The advertising industry has been one of the top revenue-generating industries in Australia. Unfortunately, the influx of ad dollars has also attracted fraudsters who aim to steal some of this money for themselves. Ad fraud is a real threat to e-commerce and other online businesses in Australia, and it will cost them millions if they don’t take action. This is why ad fraud detection is crucial in protecting company websites against fraudsters.
This is a type of fraud that takes place in the advertising ecosystem online. Ad fraud can also be called invalid traffic, nonhuman traffic, fictitious or fraudulent clicks and impressions, botnets or adbots.
The problem is that it can happen anywhere in the world and affect any business or industry — large or small — at any point in time without warning. Australia has the highest ad fraud rates when compared globally, way more than the worldwide average. This makes online businesses and websites in Australia vulnerable to malicious activities and phishing incidents. All the more reason to implement tools for ad fraud detection as soon as businesses can.
There are many ways to detect this issue: from using machine learning models to analysing traffic patterns; however, businesses need to know how to prevent these issues before they happen, so they don’t have to deal with them later on down the line! Here are some common ad fraud detection and prevention methods prevalent in Australia:
The Server-Side Validation Method
Server-side validation is the most common method for preventing ad fraud. This approach checks the ad against a list of known fraud domains and rejects those that appear on it. Server-side validation can be used as a standalone solution or in conjunction with other methods, such as real-time bidding (RTB).
When used with RTB, server-side validation allows businesses to prevent ads from being placed on any domain identified as potentially fraudulent. If businesses take this approach, they should ensure that the system works well enough to detect domains that aren’t yet on the blocklist. Otherwise, it may let through some non-fraudulent traffic while blocking genuine advertisers operating elsewhere on the web or in mobile apps!
Client-Side Validation Method
The client-side validation method is a method of detecting ad fraud by using the client’s browser to detect if an unauthorised third party is serving the ad.
Ad fraud is not just a problem for large, national brands; small businesses are also vulnerable because they don’t have the resources available to detect or combat ad fraud when it does happen.
Anomaly detection is one way they can defend against these attacks by monitoring the ad networks and platforms for suspicious activity, such as high CTRs (click-through rates) or unusually low CPI (cost per install). If business owners suspect anything unusual about their traffic or conversions, they’ll know there could be an attempt at deception going on here too!
Ad fraud is a real threat to the advertising industry, and it will cost them a lot of money if they don’t find a way to stop them. Ad fraud prevention services provide advertisers with a comprehensive solution that helps detect, prevent and mitigate ad fraud attacks by utilising advanced technology such as anomaly detection and server-side validation methods. These solutions have helped hundreds of companies in Australia save millions of dollars in ad spending on their campaigns.
