If you use the Internet regularly, chances are you’ve encountered a bot (or several) without realizing it. If you haven’t, you’re an exception because bots are everywhere online. In 2020, bots accounted for almost 40% of all internet traffic. Many bots even operate with their IP addresses.
Before we proceed, let’s clarify what a bot is.
A bot is an automated software application that performs specific, often repetitive tasks without human intervention. While these tasks are usually simple, bots can execute them far faster than humans. They can even simulate human behavior, serving both beneficial purposes (like customer service) and harmful ones (such as spamming). According to Imperia’s 2020 Bad Bot Report, bad bots accounted for a record-high 24.4% of internet traffic, while good bots comprised 13.1%.
Let’s examine the difference between good and bad bots and how to recognize them.
The Power of Good Bots
Chatbots: One type of bot you’ve likely encountered while browsing your web is the chatbot. From customer service chats to virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, chatbots come in various levels of complexity. Alexa and Siri use artificial intelligence to communicate more naturally and intelligently. At the same time, customer service chatbots rely on pre-set data and machine learning to identify key phrases in your messages and respond accordingly—though not always with perfect success.
Crawler bots: These bots operate behind the scenes, moving from website to website through hyperlinks to index different types of information for search engine optimization (SEO).
Website monitor bots: This bot monitors your website and alerts you if it detects slow page speeds, downtime, or other performance-related problems. It provides real-time notifications, allowing you to address issues quickly and maintain a smooth user experience. Whether it’s a technical glitch, server issue, or slow loading time, the bot keeps you informed so you can resolve problems before they affect your visitors or SEO rankings. By staying proactive, you can ensure optimal website performance and avoid disruptions that could impact your site’s success.
Understanding Bad Bots
These bots are designed to carry out harmful actions, such as stealing user data or compromising your website’s security.
Social Bots: Less sophisticated than chatbots, they are often used to create fake accounts, follow targeted users, promote and “like” posts, or even post on their accounts to spread specific ideas and viewpoints. They played a significant role in spreading fake news and were a major topic of discussion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Content Scraping Bots: These bots navigate from website to website, “scraping” (or stealing) content. A scraping bot can download all the content from a website in seconds and repost it on another site, diverting organic traffic from the original site owner.
DDoS Attacks: When a group of bots (known as a botnet) work together, they can flood servers with fake traffic, potentially taking down entire websites. Learn more about DDoS attacks here.
Spam Bots: This is a bot you’ve encountered at some point. Spambots create fake accounts or hijack real ones on forums, blogs, and social media platforms to flood comment sections with irrelevant, often nonsensical comments. These comments typically contain malicious links, unwanted ads, and sometimes even malware downloads. Spambots are frequently used to promote products, services, or scams, and they can be a significant nuisance for website owners and users alike. They also contribute to the spread of cyber threats, making implementing measures to detect and block them essential.
Ad Fraud Bots: These bots are designed to artificially inflate ad metrics by repeatedly loading web pages to generate false ad impressions or by clicking on pay-per-click ads multiple times. They are often directed to fake websites with scraped content and no actual human audience, enabling them to generate fraudulent income for advertisers.
Conclusion
Bots make up a significant portion of the internet, serving both positive and negative purposes. While some bots are helpful, entertaining, or harmless, others can lead to scams, malware downloads, or even harm your website. To protect your site, consider implementing CAPTCHA for outdated servers and browsers, monitoring traffic sources, and monitoring unusual spikes in traffic or login attempts. For more information, check out this article.