By Walter Fitzgerald & Rhys John, Paid Media Manager and SEO Specialist
at ATYPICAL
* A note on the author: At 83 years old, Walter isn’t your typical copywriter—and that’s exactly why we love him. His offbeat take on blogging and colorful storytelling make him a standout voice at ATYPICAL.
A Note from Walter:
Well, well, well. Here we are again, folks, wading through another chapter of the digital marketing saga. This time, the villains of our story are bots—those pesky little programs that are messing with your paid campaigns like raccoons in a trash bin.
Now, I’ll admit, bots weren’t exactly part of the landscape back when I was cutting my teeth in the world of business. But these days, they’re everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Clicking on your ads, filling out your forms, and wasting your money faster than I can say, “Not today, pal!”
At ATYPICAL, we’ve noticed a significant uptick in bot traffic across various industries over the past year, and commercial real estate (CRE) hasn’t been spared. These bots don’t discriminate—they’ll target any high-value campaign they can sink their claws into.
Lucky for you (and me), I’ve got Rhys John, one of ATYPICAL's Paid Media Managers and SEO Specialists as my guide through this techy jungle. Rhys is sharp as a tack, and he’s been fighting off these bots for years. He’s the guy who explains things to me in plain English, so I can explain it to you—no jargon, no nonsense, just the facts and what to do about it. So, grab a coffee (or something stronger), and let’s get into it.
What the Heck Are Bots, Anyway?
First off, let’s get clear on what we’re dealing with. A bot, as Rhys patiently explained to me, is a piece of software that performs tasks on the internet. Some bots are helpful—they’ll index your website for search engines or check if your site is running smoothly. Others, though, are the digital equivalent of porch pirates, stealing your ad budget and messing up your data.
Here’s how Rhys broke it down:
Good Bots: Think of these as the good Samaritans of the digital world. They index your content for search engines, monitor your site’s performance, and keep things running smoothly behind the scenes.
Bad Bots: These are the villains, clicking your ads, filling out forms with fake information, and skewing your analytics so badly you might think your campaigns are reaching Martians.
If you’re running digital ads, chances are you’ve got some bad bots siphoning off your budget right now. It’s like leaving a leaky faucet dripping money straight down the drain.
Why Are Bots Targeting Paid Campaigns Now?
When I asked Rhys why bots are suddenly everywhere, he gave me a list that made my head spin. The truth is, bots don’t target your campaigns for fun—they’re in it for the money. Every fake click, impression, or form submission they generate serves a purpose for the fraudsters behind them.
For example, when a bot fills out a form on your website, the fraudster might sell that fake lead to businesses as if it were real. Alternatively, the bot might scrape data or bypass gated content, turning your hard-earned resources into their gain.
Bots also click on ads to inflate metrics, drain your budget, or even sabotage your campaigns by making your performance metrics unreliable. It’s all about exploiting your campaigns for their own benefit, leaving you with wasted spend and bad data.
The bots we’re dealing with today aren’t your grandma’s bots. They’re faster, smarter, and more disruptive than ever. Over the past year, there’s been a noticeable increase in bot activity across industries. Whether it’s e-commerce, tech, or commercial real estate, no sector is safe.
Here’s why bots are becoming such a problem:
They’ve Gotten Smarter
Bots used to be clumsy little nuisances, easy to spot. Now, thanks to AI, they’re as sophisticated as a card shark in Vegas. They mimic human behavior so well that they can scroll, linger, and even fill out forms convincingly.
Crime-as-a-Service
Believe it or not, there are entire platforms selling bot armies to fraudsters. For a few bucks, anyone can send bots to click on ads or fill out forms with fake data.
The Ad Industry’s Achilles’ Heel
Programmatic advertising—automated ad buying—has revolutionized the way campaigns are managed. Instead of manually selecting where your ads will appear, you set targeting criteria, and the system uses real-time bidding to place ads across a vast network of websites.
While this approach is efficient, it can also be risky. Bots lurk in poorly monitored or low-quality websites that programmatic systems sometimes target, inflating clicks and impressions. Without proper oversight, bots can sneak through these cracks, wasting your ad spend.
Global Fraud Farms
Large-scale operations combine advanced technology and human labor to produce bot traffic that can evade even the most sophisticated detection tools.
