This post was most recently updated on October 31st, 2022
Invalid traffic can wreak havoc on a publisher’s website. If left unchecked, it can result in ad account suspensions and loss of thousands in ad revenue. There are many ways of detecting ad fraud, such as using Google Analytics. However, sophisticated publishers tend to rely on invalid traffic detection and blocking services to ensure their ad revenues stay safe.
Be sure to read our post on AdSense account appeals for invalid traffic if you’ve fallen victim.
In this post, we’re going to be reviewing a few alternatives to Traffic Cop from MonetizeMore. Traffic Cop detects and prevents invalid traffic from seeing your ads, but more on that later. Here are some other options available in the market:
ShieldSquare is an enterprise website security service that offers a range of tools to publishers. This includes protection from bots, DDOS attacks, content scraping, API abuse, and more. This service covers websites, mobile apps, and APIs.
They use bot detection technology to build signatures for each visitor coming to your site. Once ShieldSquare is set up on your website, the javascript embedded on your page collects parameters about each visitor and shares it with the ShieldSquare engine. This engine then builds a unique fingerprint for each visitor and bot.
They then identify whether the visitor is a bad or friendly bot or a human and act accordingly. You can set up specific responses for when bad bots are detected, such as serving captchas or outright blocking it according to your business needs.
Find out more about ShielSquare here.
Forensiq uses fingerprinting and machine learning technology to block ad fraud to keep your ad inventory safe. They have a team of data scientists that continuously stays up to date with the latest vulnerabilities and builds innovative technology. They offer a range of ad fraud products such as their ad verification suite, firewall suite, conversion suite for covering domains, apps, and ad viewability.
Their full-funnel fraud detection ensures that general and sophisticated invalid traffic gets detected and that you are protected from these bad actors while focusing on a range of different types of publishers and not specifically ad monetized publishers.
Find out more about Forensiq here.
The ad fraud solution from Integral Ad Science helps you to ensure that real people see your ads. Their solution focuses on desktop, mobile, and video traffic, and they are TAG Certified against fraud. Their proprietary technology has passed various tests to ensure accurate results.
They’ve established a dedicated threat lab to fight ad fraud and make sure ads are served to real publishers and not bots. Their approach to invalid traffic detection includes three stages, such as behavioral and network analysis, browser and device analysis, and malware analysis. Keep in mind that Integral Ad Science tech is tailored towards DSPs and SSPs. Their focus is primarily on the buy-side and might not be the best solution for ad monetized publishers.
Also, keep in mind that Pixalate is tailored towards DSPs and SSPs similar to Integral Ad Science. Since they rely heavily on blacklists for invalid traffic protection. Publishers could find themselves vulnerable if new IP addresses are used by invalid traffic sources that aren’t yet included in their blacklists.
Pixalate’s ad fraud solution uses pre-bid blocking to prevent invalid traffic on multiple channels such as display, video, OTT, and in-app. Their system currently blocks 35 types of invalid traffic across IPs, Device IDs, Domains, Apps, User Agents, and Data Centers. Their fraud lists and API provides users with up-to-the-minute protection. You can also use their analytics to see the impact of blocklists on your invalid traffic levels.
Find out more about Pixalate here.
As you can see, the Traffic Cop alternatives mentioned above offer a wide array of services and solutions to publishers. Some focus mostly on the buy-side and malicious ads that can harm user experiences. Others focus on protecting publishers from bots and invalid traffic.
Traffic Cop, on the other hand, is an all in one invalid traffic detection and prevention tool. So many invalid traffic tools available to publishers only offer post-bid reporting and basic filtering options. The problem with this approach is the fact that your business is still at risk as that invalid traffic is still being served ads. This can result in ad account suspensions and huge ad revenue losses for your site.
With Traffic Cop, that’s not the case as it analyzes and classifies many different types of invalid traffic. Traffic Cop detects and blocks both general and sophisticated invalid traffic while preventing your ads from serving to invalid traffic. By running pre-bid analysis, fingerprinting algorithms, and utilizing machine learning, we’re able to block ads from serving to fraudulent sources. Lastly, Traffic Cop is built with ad monetized publishers in mind, unlike other options that are not as tailored and built for multiple industries.
Stop invalid traffic dead in its tracks. Sign up to Traffic Cop today!
Kean Graham is the CEO and founder of MonetizeMore & a pioneer in the Adtech Industry. He is the resident expert in Ad Optimization, covering areas like Adsense Optimization,GAM Management, and third-party ad network partnerships. Kean believes in the supremacy of direct publisher deals and holistic optimization as keys to effective and consistent ad revenue increases.
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