Bot traffic is generally referred to as any non-human traffic that visits a website or an app online. 

It is estimated that over 40% of all internet traffic consists of bot in 2023. 

Not only that but also it comes with a significant portion of it being malicious bots. And, this is why many businesses are looking for ways to manage and mitigate the impact of bot traffic on their websites. 

In today’s blog post, we are going to discuss everything you need to know about traffic and how you can prevent your website from it.

Bot Traffic – What is it?

It is non-human traffic that visits a website or an app. The term “bot traffic” often carries a negative connotation. But, it is important to note that there are two types of traffic available on the internet including good bot traffic and bad bot traffic.

Some bots are good and they serve essential purposes for the website as search engines and digital assistants like Siri or Alexa. 

These types of bots are generally welcomed by companies because they provide valuable services on their websites.

On the other hand, there are malicious bots that engage in activities. These activities like credential stuffing, data scraping, and launching DDoS attacks.

How Can You Identify the Bot Traffic?

Generally, web engineers have several methods to identify bot traffic to their sites. 

• One way is to examine network requests directly. Engineers can identify patterns that suggest bot activity by analyzing the characteristics of the incoming requests.
• Additionally, if you are integrating web analytics tools like Google Analytics or Heap, it can provide insights into traffic. 
• If your website experiences a sudden and unexpected surge in pageviews, then it is likely that bots are clicking through the site and artificially inflating the numbers.
• Next, a sudden increase in the bounce rate may indicate bots being directed to a single page, causing artificial inflation.
• A significant drop in session duration may indicate bots clicking through pages faster than human users.
• A surge in suspicious conversions, such as account creations with nonsensical email addresses or contact forms submitted with fake names and phone numbers, may point to form-filling bots or spam bots.
• Finally, a sudden increase in users from a specific region. Particularly, if it’s unlikely to have a large population familiar with the site’s native language, then it can be an indicator of bot traffic.

If you monitor these analytics and implement appropriate measures, you can effectively identify and address bot traffic.

How can Websites Manage Bot Traffic?

If you are a website owner, then you know that managing bot traffic is crucial. It ensures accurate analytics and provides a better user experience for genuine visitors. 

So, here are some strategies that websites can employ to tackle bot traffic effectively.

The first step is to include a robots.txt file on the website. This file provides instructions to bots crawling the site. Also, it specifies which pages they can access and interact with. 

Even though this can help control bot behavior, it’s important to note that only good bots typically adhere to the rules in the robots.txt file. Malicious bots may ignore these instructions and still crawl the website.

Generally, various tools, and techniques can be employed to mitigate abusive traffic. One such method is rate limiting. This rate limiting detects and limits traffic originating from a single IP address. While this approach can be helpful, it may not catch all malicious traffic. Also, it could potentially block legitimate users if not configured carefully.

Network engineers can also analyze a website’s traffic to identify suspicious network requests. They can compile a list of IP addresses associated with malicious bots by examining patterns and characteristics of incoming requests. These IP addresses can then be blocked using a filtering tool like a Web Application Firewall (WAF). However, this process can be labor-intensive and may only address a portion of the malicious traffic.

Alternatively, If you utilize a dedicated bot management solution, then it can be highly effective in stopping bad traffic. A bot management solution leverages advanced intelligence and employs behavioral analysis to identify. So,  it can block malicious bots before they even reach the website. 

Overall, implementing these measures can help websites strike a balance between welcoming good bot traffic and safeguarding against harmful activities. And, ultimately it creates a safer and more reliable online environment.

View More- The Ultimate Guide To Cross-Network Advertising: Strategies for Success in 2023