Referrer - Adobe Analytics

[pradeep_07]

Hi ,

I am seeing around 10,000 visits with referrer called https://s0.2mdn.net/ . Can anyone help me with  what is this domain name ? and how its attributing to referrer dimension?

Thanks in Advance ,

Pradeep

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

I believe that domain belongs to DoubleClick which is a Google owned Ad Server. 

Do you have IAB Bot Rules enabled on your suite?

Admin > Report Suites

(choose suit)

Edit Settings > General > Bot Rules

I would expect as a known Ad Server, it should be included in this list... we have DoubleClick, I see that domain as part of the DoubleClick resources, but I have no instances of it in my Referrers.....

[Krishna_Musku]

It's from Doubleclick by Google

[pradeep_07]

@Jennifer_Dungan @Krishna_Musku  - Is this valid referrer or should be added in the exclusion list ? Its hard to identify if its bot or actual traffic.

[Krishna_Musku]

http://2mdn.net is the name of a domain owned by google which is used for loading ad content for doubleclick. But, the URL you mentioned is s0.2mdn.net which in some blogs are reported the domain as associated with malware issues. Some are provided below:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-2mdn-net-and-why-does-it-show-up-in-my-websites-referring-domains

https://www.reddit.com/r/Malware_Domains/comments/oi689x/s02mdn_net/

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I've never done anything specific to block it (aside from normal bot blockers)... so if this is part of the IAB rules, then I would say it's not really legitimate referrer.

You could always try clicking through your ads (I assume you have DoubleClick since you are seeing that), and see what the referrer comes through as for yourself.... If that is the domain coded in, then maybe you want to keep it... but also, if those ads are coming from inside your site... maybe you don't? This could cause multiple referrers within the same visit, and override your initial referrer type.

[pradeep_07]

Thanks @Jennifer_Dungan @Krishna_Musku  - I see many articles claiming that  s0.2mdn.net is adware which shows random add on end user screen. But I am not able to conclude that if this is really bot or human visits.

@Jennifer_Dungan  - We have IAB rules enabled.

[Krishna_Musku]

Exactly, there are many articles claiming this URL as adware (I posted couple of articles above). As @Jennifer_Dungan mentioned, give it a try by clicking through your ads to test the DoubleClick referrer to see if it's real or adware.. And make a decision probably based on how much traffic you are getting from this referrer.

[pradeep_07]

@Krishna_Musku  - Thanks ! I am getting 60% visits from this refferer . Need to excecute end to end testing.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Ok, that is definitely problematic! Ads don't drive that much traffic to begin with (people rarely click on ads), and from one specific ad server... that is excessive....

Unless for some reason your site is implemented with all links going through DoubleClick trackers... which would mean that all site navigation would go out of your site and back in... but that would be a very silly, very inefficient design

[sryan1]

I have a similar situation (it's not 60% but still extremely high).  Can you explain your comment about "all links going through doubleclick trackers", please?  Basically, what is the scenario that would cause traffic from an ad server to become "External Referrer" despite the ads having campaign parameters.  Where does the redirect/drop of campaign code happen in your scenario due to the doubleclick trackers?

Is it:

• User clicks ad where doubleclick and Adobe campaign parameters exist
• User comes to website with Doubleclick and Adobe Campaign parameters attached (adobe considers them "Display")
• User makes a click on a link with doubleclick tracker --> Some sort of redirect happens, doubleclick attributes the click correctly but Adobe considers the user "External referrer" and notes the referrer as the ad server due to the dropped parameters in the "redirect"

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi @sryan1,

My comment about "all links going through doubleclick trackers" relates to how the website is coded.... This wouldn't be a standard implementation, but technically, every link could be added through Ad Server code to track impressions and clicks, etc.... however, this would cause havoc with any web analytics, since this would constitute the user having to leave and re-enter the site every time they click on a link...

In this scenario it would look like this in the behaviour:

1. On Webpage (Page A) - click on Link for Page B
2. Link A points to Ad Server (technically page C offsite) (this collects info about the click, then redirects to the website's Page B
3. User lands on the Website Page B

To the user, it looks like they went from Page A to Page B... but really they went from Page A to Page C (offsite and invisible) to Page B

Regardless of whether there are parameters on the url, the referrer would still say that Page B came from the Ad Server referrer... 

If the user was going direct from Page A to Page B, the referrer would be Page A (and because your domain should be coded as internal) that Referrer would be ignored.

And of course, if you do have campaign codes, then you would also be tracking those as Marketing Channel Display Ads...

[sryan1]

Appreciate the context/clarification.  I'm trying to troubleshoot and wanted to be certain I understood if it was applicable (it's not, thankfully).

[Krishna_Musku]

60% is definitely high and that too from ads.

[pradeep_07]

@Jennifer_Dungan @Krishna_Musku  - I meant to say 60 percent of campaign traffic have refferer as https://s0.2mdn.net/  .

Even in some scenarios am seeing the full URL of refferer such as https://s0.2mdn.net/sadbundle/.