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How to Detect Click Fraud and Bot Traffic (Non-Human Traffic) on Your Website

Ensuring that your site’s traffic comes from genuine human users is vital to accurate analytics, reliable advertising ROI, and overall website health. Click fraud and bot traffic can significantly skew your data and waste resources. This guide helps you detect signs of such non-human traffic so you can safeguard the integrity of your analytics.


1. Combine Pearl Diver with Google Analytics

  • Google Analytics: Offers comprehensive data on visitor behavior, sources, conversions, and more. It helps you track page views, user interactions, and goal completions, such as sign-ups and sales.

  • Pearl Diver: Captures detailed visitor information and compares it against a database of professional and personal data to determine whether a visitor is human and, when possible, identify their location (e.g., U.S.-based).

By using them together, you can assess whether abnormal traffic patterns are driven by genuine users or bots.


2. Spot Traffic Irregularities

  • Monitor traffic spikes: Sudden and sustained surges in site traffic may indicate bot activity.

  • Inspect bounce rates and session durations: A high bounce rate paired with extremely short sessions often signals non-human visits, as bots typically click through a single page and exit quickly.

  • Examine session-to-user ratios: If users average 2.5 or more sessions, it may denote bot activity—though this depends on typical user behavior and your site’s setup.


3. Compare New Users with Pearl Diver Identifications

  • Google Analytics captures all visits but doesn’t distinguish bots from humans.

  • Pearl Diver typically identifies U.S.-based human visitors at rates between 5% and 20% of new users observed by Google Analytics.

  • Considering some estimates place bot traffic near 40% of total web visits, it’s normal for Pearl Diver’s identified visitor share to be relatively low. However, if Pearl Diver’s identified percentage drops below 5% of new users, it could indicate a high level of bot or fraudulent traffic.


4. Leverage Geographic Insights

  • Use IP-based location data to flag unusual traffic patterns—particularly surges from regions outside your intended audience—that may be suspicious.


5. Analyze Click Behavior in Your Ad Campaigns

  • Watch out for repetitive, rapid clicks—especially multiple clicks from the same IP in a short period—as they often suggest click fraud. Low conversion rates in campaigns with high click-throughs also point toward bot interference.


6. Get Expert Help When Needed

  • If your findings remain unclear, consulting with web analytics or fraud detection specialists can provide deeper insights and solutions.

  • Pearl Diver’s team offers tracking tools to evaluate how often their pixel fires and whether it identifies human versus non-human visitors, enabling faster diagnosis of suspicious behavior.


7. What to Do if You Detect Bots or Fraud

  • Consult your marketing manager—when available—for tailored next steps that balance mitigation with user experience.

  • If you don’t have in-house marketing support, Pearl Diver can connect you with a partner in digital marketing who can advise on the best path forward.

  • For assistance, reach out via email to support@pearldiver.io to request a referral to a recommended marketing partner.