Ad Fraud is on the rise. Last year alone, a cybercrime report found that bot-driven fraud was up 41% in the first two quarters of 2021. In Q4, bots and ad fraud made up almost 16% of ad impressions according to new research from Fraudlogix. Bot fraud hits e-commerce industries especially hard and negatively affects all industries significantly. Billions of dollars are lost to ad fraud, and good businesses and brands are hurt by fraudulent marketing practices daily. If you’re advertising online, you should be taking part in the fight to reduce ad fraud.
What is ad fraud?
As new ways to advertise online have emerged and proven profitable, dishonest marketers have found new ways to scam businesses and brand owners out of their marketing dollars. Ad fraud is a serious problem in digital marketing; much of it is carried out by malicious bot activity.
Bots, or robots, can imitate human action and do what you want your future customers to do: view your ads or social media posts, visit your site, sign-up, subscribe, place items into a cart, check out, etc. This bot activity will give you false results – you may have increased views, more followers, and more site visitors, but you won’t have any real engagement with them. Unlike a real, human audience, bots are not connecting with your business or brand and getting something out of your ad content, and they are merely performing an action they’ve been programmed to do. Bots help fraudulent marketers line their pockets while failing to meet the goals of an advertising campaign.
How does ad fraud hurt businesses?
First, if you’re paying for marketing, you probably want to grow your profits or increase your audience. That’s what advertising is for. While bots can give the appearance of popularity or engagement, there isn’t anything behind it. Increased bot-driven views or clicks won’t lead to actual purchases, sign-ups, or other conversion types. So, a business can pay for advertising that does nothing for them. The days, weeks, or months spent on ad campaigns will be lost, and the marketing budget will be spent with no return on investment. The business owner may wonder why sales haven’t increased along with a considerable increase in views and site visitors, and their website is now slow and glitchy. It’s bots. Bad bot activity can hurt advertising efforts, hinder website performance, and compromise customer data.
How can advertising fraud be prevented?
Ad fraud prevention and bot fraud prevention are crucial in today’s digital advertising landscape. Ad fraud can be prevented by:
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Blocking IP addresses associated with harmful bot activity
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Monitoring the traffic from affiliate ad programs
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Analyzing website traffic data for fraud markers
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Updating blocklists to cover new threats
Preventing ad fraud through these measures and more can be done with the bot prevention solutions from Fraudlogix. Our solutions can be integrated to meet your business or brand’s security needs and keep your platforms safe from ad fraud. Are you ready to learn more? Contact us today with your questions or to start blocking bots and fighting ad fraud right away.
