Digital Birdhouse
Spam. A word synonymous with unsolicited messages and unwanted online interactions. It also refers to a brand of canned lunch meat, but since we are a digital marketing company, we are going to be focusing on the bad internet spam for this article (although we might cover the canned lunch meat later). Handling spam is a constant struggle, regardless if we are dealing with a personal email or a professional website. It can seem like no matter what we do, the mountain of spam remains just as towering and prominent as the logo on a Toblerone candy bar. However, there are ways to fight back, and that is exactly what we are doing at Raptor.
Spam is Everywhere
You can often encounter spam bots on social media sites, where they busy themselves by posting AI-generated content and trying to interact with human users. Nigerian princes, fake job posts, and vaguely threatening messages from Eastern European scammers find their way into our email inboxes fairly frequently. Many of these are doing what’s known as “phishing,” where they are trying to trick you into downloading malicious software (viruses) or sharing sensitive information they can later use to scam you. Others are trying to advertise some product that you never really showed interest in but that they want to try to sell you anyway.
The goal of spam is to make money for the spammers. While their success rate is probably abysmal, it costs little for them to send out communications en masse to tens of thousands of unsuspecting victims. They can also, however, be used to cost advertisers money, which is a real problem.
How We Fight Spam
Some of you may be aware that we recently instituted IP exclusions on our Google Ads accounts and client websites. This is to prevent certain spam devices from interacting with your ads and driving bot traffic to your website.
The reason that IP exclusions are an effective method of warding off bad traffic is that they target the source of the problem. Basically, an IP address is what identifies a device on the internet. Think of it like a return address on a piece of mail: each address is unique, and it shows where the mail (or, in this case, internet traffic) was sent from. By blocking the IP addresses of well-known spammers, and rooting out certain areas outside the United States entirely, we can give you much better — and more human — traffic and interactions on your ads.
While having inflated traffic numbers can seem like a great thing, when all of that traffic is artificial, then all you are doing is wasting money on bad clicks and impressions. When money is not being used effectively on ads, it can damage your business, inflate expenses, and lead to a dramatic decrease in actionable conversions.
Our ultimate goal is to get you the right kind of traffic, at your desired budget, without wasting your money or time on false leads and spam. Thankfully, we have the tools for the job, and we are always looking for innovative new ways to get the most bang for your buck.
