10 Signs Ad Marketing Campaign is Being Targeted by Bot Attacks

Ad marketing has become one of the most crucial factors and the soul of a digital business that drives growth, traffic, revenue and engagement. With marketing there also comes certain malicious activities that affect every factor in a possible way. Bad bots give a significant amount of threat for the success in any campaign. Bots are certain automated programs that mimic the behaviour of humans and infiltrate our website completely which also manipulates the engagement of ads. It’s very important to acknowledge the alarming sign that can adversely affect your marketing efforts. 

Bots almost cover 30% of the traffic that is coming on the internet. Therefore, their presence cannot be countered inevitably. When the bots target the website they compromise the integrity, authenticity and every other analytics that also undermines your ROI. Let’s look at certain signs that tell us that your ad campaign is targeted. 

Detecting Bot Attacks: 10 Signs Your Ad Campaign is Targeted

1. Unusually High Click-through Rates (CTR)

If you are facing a sudden increase in the CTR without any engagement metrics and conversion rise, it is surely the indication of the bots click. These kinds of bots inflate The metrics artificially but do not deliver genuine interaction. 

2. Abrupt/Quick Changes in Traffic Patterns

It is not a green flag, if you are facing traffic Spikes suddenly from the activity that is caused by bot. Increased traffic is also positive but when but only when it is coming from a certain kind of marketing or organically. Therefore, it is important to analyse where this unusual pattern is coming from as it might be a bot attack. 

3. Strange User Behavior

Usually the bot follows a regular and repetitive pattern when it comes to their interaction as it imitates the behaviour of humans. Therefore, identifying repetitive sequences of clicks or views that do not match the behaviour of the user or your visitor can also help in spotting the bot attacks activity. 

4. High Bounce Rates

Try to analyse and monitor the bounce rate and the locations from which it is coming geographically. The bot targets a certain region as well that leads to an abnormal increase of bounce rate. Therefore, these kinds of regulations must be pointed out towards bor activity that focuses on the specific area rather than genuine user engagement. 

5. Inflated Impressions

If there is sudden inflation in the rate of impression then there can be an unexpected attack of the bot as the drops in the rate of conversion or any abnormal change that happens during the session will surely impact the credibility of the campaign metrics. 

6. Click Fraud Warnings from Ad Networks

If you are receiving a click fraud warning from the ad network then it is a clear signal that you are facing a bot attack. Therefore, if you suffer from any suspicious sources that are not your usual pattern then you should definitely look out. If there is a genuine engagement with the website that turns out good but whenever it is an engagement given by bot it often generates clicks without any subsequent interaction. 

It is very crucial to investigate the ad network issues which is the click fraud warning and its underlying causes to prevent your website from any kind of malicious attack. 

7. Unexplained Budget Depletion

If there is an unexplained budget depletion in the ad marketing campaign it is a sign that the website is targeted by the bot attack. If you are facing a rapid expenditure with the minimal result then there might be a chance that there is a sudden spike in the click volume and this abnormal click distribution can be a hint of a high click fraud rate. If there is a consistent budget depletion or your facing irregularity in the performance metrics then you should definitely collaborate with the ad platforms like magic bid which can help you mitigate the impact of any kind of bot attack. 

8. Suspicious IP Addresses

If there is an unusual geographical origin or a significant post of click or the interaction with the ads originating from the region where your target audience is not concentrated from then there are high chances that you are facing a Bot attack. Therefore, monitoring the IP address that is associated with your interaction and following the pattern will help you detect the bots primarily. 

9. Unusual Geographic Patterns

If you are facing an anomaly in the Geographic distribution of the traffic that can be a disproportionate number of clicks from the region with the low internet penetration, it is surely an indication of the bot activity. 

10. Lack of Engagement on Landing Pages

If you’re facing lack of engagement on the landing page despite receiving clicks then you need to indicate that the marketing technique is being targeted by the bot attacks. There are certain signs that you need to watch out for such as high bounce rate, low page depth, short session duration, unusual traffic pattern and no conversion event. Monitoring the engagement metrics of the landing page for identification of the genuine interaction will help you detect and prevent yourself from such kind of attacks. 

Conclusion 

It is very important to protect your ad marketing campaign from any kind of bot attacks as it is very important for the long run and maximization of return of your site. Therefore, by perfectly analyzing these 10 signs and taking the perfect counter measure to protect them is foremost. Ensuring the efficacy and authenticity of the advertising effort in the digital realm is crucial. 

It is not as easy to deal with the bad bots as it is a long process that requires a constant upgradation and a perfect measurement of analytics. Therefore, by partnering with the magicbid, to get good support that will reduce your challenges.