Prevent invalid traffic  is a significant problem for all online publishers. Not only does it increase the risk of account suspension with Google AdSense and other ad networks, but it can also devalue advertisers’ inventory.

Bots can be divided into two categories: General Invalid Traffic (GIVT), which includes web crawlers and traffic from known data centers that have been linked to invalid activity; and Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT), where fraudsters make extra effort to hide their activity.

The Advertiser’s Guide to Identifying and Eliminating General Invalid Traffic for Improved ROI”

It’s important to be aware that many different types of bots can drive illegitimate traffic to your website, even if you aren’t doing anything wrong. The good news is that most forms of illegitimate traffic are easy to identify with tools like Google Analytics. Start by looking at metrics like average session duration and page scroll depth. If all visits last less than a second and most users don’t scroll past 10% of the page, that’s a strong indicator that you may be dealing with a bot network.

Next, examine your traffic sources and cross-reference them against a list of known bot networks. Lastly, talk to your hosting provider to see if they’ve received any reports of suspicious activity. If they have, ask them if they have any tools that can help you detect bot traffic on your site. They should be able to point you in the direction of some great tools that can help you prevent invalid traffic and protect your earnings.

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