Reverse Engineering Traffic Source Sites? (23)
Hi,
I would like to know what is the best way to reverse engineering the targets a traffic source has when they are just providing you with blank IDs.
Right now I've a list of 150 sites organized by traffic sources, volume, vertical, top GEOs, how distributed is the traffic among these GEOs but it's hard to grow it, specially with some traffic sources that are not well known but have lots of traffic.
I am using these three methods to get sites using a certain technology (traffic source):
- http://www.similarweb.com
Watch the referral section, the outgoing section, use traffic sources tracking links and use big websites.
Example with Propeller Ads (tracking link): http://www.similarweb.com/website/on....net#referrals
- https://www.similartech.com
Watch the Top Websites Using X Technology.
Example with PopAds: https://www.similartech.com/technologies/popads
- http://builtwith.com
Input a big website and see what technologies is using
Example with ThePirateBay: http://builtwith.com/thepiratebay.cr
But like I say, there are other traffic sources which are really difficult to get info from. I am thinking about DNTX, ZeroPark, Gunggo, Self Advertiser etc.
To estimate the stats I am using SimilarWeb which gives me good data about how big a website is in which countries.
Thanks
The tools you have are a good start, especially for free. There are also several tools that specialize in paid traffic sources such as adbeat, whatrunswhere, mixpanel, etc.
If you want to check search SEM/SEO, semrush.com is good
On the more expensive end there is hitwise, compete.
Originally Posted by braxio
What about AdBeat, is it similar To WRW?
Mixpanel is just for apps, right? Similar to AppAnnie or SensorTower?
I come from the SEO industry so I know what Semrush is capable of. I am not a huge fan of their traffic estimation algorithm btw.
And finally...my concern about Hitwise and Compete is the fact that they are focused mainly on the US and that's not the market I am buying traffic from.
https://search.nerdydata.com/ is another one you can add to the list
Great article!
You can add Alexa.com to that list as well.
I don't spy nearly enough! Thanks OP and contributors for these amazing tips - bookmarked!
Amy
Originally Posted by barman
Doing some more research regarding to source code search engines I found this gem: https://publicwww.com
Better than NerdyData and 100% free (you need to create a free account to get more data).
So let's make a quick example.
Some of the root domains Propeller Ads is using to place their JS codes on the publishers websites are the next:
go.oclaserver.com
go.onclasrv.com
go.pub2srv.com
onclickads.net
And here you go, a bunch of publishers using Propeller Ads sorted by website traffic/popularity.
@ironbull, holy shit that's a good find! If we ever meet I'll buy you a beer for sharing 
As a general rule, similarweb / alexa / nerdydata are mainly providing you with desktop data and therefore won't return accurate results for mobile. For mobile, there's unfortunately nothing around that really works in terms of a SaaS / database, as alexa for example collects most of the data through toolbars etc. which isn't available on most mobile devices 
Originally Posted by northernlights
Now it's a matter of how good you are at finding footprints. Originally Posted by fjk87
I was wondering who'd mention nerdydata, i used it to search for a popads pub footprint 6 months ago, scraped 50k publishers, saved the top 50,000 alexa rank (about 100 targets) then created some simple targeted campaigns for individual placements, tbh the volume bidding on individual placements was quite low. Its something i'll probably go back to, as going this route is a way to have that "edge".
Originally Posted by ironbull
Originally Posted by fjk87
I get similiarweb for finding traffic sources. Not sure i follow how to use other tools.
Stumbled on https://libscore.com today...
Seems helpful if you know how various 3rd party services exposed their javascript.
Examples...
Visual Website optimizer .... https://libscore.com/#script:dev.vis...eoptimizer.com
RevContent ... https://libscore.com/#RevContentLoader
Sweet @barman more tools to discover great targets
I have a newbie question by the way...
Let's say I found a website with this code:
<script type="text/javascript">
var _pop = _pop || [];
_pop.push(['siteId', 687612]);
_pop.push(['minBid', 0.000000]);
_pop.push(['popundersPerIP', 0]);
_pop.push(['delayBetween', 0]);
_pop.push(['default', false]);
_pop.push(['defaultPerDay', 0]);
_pop.push(['topmostLayer', false]);
(function() {
var pa = document.createElement('script'); pa.type = 'text/javascript'; pa.async = true;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
pa.src = '//c1.popads.net/pop.js';
pa.onerror = function() {
var sa = document.createElement('script'); sa.type = 'text/javascript'; sa.async = true;
sa.src = '//c2.popads.net/pop.js';
s.parentNode.insertBefore(sa, s);
};
s.parentNode.insertBefore(pa, s);
})();
</script>
<!-- PopAds.net Popunder Code End -->
This is what I have done. It has worked.
Originally Posted by ironbull
more tools to discover great targetsI have a newbie question by the way...
Let's say I found a website with this code:
If I want to buy traffic just from that site on PopAds, are they using the same siteID (687612) for publishers and advertisers or are they hashing/encoding it somehow to not seeing it directly?
Taking that siteID you've provided I went into one of my campaigns that I've ran for about 2 months. This particular placement didn't generate much traffic for me probably because the website(http://www.movierulz.to/) is most prevalent in India and my campaign was in Netherlands.
I couldn't get one whole screenshot of the length I ran the campaign because of my
Based on that, I would say that they are not masking it. Appreciate that extra research @simon_89
Here is another way to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiBPT2FUjp0
Just to add something to the mix
Originally Posted by omrikos
Sweet find @omrikos
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