Genuine human traffic is what makes your analytics trustworthy and your ad spend worth it. Click fraud and bot traffic skew both. This guide covers the signs to watch for and how to use Pearl Diver alongside Google Analytics to tell real visitors from fake ones.
🔧 Combine Pearl Diver with Google Analytics
Google Analytics tracks page views, sources, and goal completions, but it doesn't tell you whether a visitor is human. Pearl Diver compares visitor data against a database of professional and personal records to confirm whether a visit is a real person and, where possible, where they're based. Used together, the two tools show you whether an unusual traffic pattern is real people or bots.
Spot the warning signs
- Traffic spikes — A sudden, sustained surge in visits often means bot activity, not real interest.
- Bounce rate and session length — A high bounce rate paired with very short sessions is typical of bots, which click through a single page and leave.
- Sessions per user — An average of 2.5 or more sessions per user can point to bot activity, depending on what's typical for your site.
Compare new users against Pearl Diver identifications
Pearl Diver typically identifies U.S.-based human visitors at 5% to 20% of the new users Google Analytics reports. Since bot traffic is commonly estimated near 40% of total web visits, a relatively low identified share is normal. If that share drops below 5% of new users, it's a signal worth investigating for bot or fraudulent traffic.
Check geography and ad click behaviour
- Use IP-based location data to flag surges from regions outside your intended audience.
- In ad campaigns, watch for repetitive, rapid clicks from the same IP, and for low conversion rates alongside high click-throughs. Both point toward click fraud.
🔧 If you confirm bots or fraud
- Loop in your marketing manager for next steps that balance mitigation against user experience.
- No in-house marketing support? Pearl Diver can refer you to a digital marketing partner. Email [email protected] to request a referral.
- Still unclear after checking the above? Pearl Diver's team can review how often your pixel fires and whether it's identifying human or non-human visitors.