The cost of Fake Online Traffic

The author published this article on Linkedin in 2015, but decided to re edit and publish it again due to its relevance and importance.

Online advertising is a booming industry that continues to grow exponentially.

Online Ads business, accounted for around 50 Billion US$ in 2014.

These numbers will increase dramatically each and every year. There is an international mobilization at the highest levels of the governments to close the gap of the digital divide.

The latest example is the US government’s initiative to provide high speed access to Cuba.

The graph found below does an excellent job at depicting the current trends:

(ref: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/facts/default.aspx)

There are many fundamental differences between online advertisements and conventional advertising platforms such as newspapers and TV Ads, but one difference stands above the rest: the existence of FAKE traffic in online platforms.

When an advertiser places an ad on a cover of a magazine, one can safely assume that the ad in question has been viewed at least as many times as the particular edition of that magazine has been sold.

When it comes to web traffic, however, one cannot make the same assumption, due to the existence of fake traffic.

Fake traffic is generated by bots and programs. This traffic is highly profitable to the select few that operate it, but highly damaging to everyone else.

Fake online traffic accounts for about a third of the total traffic transmitted through online ad agencies.

(ref: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304026304579453253860786362)

If you do the basic math, the numbers are staggering: one third of 50 Billion $ is around 16.7 Billion US$. That’s over 15 billion dollars’ worth of fake traffic being sold and bought and proliferated around the internet.

With this information in mind, it is crucial for advertisers to seek quality traffic over quantity.

Your conversion ratios can be 36% better than they currently are. Numbers don’t mean anything if they don’t reflect quality traffic.

At Webivores our goal is to improve our advertiser’s conversion rates by at least one third.

Our focus is not on having billions of daily impressions, but rather to have high quality traffic coming from real users who are genuinely interested in the offer advertised.