Many businesses face an uphill battle against ad fraud, but luckily, residential proxy servers are here to save the day. When you wonder whether clients see your ads, you can use a residential proxy to verify their placement. Join us as we explore the types of ad verification, why it’s necessary, and its benefits.
Best Proxy for Ad Verification
Various proxies are available, but residential ones are some of the best for ad verification. Since the IPs belong to home devices, these proxies look like actual users. With ISPs sourcing the IP addresses, they look more authentic than datacenter ones.
You need a proxy that offers multiple geo-location options. It should also provide high-speed connections and maybe even rotating IPs. As such, you can use it to check what clients will see when they access your ads.
Why is Ad Verification Necessary?
Businesses always have to ensure their advertisements reach the intended audience. Otherwise, how will they achieve their desired results and goals? However, placing ads online is an easy way to get scammed, so verifying your online ads is critical.
Further, if scammers place ads on dangerous sites, it can damage the company’s brand image. It also helps businesses improve their ad campaigns. By checking how customers see the ads, they can identify gaps or tactics that don’t work.
Common Types of Ad Fraud
Studies show that in 2023, 22% of all online ad spending was lost due to ad fraud. While multiple methods exist to commit ad fraud, we look at a few you’ll likely encounter.
- Click Fraud: This method targets click-to-pay ads. Scammers will place your advertisement somewhere and use bots to generate more clicks. It means you’re paying for clicks that aren’t actual leads and won’t generate revenue.
- Domain Spoofing: Fraudsters sometimes make a domain seem more valuable than it is. By impersonating a high-quality domain, they can charge you more to place ads on it. Meanwhile, the domain is low quality or a straight-out scam website.
- Pixel Stuffing: When scammers place multiple ads in a single pixel frame, it’s called pixel stuffing. Users won’t be able to see the ad as it’s too small. As such, you end up paying for an advertisement that no one will ever see.
- Ad Stacking: Similar to pixel stuffing, fraudsters hide ads behind others. This time, they do so by stacking multiple ads on top of one another. As such, any ads below the first one aren’t visible. You once again waste money paying for an advertisement no lead will see.
- Geo Masking: With this method, your ad won’t be present in the market you intend it for. Scammers will mask the location, setting it outside your target market. As such, you’re unlikely to gain actual customers if the people seeing your ad can’t use your service or product.
Types of Ad Verification
There are multiple ad verification methods to combat various ad fraud tactics. However, most of these methods fall within four primary categories.
Domain
When verifying the domain, you check that the website and domain in which the ads appear are legitimate. The domains should have the same value as the company and appear in the correct demographic.
Viewability
Testing viewability means checking whether your target audience can see it. You should access the advertisement as a regular user would. This way, you can confirm what the client sees and whether they can adequately interact with the ad. It should always meet the minimum viewability standards.
Fraud
This verification type is when you check that the ad is operating as it should. You also check for external influencers, like bot traffic, fake clicks, and other fraud tactics. By knowing all the different ways fraudsters can scam you, you can ensure none of them are used against you.
Brand Safety
You must protect your brand by ensuring the ads align with your vision. Verify that the ads are on safe and legal sites. You don’t want the ad to be associated with harmful content. Always check whether it’s posted in an appropriate environment that aligns with your company’s values.
Benefits of Testing Ads with Proxies
Experts predict that the digital ad spending market will reach $298.4 billion by the end of 2024. The same study also shows that the US will generate the most ad spending compared to other countries. The increased ad spending only further necessitates the need for ad verification. Luckily, you can improve your verification processes by using residential proxies.
Improves Accuracy
Proxies enable you to access multiple locations. As such, you can check all your ads regardless of the market. With residential servers also looking like authentic users, what you find will be exactly how potential customers see it. You can identify discrepancies and issues by checking how your clients experience the ads.
Saves Costs
One way proxies save you money is in terms of travel costs. You don’t need to travel to markets to verify how locals see the ads. Just change the location setting on your proxy server. You also don’t need to hire more staff to monitor the ads, as it’s easy to do so using these proxies. Finally, you save on money you would’ve lost through ad fraud by preventing it from happening.
Enhances Security
The last benefit we discuss is how proxies enhance your security. Ad fraud often targets not just your company but also the people who click on it. This server conceals your IP and ensures scammers can’t use your digital footprint to track you. It also helps prevent data breaches while you’re performing ad verification checks.
Keeping on Top of Your Marketing
Ad verification is essential to running successful marketing campaigns. You always need to keep an eye on where your advertisements are placed and how they’re doing. When placing ads online through a third-party company, there’s always a risk of being scammed or of another scamming the company you’re using. That’s why you should use residential proxy servers to verify that your ads are placed where they should be.
