links as possible without taking the next step in a conversion funnel.
One way to tell if you have an ad fraud problem is to look at how many clicks each visitor makes on your site. A good rule of thumb is that the more people click, the more likely it is that they will convert. If you notice a high number of clicks but low conversions, then there’s a good chance your site is being targeted by fraudsters.
2. High Bounce Rates
Bounce rates can be another good indicator of ad fraud. A high bounce rate usually means that potential customers are leaving your website after visiting just one page. This is another sign that you may be the victim of ad fraud, as bots are more likely to visit a website just once before leaving than humans are. If you notice that a lot of people are visiting your website but leaving right away, it could mean that they’re not finding what they’re looking for or that the site is being bombarded with bots.
High bounce rates can also be caused by irrelevant or poorly targeted ads. Ad fraudsters will often send bots to click on any and all ad links, regardless of whether they’re relevant or not. This means that your ads are getting clicks from bots or people who don’t care about them, which can lead to high bounce rates and low conversions (or no conversions at all).
If you notice that your bounce rate is high, it could be a sign that ad fraudsters are targeting your ads with bots.
3. Strange Traffic Sources
Think your campaign’s been compromised? You should dig into your traffic data. Small, critical details may be signs of an underlying problem.
Another way to tell if you have an ad fraud problem is by looking at where the traffic on your site comes from. Ad fraudsters tend to use bots or click farms to generate clicks, which means that the traffic will often come from a strange source. If you notice that the majority of your clicks are coming from countries outside your target parameters, then there’s a good chance that ad fraudsters are targeting you with bots or click farms. Ad fraud can also be caused by malicious software on computers or mobile devices, which means that some of your traffic might be coming from bots that are installed on people’s devices without their knowledge.
Ad fraud can lead to wasted money and resources, so it’s important that you identify the problem as soon as possible and take steps to resolve it before too much damage has been done.
The best way to prevent ad fraud is by investing in a software solution that will help you identify it. Ad fraud is constantly evolving, so you need to stay on top of the latest developments in technology if you want to protect yourself from them. Ad fraud is not going away any time soon, but there are steps that can be taken to mitigate its effects and prevent it from happening again in the future. Ad fraud will continue to exist for as long as there are people who want to take advantage of others, but we can make it more difficult for them by using technology and being vigilant about our data security measures.
An ad fraud solution like Anura can identify bots and other forms of click fraud before they cause too much damage. By using Anura, you can be sure that your campaigns are being protected from the most sophisticated forms of ad fraud. Not only will this boost your campaign performance and ROI, but it will also help to keep your data safe and secure.
Updated: February 2022
