A client of mine wondered how much of their website traffic was bot traffic and if that bot traffic is growing? Quite a lot, you’ll be surprised.
‘Take Google Analytics with a pinch of salt’
A phrase I’ve used for years. GA is free BUT you can’t trust the numbers. Most people will look at Google Analytics and be pleased with the visitors via Direct traffic and know that some of that direct traffic is bot-made.
Wait!
Bots are cunning (well, as cunning as their creator) and can appear as other sources.
Some Bots are Direct
Many simple bots don’t send a referrer URL or properly mimic human browsing behaviour.
In Google Analytics, this often shows up as “Direct / None” because the session appears to start without a referring source.
This can make your direct traffic numbers look inflated, especially on new pages or campaigns.
Many Bots Appear as Referrers
More sophisticated bots can come from a domain or IP that registers as a referring site.
This can make it look like traffic is coming from an external site, sometimes even a legitimate-looking domain.
They Even Appear as Organic Traffic
Search engine crawlers (good bots) sometimes show up as organic traffic. Most analytics platforms try to filter out known search engine bots, but misclassification can still happen.
Bots Acting Human
Advanced bots can mimic human sessions, including clicking links and landing on multiple pages.
These may blend in with normal traffic, showing up as direct, referral, or even paid/organic depending on how the bot is scripted.
The Good, the Bad and the Grey
Good Bots include: Search Engine Crawlers eg Googlebot means you appear in search
Bad Bots: Scraping your content, products and pricing, Brute Force Bots = hackers, Spam bots and Click Fraud Bots click ads to waste budget or manipulate campaigns.
Grey Bots: LLM (Large Language Model) Bots – AI Driven like ChatGPT are thieves. Scrapes and uses your content (can affect SEO and your copyright.
What You Can Do About It
Identify bots in your analytics: Not all bot traffic shows as obvious — many mimic human behaviour.
Use robots.txt wisely: Block known aggressive bots while allowing good ones to crawl (this is not 100%).
Implement bot management at the server level: Firewalls, rate-limiting, CAPTCHAs, and WAFs can filter out malicious traffic before it ever hits your application layer.
Audit regularly: Bot behaviours evolve. What worked last quarter might not be enough today.
Knowing Your Bots, Why It Matters
Accurate analytics = better decisions. Secure sites = trust with your users. By understanding the difference between helpful and harmful bots — and having the right tools to manage them — you protect your data and your brand.
49.6% of all Global Internet Traffic are bots (32% are bad bots)*
Well, I was surprised… well, shocked.
Jim
Sources
*2025 Bad Bot Report by Imperva
[image: Jason Leung, unsplash.com]
About Conversion Detectives
Conversion Detectives is a full-service digital marketing agency in Hertfordshire.
We find the best quality traffic for your website and convert more of that traffic into sales or sales leads.
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