Bots, short for robots or sometimes called internet bots, are software programs designed to perform automated tasks on the internet. They can be programmed to automatically crawl websites for data, interact with users through chatbots, fill out forms, and perform repetitive tasks. Bots typically perform tasks humans can do, but they are far more efficient, accurate, and function at a scale larger than humans. There are also AI crawlers and fetchers, whose purpose is to scrape information to train AI models, or to serve the AI overviews you see at the top of Google.
Bot traffic is any and all web traffic that is not human. Bot traffic refers to the bot activity across the internet, as they crawl and scrape websites for information, and perform other necessary (or malicious) activity.
Understanding and managing bot traffic has become incredibly important, when nearly half (49%) of web traffic is now comprised of bots.
What is the difference between a good and bad bot?
You might hear reference to ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bots, but there is some nuance required to determine whether a bot is truly good or bad.
First, the intent of the bot must be determined; is it outright attempting to perform malicious activities like credential stuffing, launching DDoS attacks or the like? That is clearly a bad bot. When intent isn’t so clear, additional analysis is needed to determine whether to block or allow this bot.
A layer deeper than obviously malicious bots are considerations around whether a business wants these bots on their websites. Some bots may not have malicious intent, but may be ‘unwanted’ by the website(s) they are scraping; think about web crawlers scraping your site without you knowing what they are grabbing or if you really want them doing so. This can represent use of your precious IP, outdated information, or things you generally want to keep exclusively on your site.
Good bots are typically those you can consider ‘wanted’ on your website; those that pull your information and cite you in AI overviews (great GEO/SEO implications), or perhaps digital assistants, like a chatbot. If it is a bot you want on your site, it is a ‘good’ bot for your business.
How can you identify bot traffic?
The best way to detect bot traffic is with a dedicated bot management solution. These tools monitor for any suspicious behavior or web traffic that is outside of typical traffic you receive on your website(s). You can set custom rules based on your bot tolerance, allowing for automated blocking and allowing of the bots you choose.
Without an automated bot management tool, there are several signs your web or security teams can monitor for that point toward bot traffic. Since bots are automated, their behavior will involve repetitive activities, and speed and scale not possible from human traffic.
Here are some signs you can look for:
Abnormal traffic patterns: Bots often exhibit repetitive behaviors, like clicking the same links or visiting the same pages in a predictable sequence. This repetition indicates automation, showing behavior that is different from how humans navigate a site.
Rapid page navigation: Automated tools can navigate pages far faster than humans: If you notice page clicks or transitions from one part of the website to another happening unnaturally fast, it's a strong indicator of bot activity.
Consistent user agent strings: Bots frequently use the same browser identifier (user agent string) across multiple requests. This doesn’t normally happen with human traffic, where different browsers and devices naturally generate varied identifiers.
Geographic inconsistencies: Sometimes, automated scripts pretend to access a site from different locations. Detecting this suspicious distribution of IP addresses can reveal a bot network.
Browser fingerprint signs: Bots leave digital traces that differ from real users, like outdated or incomplete browser configurations. Detecting these irregularities helps identify automated browsing.
Traffic source analysis: Examining referral traffic and entry points can reveal bot traffic. Patterns like high traffic volume from obscure sources or unexpected URLs often signal bot activity.
What are the risks of bot traffic?
Leaving bot traffic unmanaged can introduce several risks to your business, ranging from financial to reputational implications. Bot traffic can overload your systems, steal sensitive data, or even falsely influence business-level strategy decisions.
These are the main risks of failing to manage bot traffic:
Financial risks: Your business can lose money from fake ad clicks (performed by bots), called bot fraud. Floods of malicious or unnecessary traffic can overwhelm systems and cause infrastructure drain and financial implications. Security expenses can also rise as you work to mitigate bot traffic and damage. Essential ‘theft’ of your IP by AI bots for LLMs can also result in lost web traffic to your site (and content) and resulting loss in revenue.
Competitive intelligence theft: Bots can steal strategies, plans, secrets, and other private information that helps competitors or attackers.
Web Performance: Bots overwhelm servers, causing slow load times, crashes, and frustrating user experiences that impact sales.
Security risks: Some bots identify weak spots in your systems, opening the door for more advanced cyberattacks. They can also perform DDoS attacks, overwhelming systems and preventing legitimate traffic from browsing your site.
Brand reputation damage: Bots impersonate your business or send spam, eroding customer trust and harming your reputation.
Compliance and regulatory risks: Bots may expose private customer data, leading to lawsuits and penalties.
Marketing metric distortion: Executives can make bad decisions based on false bot activity when automated scripts artificially increase site traffic and clicks. You may assume you have great traffic to a particular product and align marketing strategy with that product, when in fact only bot traffic was visiting that product page for unknown or unwanted purposes.
How can you manage bot traffic?
It can be difficult to distinguish between good/bad or wanted/unwanted bot traffic without the proper strategies and tooling in place. The following are a few best practices you can implement to help manage bot traffic.
Implement advanced bot detection algorithms. Deploy software that uses sophisticated machine learning algorithms to recognize bot patterns and behavior. This method enables the software to detect even highly complex bots employing advanced tactics. The best approach is to invest in a robust bot management solution with these capabilities.
Create comprehensive bot management policies. Develop detailed rules that specify which bots to allow and which to block. By analyzing bot signatures and behaviors, you can whitelist beneficial bots while preventing harmful ones from accessing your site. A good bot management solution will provide powerful policy capabilities.
Use adaptive challenge-response mechanisms. Develop intelligent verification systems that distinguish humans from bots by analyzing user behavior. While bots tend to follow predictable patterns, humans much less predictably. Adaptive tests evolve over time, making it harder for advanced bots to bypass them.
Monitor and update bot detection strategies. Continuously evaluate your bot detection methods to ensure they stay effective against evolving threats. Regular updates and adjustments are essential for identifying new tactics.
Integrate multiple detection layers. Combine technical analysis, behavioral monitoring, and contextual clues to create a multi-layered approach to bot management. By using multiple detection methods, you improve accuracy and reduce the chances of bots slipping through.
Effective traffic bot management with Fastly
Websites attract both good and bad bots, requiring site owners to stay updated on bot behavior with advanced detection tools that analyze traffic patterns. Effectively managing these automated programs ensures a smooth experience for human visitors while maintaining site integrity. Regularly updating protections helps owners stay in control of this wild digital frontier.
Fastly's Bot Management Solution blocks bad bots but allows good ones, like search engine crawlers, to operate freely. This powerful tool keeps your website safe and offers several benefits and features, including:
Accurate traffic classification:The system identifies and blocks harmful bots at the edge, allowing good ones to pass.
Reduced infrastructure load: By filtering out unwanted traffic, your site runs faster and more economically.
Improved website performance: Fastly's software manages traffic precisely, so your site has low latency and consistent performance.
Fraud and abuse prevention: With anti-bot policies in place, users feel safe, and trust in your site increases.
Customizable mitigation rules: Fastly allows you to make unique rules about managing traffic on your site. Having fine-grained control over your security is invaluable when necessary.
Instant traffic insights: The system provides live analysis that helps you make accurate decisions.
Integrated application security: Fastly combines bot management with other advanced protective measures, like the Next-Gen WAF, to comprehensively safeguard all your apps.
SEO optimization: By allowing SEO bots to operate freely, the system ensures your site earns a good ranking.
Do you want to keep your website safe from bot threats but accessible to users and search engines? Request a demo today to see how Fastly’s bot management can help.