Spider AF Glossary

This page explains Spider AF's features and terminology.

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Contents

Basic Concepts

Ad Fraud

The act of generating impressions, clicks, or conversions with no real value through malicious programs, bad actors, or inappropriate websites, thereby unfairly consuming advertising budgets. This includes not only intentionally fraudulent activity for profit, but also invalid impressions, clicks, or conversions that provide no advertising value and do not align with the advertiser’s intent.

Audience (≒ Cookie)

A collection (list) of identifiers, such as Cookie IDs, assigned by Spider AF to users who meet specific conditions. Each identifier represents a unique user generated per ad click (i.e., traffic acquired via advertisements), and these users are collectively defined as an “audience list.”

IP Address

An address used to identify a device on the internet. It is used in network communication to determine where data should be sent and received.

Placement

Domain information where ads are displayed, such as websites, apps, or videos. In Spider AF, placement quality is analyzed and can be blocked or allowed based on performance and fraud indicators.

Service Names

SiteScan

A service that visualizes and monitors external scripts (tags) embedded on a website, helping detect tampering, security risks, and manage potential threats.

Scalping Protection

A service that detects resale-related orders and prevents them from being completed, helping reduce fraudulent transactions and potential damage.

Ad Fraud Protection

It is the name of Spider AF’s service for preventing invalid ad clicks and excluding invalid placements.

Dashboard / Features

Data Center

Access originating from servers owned to cloud service providers or hosting companies. Unlike networks used by ordinary end users, these IP ranges are common sources of fraudulent clicks generated by automated programs. Spider AF detects this traffic by combining industry-standard data center IP lists with multiple external data sources.

Crawler

Access generated by automated crawling programs operated by search engines and other services. Since these are not driven by human interaction, they should not be counted as ad clicks or conversions. Spider AF identifies this traffic using known crawler lists and proprietary detection logic.

Bot

Access by automated programs designed to mimic human behavior. Although they disguise themselves as ordinary browsers, they are detected as non-human by comprehensively analyzing multiple technical indicators.

Parked Domains Exclusion

Parked Domains are web pages that have no content, but still serve advertisements. Traffic from these webpages are typically fraudulent and should be excluded. By opting into this exclusion, Spider AF will update your placement exclusions and include the list in your exclusions.

Frequency Cap

Repeated clicks originating from the same source within a short period of time. This prevents intentional click inflation and unnecessary ad spend caused by accidental clicks. The detection threshold can be adjusted in the account settings.

Invalid User Agent

Access where the browser identifier (user agent) is missing or clearly indicates a programmatic origin. This category identifies traffic that is not using a legitimate browser.

Suspicious IP

Traffic originating from IP addresses associated with past fraudulent activity or reported security threats. Detection is based on multiple threat intelligence feeds combined with internally accumulated data.

Manual Placement Exclusions

Traffic originating from IP addresses known to be associated with cybercrimes, often from devices infected with malware.

Block Traffic by Location

One of the categories of invalid clicks, which blocks traffic from non-designated countries and allows only traffic from specified countries.

Device Spoofing

Traffic in which the reported user agent information (OS, device type, browser) does not match the actual client environment. Spider AF detects traffic that falsifies device information for fraudulent purposes through multiple technical consistency checks.

Gambling

One of the placement categories that features content related to gambling, such as online casinos, lotteries, sports betting, or online poker.

Gaming

One of the ad placement categories on websites or content related to games, such as online games or gaming information sites.

Total Estimated Cost Savings

The estimated amount of advertising spend saved as a result of invalid clicks being blocked by Spider AF. This is calculated based on factors such as cost per click and historical click patterns associated with invalid traffic.

Cost Per Click

A metric that represents the average cost paid for each click on an advertisement.

Conversion Rate

A metric that shows the percentage of users who clicked an ad and then completed a conversion, such as making a purchase or submitting a form.

Blocking Settings

Page under "Protection > Blocking Settings" in the Ad Fraud Protection product, allowing users to configure which fraud categories to block for each tracker. These settings define the actions to take against different types of fraudulent activity.

Blocked Placements

A subsection within “Manual Placement Exclusion” where specific placements can be designated to be excluded from ad delivery. This allows for precise control over where ads should not appear.

Anti Moral

One of the placement categories considered immoral, offensive or contrary to ethical and social norms. It covers topics such as extreme violence, discrimination, explicit adult content, hate speech, among others.

Allowed Placements

A subsection within “Manual Placement Exclusion” where specific placements can be manually defined as allowed for ad delivery. This feature provides more granular control over where ads are shown.

Ad Performance

A key section within the Ad Fraud Protection product in the left-hand menu of the Spider AF dashboard. It provides clients with detailed insights into advertising campaigns and ad performance.

Trackers

A tracking tag used in Spider AF, such as LP tracking tags or conversion tags, which is identified by a unique Tag ID.

Target Language

A category of placement exclusion that controls ad delivery based on the language of web pages, allowing ads to be excluded from pages in specific languages.

Performance Max Report

An analysis of where ads are delivered within Google Performance Max campaigns, providing visibility into placements across Google’s inventory.

Performance Max Campaign

A campaign type in Google Ads that uses automation to deliver ads across all Google inventory (such as Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover) to maximize performance based on specified goals.

