Bots

In this glossary, we will discuss the different kinds of good and bad bots, affiliate fraud through bot traffic, how they impact the affiliate marketing industry and affiliate fraud prevention.

What Are Bots?

They can be broadly classified into 2 categories:

• Good (Helpful bots)
• Bad (Malicious bots)

A bot follows a specific set of rules to do things automatically while imitating human behavior. 

They can do almost anything, from chatting with users online to searching the entire internet to find any information. 

Although most bots are helpful, some can be real troublemakers. These trouble causing ones are called malicious bots.

Different Kinds of Bots

These come in a number of different shapes and sizes, each with its own special function-

• Search Engine Bots:

These visit websites to find out information and help search engines like Google to show users the right results.

• Social Media Bots:

These can be found on social media and can perform activities like post messages, like posts, or follow people.

• Chatbots:

Chatbots, as the name suggests, chat with people, answer questions, and can even help with tasks like ordering food or booking appointments.

• Bad Bots:

Unfortunately, there are bots that are specifically created and used to indulge in malicious activities. Malicious bots are cybersecurity risks because they may steal sensitive user data or information, send spam,  generate fake traffic on websites, or launch cyber attacks by breaking into user systems without authorization.

How Do Bots Work?

One of the most common questions that arise in the minds of users, advertisers and businesses alike is, ‘How do bots work?’.

Let’s find out.

Bots follow a specific set of instructions. 

They can interact with other systems and share data with each other or with humans using standard network communication protocols.

Once they start working, they carry out programmed tasks continuously until their job is done. 

They keep performing these tasks with little to no human intervention which is efficient and time-saving.

Good Bots (Helpful)–

There are lots of bots that help people and businesses, these are called good or helpful bots.

Here are some of the most commonly used good ones:

1. Chatbots can answer users’ questions quickly and easily, like a helpful customer service rep.

2. Web Crawlers help search engines find websites so users can find what they are looking for easily.

3. Scrapers are data collecting bots that gather information from different places to help people learn new things.

4. Shopping Bots can help users find the best deals on products they are looking to purchase.

5. Monitoring Bots keep an eye on things, like website changes or social media mentions.

6. Transaction Bots can help users buy things online or manage their money.

They can make life easier by doing boring or time-consuming tasks and can also help businesses reach more people and improve their services.

Bad Bots (Malicious Ones)–

These are the types of bot that are specifically designed to harm online brands and businesses.

These malicious programs engage in activities that can result in security breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage.

One of the most prevalent areas where malicious ones are prone to creating the biggest problems is affiliate marketing.

Affiliate fraud is one of the most persistent issues when it comes to performance marketing and it often depends on the use of bots.

Different types, that are commonly used to manipulate traffic and inflate results in an affiliate marketing campaign:

• Click Bots:

These are automated clickers. They rapidly tap on ads and affiliate links in order to artificially boost click counts. They can either be programmed to target specific links or be used to engage in random clicking sprees which makes it a challenging task to identify their malicious intent.

• Impression Bots:

These are somewhat similar to click bots. They focus on creating a false sense of popularity. They can inflate the number of times an ad is displayed to a user which leads to advertisers believing that their campaigns are performing really well. However, the truth is that these phantom impressions are generated by bots and not out of genuine human interest. This deception can result in higher advertising costs and lower ROI (returns on investment).

• Traffic Bots:

These are created by scammers to simulate human browsing behavior. They visit websites, navigate through pages, and even stay on the site for a seemingly realistic amount of time. These are designed with the aim to create an illusion of genuine user interest. While they may appear harmless, they contribute to inflated traffic metrics and can skew website analytics. This in turn makes it difficult for marketers to assess real user engagement.

• Cookie Stuffing Bots:

These are particularly the most dangerous since they operate behind the scenes, without the knowledge of the user. They inject affiliate cookies into a user’s browser which falsely attributes sales to a specific affiliate, even if the user never interacted with their website. This kind of fraudulent activity allows scammers to claim commissions for sales they did not genuinely earn.

The Impact of Fake Traffic on Affiliate Programs

First and foremost, what is bot traffic?

When scammers generate fake traffic, that mimics genuine users, on websites using bots, it is known as bot traffic.

They can also be used to generate fake clicks, page views, and sometimes even purchases, making it hard to tell what is real and what is not. 

This creates a distorted picture of how well your campaigns are performing.

• How Bots Affect Advertisers:

They can make advertisers spend their budget on ads that are not even reaching real people. Non-human traffic can make it seem like a campaign is doing great, when in reality it is not working at all. This wastes money and resources and makes it tough for brands to find the best affiliate partners.

• How Bots Affect Affiliates:

They can give affiliates a false sense of success. An affiliate might think they are doing amazing, but it is all based on fake numbers. This can damage their reputation and make it hard for them to work with advertisers in the long run.

• How Bots Affect Affiliate Networks:

Affiliate networks act like middlemen between advertisers and affiliates. Bots make their job harder. Networks need accurate data to match good affiliates with the right campaigns and bots make it difficult to spot trends or ad fraud.

The damage caused by Non-human traffic is not limited to just wasted budgets. When everyone is busy fighting bots, less time and energy is spent on creating great content, products, and customer experiences. This can hurt the whole affiliate marketing industry.

This is why understanding how they work and teaming up to fight them is the need of the hour in the affiliate marketing industry.

Identifying Bot Traffic

They can really mess with your affiliate campaigns.

Here are some ways to identify Non-human traffic in your affiliate campaigns:

1. Keep an Eye on Your Traffic

• Check your website stats: 

Tools like Google Analytics can show you where the visitors on your website are coming from. If you see strange patterns or traffic from unexpected locations, it might be a red flag.

• Look for suspicious behavior: 

They often act differently than real people. They might leave your site quickly, never scroll, or visit a ton of pages in an impossibly short time period. All of these actions might hint at the possibility of bot activity.

2. Go Through Your Server Logs

• Investigate IP addresses: 

If you see the same IP address popping up over and over, it could be a bot.

• Check user agents: 

They often pretend to be different browsers or devices. Look for anything that might seem off.

• Examine referrals: 

If your traffic is coming from weird or unknown websites, that may point towards bot behavior.

3. Use Special Bot Detecting Tools and Platforms

There are many third-party fraud prevention platforms and tools, such as Trackier’s Fraud Shields, that are designed to spot and block bots. These tools/platforms use smart technology such as machine learning algorithms, reputation systems, etc to tell the difference between real people and bots which helps in bot detection.

How to Detect Bot Traffic

Bot traffic detection is crucial.

Businesses can implement a number of strategies to detect bot traffic and protect their marketing campaigns:

• Website Analytics-

Regularly reviewing website analytics is essential for identifying potential threats. By tracking metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and traffic patterns, you can effectively detect bot activity. Sudden spikes in traffic or unusually high conversion rates may also signal towards a potential issue.

• Whitelists and Blacklists-

Creating whitelists and blacklists is another effective approach to managing website traffic. Whitelists include trusted IP addresses, domains, or other traffic sources, while blacklists consist of those known to be associated with bot activity. By allowing access only from approved sources, businesses can reduce the risk of bot-related issues significantly.

• CAPTCHAs-

CAPTCHA, short for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, is a commonly used method to differentiate between humans and bots. By requiring users to complete a simple puzzle, CAPTCHAs can stop bots from accessing websites and hence from engaging in fraudulent activities.

By implementing these strategies, brands can prevent themselves from falling prey to bot traffic and affiliate marketing fraud.

Understanding how they operate and the potential damage they can cause, can help you take the necessary steps to protect your campaign.

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