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bot traffic IP list - can you prove it's bots? (21)

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Got 13K visits today from one site, LP ctr is 0.22% while the average for the campaign with same lander is 7%.

I CALL BULLSHIT

lol, so I've extracted the list of IPs from Voluum, approx 66% of these ips are from this website I suspect is filled with bots
you can find the list here: IP list. Now my question to you, can you prove this is bot traffic by looking at the list of IP addresses? I'm clueless on this subject.

let me know, it's only 30$ but I want to learn for future cases.

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Sometimes you can do a IP geo location lookup. If you see something like "Hetzner Online AG" or any other hosting company there is a high chance it's bot traffic.

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hmm interesting..

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After the fact is tough.

Beforehand, or even during, build a landing page, and use a javascript redirect. Most bots don't render javascript. So they don't 'click' through your landing page to the final destination.

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Some traffic sources will refund you for this type of traffic but it's up to you whether you want to deal with the hassle over $30. I usually only bother reporting something if it's in the low $xxx range or higher. In the end it'll depend on their refund policy, the amount you spend, and your relationship with your rep. At the very least I would take a few screenshots and send in an email to your rep and/or the tech department. Worst case they offer you no refund but perhaps they investigate the fraud and cut the bad traffic for others; and if you get lucky they'll issue you a credit. Try it out you never know what'll happen.......

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@jennatalia - do you have a source or more info on that javascript redirect that can handle bots... I guess what the script would do is detect the bot, scan the IP against known ones and bounce them off the page?

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It's even simpler than that.

Bots don't render JavaScript. So bot traffic will never trigger the redirect.

Set up a landing page in Voluum. Put the JavaScript redirect on your landing page pointing to Voluum.

Then run your traffic. Your ctr is the percentage of non not traffic.

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I see what you're saying... the redirect to the offer... ie. you have a link going to your offer... make that link a jscript link rather than a "regular link."

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2 quick other things I just thought about... wouldn't your redirect go to the offer page and not Voluum? Also, if you're using javascript for your links... don't you run the risk of people who are using browsers that won't function with javascript not be able to click through?

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That's not how Voluum works.

You need to use Voluum to measure number of hits to landing page and offer.

And that is a risk. But if someone disabled JavaScript, they aren't necessarily easy to convert.

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I don't use Voluum yet but I hear ya... but I think most of the problems that people complain about are bots clicking their actual ads and racking up costs... we don't have the ability to use javascript on our ads - right. But I think your solution is to improve the CTR with the affiliates... not necessarily to deal with the bot clicking on the ad problem. I'm not challenging you on that - just asking.

In terms of Voluum... just so I understand... the way I thought it worked is you have a landing page you created... on a server... you create a tracking link on voluum... you put the link voluum gives you in your ad... someone clicks on the ad... it goes to your voluum domain, and voluum redirects it to your landing page - right? If so, I guess where I got confused is why would you have the javascript send it back to voluum? Sorry, newbie here when it comes to voluum.

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Voluum checks referrer for your landing page.

If it detects the landing page, then it redirects the click to your offer. So one link, an entire lead flow.

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using the javascript theory is not foolproof, because there are bots that do use javascript.
lack of mouse movements or any other actions is a little better of an indicator.

you can try using clicktale, it tells you which visitors are suspected bots, and you can then investigate further by looking at a 'video' playback of what the visitor has done on your page.

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I agree its not 100% foolproof. However, the vast majority of bots do not use JavaScript. Eventually, the page will need to adapt.

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yes i agree with you also.. even the mouse movements theory i suggested is not foolproof either.
in fact, i see all the time bots that have both javascript AND perform mouse movements and even clicks!

there are some bots that have become very sophisticated

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whats the traffic source?? Something similar is happening to me on inmobi..

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I've written scrapers and can do everything a human does including using a normal browser, moving a mouse around etc. This is not preferable though because it's more cpu / memory intensive and more prone to errors.

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There's nothing you can do about racking up impressions from bots on you banners , but at least you can detect the bots and remove that bot-filled site from your traffic source.
Caurmen as usual posts some awesome information on this here.

Also, if you are using Voluum, you already have an ISP tab on your campaigns.
This is what bot traffic looks like on a campaign that's been paused for nearly 5 months now and still gets daily traffic. I have no idea why.

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The why should be obvious. The bot owner can afford to.

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it probably comes from one of the spytools like whatrunswhere or any one of the others(public and private ones). they probably picked up your link once and check back all the time to see if its still live

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They are all UAE by the looks and from some "Emirates" organisation.

Just compare the data to real users, that's the simplest way.

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Home > Paid Traffic Sources > Mobile