How do I protect my search feed from bot traffic?
Buy only from sources your provider has approved, separate every source and campaign on its own reporting channel, and measure traffic quality yourself instead of waiting for month-end deductions. Block placements with abnormal click rates or no engagement, filter obvious automation before ads are shown, and stop any source whose final revenue keeps falling short of its estimates.
Prevention starts with sourcing. Direct buys on large platforms are cleaner than resold or "remnant" traffic. On native networks, review performance by placement weekly and keep a blocklist current.
Then add measurement. IVT detection on your own pages flags bot traffic, data-center traffic and headless browser visits, and pre-click filtering can withhold ads from them. An independent traffic quality score, such as ClearTrust's TQI Score, lets you rank sources. Watch the ratios: a jump in Ad CTR, visits lasting a second or two, or revenue arriving from countries you did not target. Finally, keep records. If your provider queries a channel, evidence of what you bought and what you blocked is your best protection.