Bot detection
Identifies automated traffic, crawlers and scripted interactions.
- Behavioral analysis
- CAPTCHA integration
- Real-time scoring
Last reviewed
Compliance and IVT awareness
Protect your revenue from invalid traffic with policy-aware controls.
Invalid traffic can put revenue and ad accounts at risk. Multi-layer detection, ads.txt and sellers.json checks and regular reporting help you stay on the right side of provider policies.
<6%Average IVT rate reported
Real-timeDetection and filtering
99.9%Detection accuracy reported
24/7Monitoring
Detection methods
Invalid traffic protection in layers, not a single filter
Machine-learning and behavioral signals are combined so that no one check carries all the weight.
Click fraud prevention
Finds and filters invalid clicks, including click farms and automated clicking.
- Click pattern analysis
- IP clustering
- Time-based detection
- Velocity checks
Geographic anomaly detection
Flags suspicious geographic patterns and unusual traffic sources.
- Geo-IP analysis
- VPN detection
- Traffic source validation
- Region-based filtering
Device and session analysis
Spots repeat devices and session patterns that point to fraud, in line with applicable privacy and consent rules.
- Browser signal analysis
- Session patterns
- Hardware consistency checks
Behavioral analysis
Separates human from non-human interaction through engagement patterns.
- Movement signals
- Scroll patterns
- Interaction timing
- Engagement metrics
Traffic source verification
Validates where visits really come from, including purchased or incentivized traffic and proxy networks.
- Referrer analysis
- Traffic source scoring
- Proxy detection
- Domain validation
Protection and reporting
Filtering, compliance and visibility
Protection only helps if you can see it working.
Real-time protection
- Invalid traffic filtered before ad serving
- Client-side detection with under 50ms reported overhead
- Continuous monitoring with automated alerts
Compliance monitoring
- Automatic checks against provider policy requirements
- ads.txt validation and enforcement
- sellers.json transparency checks
IVT dashboard
- Real-time metrics
- Historical trends
- Alert system
- Export capabilities
Compliance reports
- Daily reports
- Policy compliance score
- Action items
- Provider-ready format
Best practices
Habits that keep accounts healthy
Regular monitoring
Review IVT metrics and traffic patterns every day, not after a warning arrives.
Policy updates
Keep up with provider policy changes before they affect your account.
Traffic sources
Monitor and validate your traffic sources on a regular schedule.
Trend analysis
Track IVT over time so small shifts are caught early.
Team training
Make sure everyone who touches ads or traffic knows what causes invalid traffic.
Automated rules
Set up filtering rules so known problems are handled without manual effort.
Want this checked for your traffic? A member of our team reviews it and replies personally, with no obligation.
Get a free site review →Plain-English guide
What counts as invalid traffic
Invalid traffic (IVT) is any click or impression that doesn't come from a real person with genuine interest, such as bots, click farms, accidental clicks or a publisher clicking their own ads. Ad platforms filter it out and don't pay for it, and a high level of it can lead to deductions, limited ad serving or a closed account.
Common causes publishers can control
- Buying traffic from exchanges, pop-under networks or "paid to visit" schemes.
- Ads placed next to buttons, menus or download links, which cause accidental clicks.
- Asking visitors, friends or staff to click ads or reload pages.
- Auto-refreshing ads or pages outside the platform's rules.
How to protect your account
Watch where your traffic comes from, investigate sudden spikes, keep ad placements clear of navigation, and never click your own ads. Google explains how it defines and handles invalid activity on its invalid traffic help page. For visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland, Google also requires a certified consent platform that follows the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework.
Included with MH AdX
MH Shield filters invalid traffic on the page itself. It scores every pageview and keeps bots and repeated clicks away from your ads before they load.
Good questions
Invalid traffic and compliance questions
What IVT level is acceptable?
Our current AdX screening looks for less than 10% invalid traffic, and partners may differ. Lower is better, and steady monitoring matters more than any single number.
Should I buy traffic to grow faster?
We advise against it. Purchased or incentivized traffic is a common cause of invalid traffic and account problems.
Does this replace the provider’s own checks?
No. It supports your own monitoring. Google and other providers run their own detection and make their own decisions.
How does this fit with privacy rules?
Detection is designed to respect applicable privacy and consent requirements such as GDPR and CCPA. See our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy for how this site handles data.
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