A bot (also known as an Internet Bot) is a software application that runs automated tasks over the internet. Bots execute tasks that are simple and repetitive much more efficiently than human beings. The largest “bot nets” use web crawlers, automated scripts that retrieve, analyze, and store information from servers. According to the data security leader Imperva, more than half the traffic on the internet is bot-driven.
According to The Atlantic, “Most website visitors aren’t humans, but are instead bots—or, programs built to do automated tasks. They are the worker bees of the Internet, and also the henchmen. Some bots help refresh your Facebook feed or figure out how to rank Google search results; other bots impersonate humans and carry out devastating DDoS attacks.”
This means that marketers across verticals and stages of development need to ensure the integrity of their data by using attribution methodologies that can cleanse results of bot activities.