Half of All Internet Traffic Is Now Bots

A recent study has found that almost half of all internet traffic comes from bots. For the fifth consecutive year in a row this figure has been on the rise. In this article, we discuss the rise and the value of quality web traffic. 

The dead internet is a theory that most of the web has been replaced by bot activity and AI-driven content. We may be closer to that truth than ever before, with a study suggesting half of internet traffic is now made from bots. However, the battle is still raging and those working online and doing business there know it still has plenty of value. So what does this rise mean, and why is quality web traffic more valuable than ever?

The Rise of the Bot 

A recent study named the 2024 Imperva Bad Bot Report has noted a huge increase in bot traffic across the internet. It looked at traffic from the previous year and saw an increase of 32% in malicious bot traffic, up around 2% from the year before. Traffic from human users also decreased to 50.4%.



A bot is a software program that can perform automated tasks. They can be extremely helpful. For example, they may index pages for search engines making things easier to find online. Bots can also be used for customer service, answering questions and responding to queries.
 
When bots become a problem, the tasks they perform are unwanted, disruptive or just criminal. For example, bots can scrape for content and replicate it without authorisation. They can also harvest email addresses and contact details for the purpose of sending spam emails. Malicious bot traffic can make the internet a harder place to do business. It provides more of a security threat and locks out real individuals.

Filtering Quality Web Traffic

Those who own a website, be it an individual or a business, need to monitor web traffic. Monitoring your website traffic is vital, not just because it shows how many visitors are coming to your site, but also because it tells you where they are coming from. You can use this on your website to gauge which areas of the web are providing the best returns for you, and also what marketing methods work best. For example, if you are investing heavily in PPC ads but see little traffic coming from them, you know something in the campaign is not working. 

You can also check website traffic from any website, not just your own. This can give you a benchmark, to gauge if the competitors are doing more online and getting traffic that could be destined for you. In addition, you can also see where their traffic is coming from and try to replicate it. You may find opportunities for guest posts on websites, or be able to see which or their campaigns are working best.
 
Crucially, when bot traffic increases, you need to be able to see where this is coming from. While an increase in traffic may look good, bot traffic is essentially useless to a business. It does not buy products or tell friends or family about your services. Not all of it will have bad intent, and a small amount is natural. However, by identifying malicious bots and attempting to reduce them, you can pre-empt any future attacks on your online portals.
 
Be aware that web traffic is useless if you don't have your website optimised. Getting traffic to the site is just one crucial part. You then have to change this lead to a conversion, which is the next step. 

How Can Malicious Bots Impact a Business?

The worst-case scenario is an account takeover. This is when a bot manages to gain access to an account, either a private one or one used internally in a business. In 2023, the aforementioned study showed that these attempts had increased by 10% in the previous year. In fact, of all login attempts across the internet, 11% were attributed to bots trying to gain access to accounts.

This can have disastrous consequences for a business, especially one that deals with other people's data. Every industry has a bot problem and some suffer more than others. Financial services saw the most attacks aimed at account takeover, followed by travel then business services. 

However, in terms of general malicious bot traffic, the gaming industry suffered the worst, with 57.2% of its traffic related to bots. Retail, travel and financial services followed this, but at considerably lower amounts around 20% of regions. 

Apart from account takeover, bots can impact your business in several other ways. They can disrupt operations by sending spam to a company, clogging email servers and disrupting social media. Much worse is that they can be used to spread misinformation online, providing untrue news and reviews about a company. 

The battle against bots is one that the internet will have to fight itself. However, your company or business can attempt to safeguard itself and separate their genuine web traffic from that of bots. These figures only look set to increase, so speak to your tech team about increasing security and the marketing team about separating quality traffic from that of bots.