Two-factor authentication

An email-based two-factor authentication method used during Spider AF login to enhance account security.

IP Exclusion

The process of excluding specific IP addresses from ad delivery. It is one of the methods used to prevent invalid or unwanted traffic.

Invalid Log

A log of clicks that have been identified and recorded as invalid.

Invalid Clicks

The number of clicks identified as invalid by Spider AF.

Ignore List

This is a feature of Scalping Protection . List of IPs, email addresses, names, and phone numbers which should be excluded from reporting or any other actions.

Exclusions Manager

A page where you can view the domains that have been actually blocked through placement exclusion settings.

Display Summary

A page that provides an overview of where display ads are being served across Google and Yahoo advertising networks.

Audience exclusion list

The process of setting an audience list as an exclusion target for ad delivery. It is one of the methods used to filter out invalid or unwanted traffic.

Dashboard

The main management interface of Spider AF, where users can configure settings and monitor the status of ad fraud protection.

CVR Analytics

A page used to analyze conversion rates, showing how effectively user actions (such as clicks or visits) lead to conversions.

Brand Safety Protection

A feature that protects your brand by preventing ads from appearing on websites or placements that could harm your brand’s image.

Blocking Settings

A page within the "Protection > Blocking Settings". where blocking configurations are managed. Users can select categories such as IP blocking and audience exclusion to define rules for preventing invalid traffic.

Blocked Clicks

These are clicks that were identified as invalid clicks by Spider AF and subsequently blocked.

Audience Exclusion List

An audience list used for exclusion purposes that accumulates users identified as invalid.

Audience Exclusion

A feature that excludes specific user segments identified as invalid or fraudulent from ad delivery. This is implemented through audience lists that are synchronized with advertising networks.

API Integration

To utilize Spider AF’s invalid click prevention service, configuration must be set up for each ad network individually. In the Spider AF dashboard, navigate to “Configurations > Ad Networks” to enable API integrations and configure exclusion rules for each advertising platform.

Ad Network Settings

To utilize Spider AF’s invalid click prevention service, configuration must be set up for each ad network individually. In the Spider AF dashboard, navigate to “Configurations > Ad Networks” to enable API integrations and configure exclusion rules for each advertising platform.

Technical Terms

Personalized Ad Restrictions

Google policies that restrict personalized ads (e.g., retargeting, custom audiences) in sensitive contexts, limiting targeting and exclusion features.

Invalid Traffic

Clicks or impressions that are not generated by genuine user interest. This includes both GIVT (General Invalid Traffic) and SIVT (Sophisticated Invalid Traffic).

Conversion Tag

Conversion tags—often placed on confirmation or "Thank You" pages—are used to track key conversion points. The Spider AF Conversion Tag is a JavaScript-based snippet designed to monitor user behavior and outcomes on your website. In addition to ad fraud detection, it supports advanced analysis through the use of additional parameters.

XUID

Client-configured external user identifier used to synchronize data between Spider AF and the client’s data.

XSID

Client-configured external session identifier used to synchronize data between Spider AF and the client’s data.

Spider AF Tracking Tags

A JavaScript-based tag installed on a website to collect traffic data, such as Spider AF tracking tags and conversion tags.

Domain Spoofing Detection

One of the categories of invalid clicks that detects traffic from placements with spoofed (falsified) domains.

Cost Per Mille

A metric that represents the average cost for every 1,000 ad impressions (ad views).

Unique User ID

A unique identifier assigned by Spider AF to each individual ad click.

UET Tag (Universal Event Tracking)

An event tracking tag used in Microsoft Ads to track user actions and conversions on a website.

Trigger Group (GTM)

A configuration in Google Tag Manager (GTM) that combines multiple triggers to control when a tag is fired.

Tracking Template

Additional information appended to the end of a URL via API integration in Google Ads (query strings). These parameters help improve tracking accuracy, such as identifying traffic sources (e.g., Search or Display) and capturing keyword data. They do not affect invalid click exclusion directly.

Custom Event (GTM)

A custom event used within Google Tag Manager (GTM) to control when various tags are fired. This Spider AF-specific event is set as a trigger to manage tag execution based on defined conditions.

Custom audience

A list created in Meta Ads to target or exclude specific groups of users for advertising campaigns.

Pixel tag

A tag created within each advertising platform when configuring Spider AF exclusion settings. The unique identifier contained within this tag is referred to as the “Pixel ID.”

Fraud / Scam Methods

Misclicking

One of the placement categories that includes content designed to induce accidental clicks, such as positioning ads very close to download buttons.

Invalid Click Rate

A metric that shows the percentage of invalid clicks out of the total number of ad clicks.

MFA Sites (Made For Ads)

MFA sites are low-quality, templated websites created primarily to generate ad revenue. Blocking these sites helps prevent poor ad performance and protects your brand from appearing in unsuitable environments.

Geo Masking

Traffic that conceals its true geographic origin of the access using VPNs, proxies, Tor, or similar tools. Hiding location is itself a itself a common indicator of invalid traffic. Spider AF detects this by verifying the consistency of IP geolocation data against multiple technical indicators.

Frequency Cap

A section found on the “Blocking Settings > Frequency Cap” page that shows how many times the same user clicked within a certain period and whether those clicks resulted in conversions.