To begin this article, it's important to highlight that ad fraud is a widespread problem on the internet.

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Certainly, everyone wants their ads to be seen and clicked by real users, thus avoiding invalid traffic sources. Therefore, it is crucial to protect your account on Google and other ad networks to avoid financial losses.

Check out in detail what invalid traffic is, different examples, and how to block it. 

What is invalid traffic?

According to Google's definition, invalid traffic is traffic that does not come from a real user or that does not have a genuine interest in a website, product, or service. This can occur through: accidental clicks, fake clicks, bot traffic, crawlers, and other more noticeable means. 

Furthermore, invalid traffic is seen as a 'resource' to artificially increase ad revenue through bots, i.e., traffic created by advertisers that encourages clicks on fake ads and accidental clicks. 

Therefore, this type of practice violates Google's terms of service and may result in suspension , aimed at protecting users.

Finally, it's worth highlighting that there are other types of invalid traffic, known as general invalid traffic (GIVT) and sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT). Understand each one!

What is general invalid traffic?

The general category is a specification of invalid traffic; it is easy to identify because it is derived from lists of spiders , crawlers, and bots. Furthermore, it is possible to identify and filter these items through routine checks.

What is sophisticated invalid traffic?

Unlike general traffic, sophisticated traffic is more technical and harder to stop. In most cases, it requires advanced human analysis to identify, analyze, and prevent it.

Therefore, this includes other means: bots and spiders. These routine checks can help identify and filter suspicious activities, such as simulated human visitors, compromised devices, sessions redirected by hacked devices, invalid proxy traffic, adware, malware, fraudulent promotion, websites falsely represented as legitimate, cookie stuffing, manipulation/falsification of location data, and other undesirable practices.

How do I block invalid traffic?

We know that invalid traffic and fraud are risky for ad revenue, but our advice is always to verify: the medium you use and be careful about your traffic sources.

However, neither of these options is entirely safe. Because invalid traffic comes from sources that publishers don't even intend to get traffic from. 

Google itself does not provide clear guidance on how to block invalid traffic from unintended sources, which pose a significant threat to publishers and advertisers. 

We at Join Ads use Security Cop , a system that monitors user browsing through advanced machine learning and sophisticated algorithms. This allows us to identify robotic browsing or access from other countries. Ultimately, Security Cop enables the identification, correlation, analysis, and blocking of different types of non-human traffic and ad fraud.

Are you dealing with invalid traffic, bots, and fraud in your ads? Do you want to protect your ad network accounts and ensure your revenue is preserved? Count on Join Ads ; our managers will help you securely with the advanced Security Cop solution.