Big Money, Big Problems
Ad fraud is a billion-dollar business, and bots are the tools of the trade. They’re not going away anytime soon.
Why You Should Care
I’ll admit, when Rhys first started talking about bots, I thought, How bad could it really be? Turns out, it’s worse than I imagined. Here’s why bots are a bigger deal than you might think:
Budget Burn:
Every bot click is money gone, plain and simple. If your campaigns are losing 10% of their budget to bots, that’s 10% less going toward real potential customers.
Bad Data:
Bots mess with the very data you rely on to optimize your campaigns. They inflate click-through rates (CTR), distort impressions, and leave you making decisions based on fiction rather than fact.
Fake Leads:
Bots filling out your lead forms might sound harmless until you’re sifting through junk leads while your competitors are closing deals.
Operational Slowdowns:
When your data’s bad, every decision takes longer. Should you pause the campaign? Change the targeting? Adjust the creative? Good luck figuring that out when bots have muddied the waters.
As Rhys says, “Bots aren’t just stealing your money—they’re stealing your ability to grow.”
How Bots Are Smarter Than Ever
Here’s where things get spooky. Bots aren’t just smarter—they’re downright sneaky. Rhys walked me through how they’ve evolved, and let me tell you, it’s no wonder they’re so hard to stop.
AI Mimicry: Modern bots use AI to act like real people. They’ll scroll through your site, click buttons, and even fill out forms with names and emails that look legit.
Human Help: Some fraudsters combine bots with human operators to bypass CAPTCHA and other defenses. It’s like hiring a getaway driver for their digital heists.
Learning from Mistakes: Bots are now programmed to adapt. If one detection method catches them, they’ll evolve to avoid it next time.
Fraud Networks: Entire networks of bots work together, making it even harder to pinpoint the culprits.
Walter’s Checklist: How to Spot Bot Traffic
If you’re wondering whether bots are targeting your campaigns, here are some signs to watch for:
Odd Traffic Spikes: Sudden increases in clicks from regions you’re not targeting.
High Bounce Rates: Bots don’t stick around—they come, click, and leave.
Weird Form Submissions: Names like “John Doe” and emails like abc123@gmail.com.
Repeated Clicks: Multiple clicks from the same IP or device.
Tools and Tactics to Fight Back
Alright, let’s talk solutions. Rhys shared his go-to tools and strategies, and I’ve got them laid out here for you:
Click Fraud Protection Tools:
Lunio: Blocks fake clicks in real time.
TrafficGuard: Monitors traffic for fraud across multiple platforms.
DataDome: Protects not just ads but your entire website.
Harden Your Forms
Use tools like Growform to create multi-step forms with honeypots (hidden fields that catch bots). Add CAPTCHA to weed out automated submissions.
Tighten Targeting:
Use “people in locations” targeting to exclude irrelevant regions.
Set frequency caps to limit how often ads appear to the same user.
Turn Off Risky Features
Avoid Google Display Network for lead generation—it’s a magnet for bots.
Opt out of Google Search Partners, another hotspot for low-quality traffic.
Proactive Monitoring
Use Google Analytics to track traffic anomalies.
Look at heatmaps to spot bot-like behavior.
Block Offenders
IP blacklists and device filtering can keep known offenders out.
The New Normal: Bots Are Here to Stay
Here’s the truth: bots aren’t going anywhere. As long as digital advertising remains profitable, bad actors will keep finding ways to exploit it. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless.
The key is vigilance. By using the right tools, refining your targeting, and monitoring your traffic regularly, you can minimize the impact of bots and focus on what matters: reaching real people.
As Rhys puts it, “Bots are just another challenge in digital marketing. The trick is to stay ahead of them without losing sight of your goals.”
So, take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves, and get to work. With a little effort (and the right support), you can keep your campaigns running clean and delivering real results.
I may not have grown up with bots, but I know this much: if you let them, they’ll steal the shirt off your back. Thankfully, with Rhys’s help, we’ve got the tools and strategies to keep them at bay.
Closing Note from Walter
Speaking of the right tools, we’ve cooked up something you’ll love. Our eBook on AI in Commercial Real Estate is packed with all the best ways to use AI across the industry—from marketing to property management and everything in between.
Curious? Click this link right here and see what all the fuss is about.
As always,
Stay ATYPICAL 😊
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