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Bot Traffic Recognition (20)

02-05-2016 05:34 PM #1 herefornow (Member)
Bot Traffic Recognition

Hello guys,

I was hitted hard these days by bots, but not really an expert in that field, I do NAtive and use funnel flux but the tuto video from Vitavee video didn t help (not same configuration) , is there here any expert in bot recognition ? Not esp in Funnel Flux, at least give me the basis to recognize and send back some printscreen ( wich data do I need to prove it?) to my traffic source . Some Friends tell me if have to search for strange ISP, some other no no you have to look at IP address etc etc.

Enjoy your Friday :-)

02-05-2016 06:51 PM #2 bobliu (Member)

This isn't a vouch, but I do recall reading something from ClickFraud.co on here. Could be worth contacting.

http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...=bot+detection

02-05-2016 07:00 PM #3 herefornow (Member)

Thx Bobliu , I sent him a PM , we ll see if he can recognize the behaviour , I m still getting click on my campaign even tho I stopped sending traffic 3 days ago...

02-05-2016 08:40 PM #4 adnomic (Member)

Any progress any this? I am curious about this myself...

02-05-2016 09:21 PM #5 herefornow (Member)

Not really, just talk with a guy that use same tracker, told me to check by IP and it look like bots , no really expert conf tho, waiting for the savior if there is any :-)

02-06-2016 04:26 AM #6 bobliu (Member)

Do you have the raw logs? Are there spikes of traffic when the bot traffic is sent? Does what you think is bot traffic (come from similar IPs/ISPs?) Is suspected bot traffic all coming from same country you're targeting Do you notice any patterns? Do you have Google Analytics or other JS analytic solution that shows time spent on your landing page - bot traffic usually won't show here, or will only stay for a split second.

Compile all evidence and send to the traffic source. They will want to keep your business so I'm sure there will be no issues in getting a refund if you have some reliable evidence to back you up.

02-06-2016 11:35 AM #7 caurmen (Administrator)

This will probably help - a thread I wrote a while ago on detecting bot traffic: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...367#post180367

In addition to that, look at the ISP associated with the suspect IPs. If it's primarily a hosting company, like Digital Ocean or Amazon - probably bots. (You'll only catch real n00b bot-runners with this, but you'd be amazed how many of those there are.)

02-06-2016 11:55 AM #8 herefornow (Member)

lol thx caurmen , I did some screen shot of IP , some do 400 hits per ip etc , those hit just go thru funnel and drop , but I got others who click on landing ( isp Amazon, reliable hosting , Comcast) => so I got some nice 100% CTR out of 400 clicks and so , such a mess.And the last behavior I got is going thru funnel unique click then click like 10 times on my landing => 200% ctr and so... So 3 differents behaviour , around 50 to 60% of my clicks....

02-08-2016 11:08 AM #9 caurmen (Administrator)

I think you can assume the ones doing 400 hits per IP are bots Also the ones coming from Amazon...

What traffic source is this? If I was you I'd be having some serious words with their support about a refund.

02-08-2016 12:24 PM #10 cbrughmans (Member)

I think this is an industry wide problem. A few things you can do to avoid fraud are:

1. Contract a service like Forensiq. They will filter your traffic and give it a fraud score - pretty accurate. Bot traffic gets redirected to a page like parkingplace.com (you'll still make money on that traffic. Unbelievable but true)
2. Compare publisher name and signup details on your network with their payment details. Most fraudsters will use fake name/address but once they need to get paid you need their real data.
Pay them with paypal so you can always reclaim the money (just in case you get disapprovals).
3. Look at the number of conversions per IP. Most fraudsters or bots will place multiple conversions on the same IP. This is a sign of fraud.
4. Analyze conversion rates and timestamps of conversions - although most bots and fraudsters are smart enough to keep this within acceptable ranges, its an easy filter.
5. The most easy solution of all - get on the phone with your traffic source. Make a checklist of questions they need to answer during the call. Bots dont pick up the phone.

02-08-2016 02:52 PM #11 herefornow (Member)

Thx for your help guys , Caurmen ? I sent you the name on PM , don t wanna do public. And Chris thx for your help too, you guys are great :-)

02-08-2016 03:11 PM #12 cbrughmans (Member)

Pleasure!

To add another point to my previous list.

6. If you see a current traffic source increased its traffic substantially overnight (25% or more) then that could a first signal of something being-off. Check alexa and similarweb for rankings, and definitely reach out to your traffic source to see what the reason is behind this sudden increase. If they can't explain it, big chance its fraud/bot traffic. Traffic sources that are not based on a bidding system (such as FB or Google) won't suddenly increase that much overnight.

Quote Originally Posted by cbrughmans View Post
I think this is an industry wide problem. A few things you can do to avoid fraud are:

1. Contract a service like Forensiq. They will filter your traffic and give it a fraud score - pretty accurate. Bot traffic gets redirected to a page like parkingplace.com (you'll still make money on that traffic. Unbelievable but true)
2. Compare publisher name and signup details on your network with their payment details. Most fraudsters will use fake name/address but once they need to get paid you need their real data.
Pay them with paypal so you can always reclaim the money (just in case you get disapprovals).
3. Look at the number of conversions per IP. Most fraudsters or bots will place multiple conversions on the same IP. This is a sign of fraud.
4. Analyze conversion rates and timestamps of conversions - although most bots and fraudsters are smart enough to keep this within acceptable ranges, its an easy filter.
5. The most easy solution of all - get on the phone with your traffic source. Make a checklist of questions they need to answer during the call. Bots dont pick up the phone.

02-08-2016 10:13 PM #13 ilooley (Member)

Also, if you are trying to eliminate bot or fraud from search or gdn you should check out Clickcease. Their support is immaculate and they save me loads if cash on clicks that Google would otherwise not consider invalid.

02-12-2016 09:52 PM #14 stephen (Member)

Just looked through my stats. 45 clicks from the same IP. 25 clicks from another - Same hosting provider (ISP)

Wow, what guys would do to make another buck on the side.

02-12-2016 11:02 PM #15 herefornow (Member)

Lol yeah , I had like 8k of these lol

02-13-2016 01:35 AM #16 bobliu (Member)

Are you guys getting refunds for traffic like this?

02-13-2016 06:25 AM #17 stephen (Member)

If you can prove it and produce logs, it is possible yes.

03-01-2016 02:41 AM #18 herefornow (Member)

I produce log , they told me no proof of bot traffic ....

03-01-2016 01:01 PM #19 cbrughmans (Member)

Another article on fraud detection in online campaigns:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-d...?trk=prof-post

03-01-2016 09:41 PM #20 jasonaao (Member)

this might come in handy for you - https://getipintel.net/
Its a works well for being free.

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