How to Spot Fake Traffic

When launching a new website, the first thing a webmaster wants is to get more people to visit it. They want to make people aware of what they have to offer. More often than not, webmasters are content with the traffic that comes to their website organically, i.e. using search engine optimization and other online marketing techniques. However, it can take a lot of time, effort and money to generate the kind of traffic they may be hoping for. This is why webmasters resort to professional assistance.

There are many resources through which you can get more traffic, like the traffic providers we offer here on the Buy Traffic Guide, online directories but not all of them are ‘ethical’.. Yet that is only because you don’t know the effects of fake traffic on your website, including:

  • Damaging your website’s reputation and credibility for search engines
  • Delivering high traffic volume but with no impact on sales
  • Suspension from
    Google AdSense

Fake traffic may well be the biggest concern for online advertisers. The numbers clearly show that it is a potential threat.
  • At least 36% of all web traffic is fake, having been at 6% just a couple of years back
  • Advertisers are losing up to $400 million annually
  • Over 300 million false impressions are recorded every month

As a webmaster, you can also suffer due to fake traffic. So, to ensure that the traffic to your website is genuine, you need to be able to spot fake traffic. Here are some indicators that show that your website is receiving fake traffic.

1.     A Sudden Increase in Traffic

One day your website receives 100 visitors, the next day the number goes up to 10,000. This is a sign that something nefarious is going on. Check the number of visitors you receive every day so you can spot anything unusual. However, if you are running an online marketing campaign, make sure you check whether the traffic has increased as a result of it. Still, a sudden spike is unlikely.

2.     The Same Browser

A glaring sign of fake traffic is that nearly all of your visitors are using the same browser. It is easy to see if 99% of the traffic to your website is using Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. Surely, a large, diverse group of people cannot collude on the choice of browser.

3.     Short Visits

Perhaps the most obvious sign of fake traffic is that the visitors aren’t spending more than a couple of seconds on your website. Though you cannot expect every visitor to stay on your site for a few minutes, it does not mean that they click away right after your website loads. The short visits lead to the bounce rate of your website increasing, which hurts its online reputation.

Monitoring the traffic to your website along with other relevant information can help you spot fake traffic. This way, your website won’t suffer because of it.