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How do you know if they are invalid clicks? (unexplained traffic spike)

Discussion in 'AdSense' started by Snake Eye, Feb 23, 2012.

  1. #1
    I am currently on day 3 of this huge, unexplained spike in traffic. There are thousands of extra people visiting my site for some reason and I don't know where they are coming from. So with more traffic I am obviously making a lot more from AdSense. My stats do not show any major links from sites like Twitter, etc. Also search engine traffic is about average, not enough to justify all of these visitors. According to my web logs, they are coming to the site with no referrer, meaning they are typing in the address.

    Don't get me wrong, I love the traffic, but want to know 2 things. First, where are they coming from? And second, I hope they are not invalid clicks. I looked at a few of the ip addresses and they don't seem unusual to me. It is not the same person either, as there are thousands of different ip addresses coming to my site right now. Most of the traffic spike is in the United States, but in a variety of states.

    The traffic spike seems like something I would get from being featured on StumbleUpon, however like I said I see no major links coming in to justify all of these new visitors. Also a lot of these visitors are going to my home page and then leaving. That lead me to believe my site was mentioned on TV or radio, but even if it was the traffic spike should have stopped by now. I cant figure out where these visitors are coming from, anyone have any ideas?
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2012
    Snake Eye, Feb 23, 2012 IP
  2. Tearabite

    Tearabite Prominent Member

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    #2
    a lot of direct traffic could be cause for concern.. I would dig deeper (if possible).. maybe spot-check the IP's to see if they are coming from proxies or "undesirable" countries, etc.
     
    Tearabite, Feb 23, 2012 IP
  3. Snake Eye

    Snake Eye Greenhorn

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    #3
    Good idea, I looked at some of them before but am looking at more right now. They all appear to be valid ip's. No proxies, all showing valid internet companies as their ISP like Verizon, Roadrunner, etc.

    I am guessing that my site was mentioned somewhere in which the people have to type the address in. Maybe someone took an image from my site and put my URL on it, but no direct link so people would have to type the address. I am out of ideas as to where these visitors are coming from.
     
    Snake Eye, Feb 23, 2012 IP
  4. JamesColin

    JamesColin Prominent Member

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    #4
    Don't you have google analytics installed on your site to look at statistics? If not, you should.
     
    JamesColin, Feb 24, 2012 IP
  5. dumindushalika

    dumindushalika Notable Member

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    #5
    Well, install Google analytics or statcounter to analyze the traffic and if there are invalid click activities remove the Adsense code for a while and take necessary actions such as inform to Adsense team using the official Adsense forum or report issue option in the Adsense interface .
     
    dumindushalika, Feb 24, 2012 IP
  6. Snake Eye

    Snake Eye Greenhorn

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    #6
    Thanks guys, I have Google Analytics installed. How can you tell if it is invalid activity on analytics? It says it is a lot of direct traffic with no referrer, and these new visitors are staying on the site for only a few seconds.
     
    Snake Eye, Feb 24, 2012 IP
  7. SeedingTorrents

    SeedingTorrents Active Member

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    #7
    how much increase of revenues are you having?
     
    SeedingTorrents, Feb 24, 2012 IP
  8. Snake Eye

    Snake Eye Greenhorn

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    #8
    Revenue has doubled, but this February was a slow month for me anyway. I am basically making as much as I normally do in a high traffic month for me like December. I just wish I knew where the traffic was coming from so I can try to keep it going. Maybe some other site mentioned mine, but I wish I knew what site since no major backlinks are showing.
     
    Snake Eye, Feb 24, 2012 IP
  9. socks5

    socks5 Member

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    #9
    a lot of direct traffic could be cause for concern
     
    socks5, Feb 25, 2012 IP
  10. edvvardbrian

    edvvardbrian Member

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    #10
    Maybe your traffic is coming from a shitty site like YouLikeHits.com or something similar. Why? No one can know for sure, unless you paid for a scam artist to bring you hits. OR maybe competitor is trying to harm your site's reputation. You should DEFINITELY let Google know about it before it's too late. Good luck!
     
    edvvardbrian, Feb 26, 2012 IP
  11. Tearabite

    Tearabite Prominent Member

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    #11
    If there is cause for concern (not sure there is) the first thing to do would be to REMOVE YOUR ADSENSE CODE.. Notifying Google of an issue with your traffic or whatever, while still showing ads, would not be a good mixture.
     
    Tearabite, Feb 26, 2012 IP
  12. photoworldblog

    photoworldblog Active Member

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    #12
    adsense publishers are always scared of such incidents. there is no way where we can contact adsense and inform them..... ?
     
    photoworldblog, Feb 26, 2012 IP
  13. gjivan

    gjivan Active Member

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    #13
    If you are getting lots of DIRECT traffic and if your site is new, you need to think it seriously. If you are getting traffic from some PPC campaigns or some invalid sources, then you need to immediately remove the codes and contact google. Before that, you can analyze the sources and nature of traffic for some days. I think its temporary or some of your competitor is trying to harm you!!
     
    gjivan, Feb 26, 2012 IP
  14. oseymour

    oseymour Well-Known Member

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    #14
    I'm the webmaster for http://www.petersons.com, and I've seen a spike of almost 20,000 direct visitors per day, all of it going to the home page, I did some digging and found these threads on google groups http://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!topic/analytics/BsZ41iF2iFM , it seems like we are not the only one's having this issue. I found that this company has been showing in my server logs, funwebproducts.com. I'm still investigating and I'll update once I find more info.
     
    oseymour, Feb 29, 2012 IP
  15. Snake Eye

    Snake Eye Greenhorn

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    #15
    Thanks, that is nice to know that I am not the only one. But now that Google knows I wonder what they will do. I wonder if they are just going to adjust the revenue and leave it at that.

    FYI, I am still experiencing this traffic spike, revenue has went down a bit from the start of the spike, but I am still getting a ton of extra visitors who stay on the site for 30 secs and leave.
     
    Snake Eye, Feb 29, 2012 IP
  16. oseymour

    oseymour Well-Known Member

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    #16
    I think its a browser toolbar, and that's why there is no referrer data, I'm in the process of creating a sandbox machine to install the toolbar and see what its about and test.....
     
    oseymour, Mar 1, 2012 IP
  17. Snake Eye

    Snake Eye Greenhorn

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    #17
    Have you found anything more about about this? I check those links you mentioned often, and no one there has found a solution.

    I am still getting the traffic spike, but not as much as it was in February.
     
    Snake Eye, Mar 9, 2012 IP
  18. PoBoy

    PoBoy Guest

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    #18
    You'll know when you get the "Email of Doom" from Google out of the blue and find your money gone and a lifetime ban for your efforts :)
     
    PoBoy, Mar 9, 2012 IP
  19. Dan2007

    Dan2007 Member

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    #19
    If you are concerned, which I would be with a sudden spike like that, then the best thing to do is notify google of it. If you don't, you could be risking your adsense account
     
    Dan2007, Mar 10, 2012 IP
  20. oseymour

    oseymour Well-Known Member

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    #20
    I ruled out the toolbar issue above and I'm now thinking that its some kind of botnet...
     
    oseymour, Apr 12, 2012 IP