Exclude Bots via IAB - still relevant?

Question

Hi guys,

as many others out there we're looking for ways to exclude bot traffic. After a little research I found out that you can enable the IAB Bot Filtering Rules in the Report Suite settings.

I was wondering if this rule has any impact on my traffic but I can't find any built-in IAB bot segment. Is there a way to set a segment for IAB bots?
Does anybody know if the IAB list is still relevant and updated monthly as the IAB website claims? "Established and launched in 2006 by ABC and the IAB US, it is a list of known robotic user agents that is updated and shared with subscribers each month." (https://iabeurope.eu/research-thought-leadership/international-iababc-spiders-and-bots-list/) Does Adobe integrate IAB's monthly updates in their systems to keep it updated?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Hemang35 · Accepted Answer

Hi,Adobe Analytics provides the option to enable IAB Bot Filtering Rules in the Report Suite settings, which helps filter out bot traffic based on the list maintained by the IAB.Regarding your questions:Segment for IAB bots: There isn't a built-in segment specifically for IAB bots in Adobe Analytics. However, you can create a custom segment to filter out bot traffic by using the "exclude" option and applying rules based on user agent strings, IP addresses, or other criteria that are indicative of bot traffic. Keep in mind that this approach may not cover all bots listed by the IAB, but it can help you identify and exclude some of the most common ones.IAB list relevance and updates: Adobe Analytics does use the IAB's list for filtering bot traffic, and the IAB list is updated regularly by the IAB US and ABC. While Adobe doesn't explicitly state how often they update their list based on IAB's updates, they typically aim to keep their filters current and effective. You can reach out to Adobe Support to get more specific information about the frequency of updates.Remember that bot filtering is not perfect, and new bots may appear between updates. It is always a good idea to monitor your traffic and adjust your filters or segments as needed to ensure the most accurate reporting possible.Best regards

Jennifer_Dungan · Answer

Yes, IAB is still relevant.. this will exclude known "good" bots (search engine bots, etc). This should absolutely be applied, as you don't want search engine bots to inflate your traffic.

The settings can be found here:

Admin > Report Suites

(Choose one or more suites)

Edit Settings > General > Bot Rules

You can also add custom bot exclusion rules here (on top of the IAB list). Also, yes, Adobe keeps on top of updating the IAB List.

There is no "segment" for bots.... If traffic is identified as a bot (based on combination of IAB and custom rules), the row of data in the raw data will be flagged as an exclusion...this traffic will not surface in your reports at all.

Currently, there is one way to see Bot traffic... it's currently only available in the old Reports area (but Adobe has said that they will be creating a way to access Bot Reports in Workspace before Reports is sunset in Dec 2023)

Reports > Site Metrics > Bots

There are two available reports:

Bots - this will show aggregated metrics by bot for the time frame
Bot Pages - this will show the traffic per pages that got bot traffic (the metrics count only the bot traffic)

There currently is no correlation available to any other dimensions that may have been captured on those hits... if you need that, you would have to process Raw Data Feeds.

Most analytics tools use the IAB list to exclude bot traffic... such as Google Analytics... if the IAB were to stop updating (given it's a paid subscription service) there would be a lot of complaints flying around from many businesses, as so many rely on this data to be up-to-date.

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