What is domain reputation?

What is domain reputation? affiliate tactics continue to evolve and remain a significant challenge for most merchants. This article explores a variety of techniques for affiliate fraud detection to help merchants understand how these scams operate, their impact on the business, and methods for combating them.

Cookie-Stuffing

This technique involves an abusive affiliate creating a webpage that is designed to force browsers to drop cookies through their link, whether the link is displayed in a broken image icon or a cloaked URL. This can then trigger a number of fraudulent actions, such as generating invalid click events that never translate into conversions. This results in wasted resources and unjustified commissions for the defrauding affiliate.

Domain Phishing Check: How to Protect Yourself

Stop fake accounts from registering and analyze the quality of a website’s traffic can be a valuable first step in identifying affiliate fraud. Look for unusually high levels of activity, such as an increase in suspicious clicks or a sudden surge in incoming traffic from unfamiliar regions or IP addresses. Also, keep an eye on key metrics like conversion rates to identify abnormal patterns.

Conducting a thorough interview process for every new affiliate can be another effective method of weeding out unscrupulous participants. Affiliates who decline to respond to emails or avoid answering phone calls may be up to something. Having the ability to delay and withhold payments to affiliates can also be an effective tool for deterring abuse. This can give you time to verify affiliate sales data and investigate any suspicious activity before deciding to pay commissions.