In early 2018, Facebook announced that its news feed algorithm would increasingly prioritize content from “friends, family and groups,” while reducing emphasis on “businesses, brands, and media.” By doing so, the company stated that its goal is to “encourage meaningful interactions between people” and that it has a “responsibility” to ensure that Facebook is “good for people’s well-being.” Noble as that sounds, the truth is more complex, as Facebook has been 1) moving toward a paid model for years, and 2) under tremendous scrutiny, with uncertain fallout for publishers. Following an onslaught of negative headlines, the company is under immense pressure – from both its shareholders and an increasingly wary public – to clean up its act. How (and how effectively) it does this remains to be seen, but one thing we can say for certain is that brands are going to have to work harder […]

Traffic. We all want more of it for obvious reasons. The more traffic a website generates, the bigger its audience and the greater its earning potential becomes. All traffic is not created equal, however. There are entire companies devoted to deceiving publishers and advertisers alike by selling traffic that isn’t even real, often times unbeknownst to any of the parties involved. What is fake traffic? Fake traffic is traffic generated by click farms, bots or software, not by humans. Fake traffic is used to artificially inflate ad revenue by making a site’s audience appear greater than it is in reality. An astonishing amount of ad impressions are served to fraudulent visitors. If an advertising network identifies a website’s traffic as fake, it will likely result in suspensions or even bans on the publisher’s advertising account once violations are uncovered. How can you identify fake traffic? […]

Google Analytics referral spam is a confusing, common issue for publishers. Fortunately, it is both harmless and simple to remove. This is not real traffic, despite what the reporting says, nor is it anything to worry about. Your site is not being hacked or compromised.