The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is committed to raising awareness of non-intentional traffic (NIT), which is defined as the traffic to a website that “occurs without the knowledge of of a user or driven by non-human actors.” To aid its mission, the IAB has put together the Traffic of Good Intent Task Force led by John Batelle, founder and executive chairman of Federated Media, and Penry Price, president of Media6Degrees.
The Traffic of Good Intent Task Force (TOGI) will work to raise awareness of non-intentional traffic and develop recommended solutions to the digital advertising industry. The ultimate goal is to reduce non-intentional traffic by thwarting perpetrators and increasing costs for those the IAB refers to as “bad actors.” As a result, metrics related to Traffic of Good Intent will increase in accuracy.
The Negative Effects of Non-Intentional Traffic
The problems caused to the digital advertising industry by non-intentional traffic are far-reaching, and have a significant effect on pricing and performance tracking for advertisers. The IAB will target two kinds of non-intentional traffic. The first happens when internet users are automatically redirected to specific websites immediately after closing a web page. The second happens when content is invisibly loaded in the background of the browser without a user’s knowledge. Often, this content could load as a 1×1 pixel. The user is viewing another web page and has no idea that the other ads or full websites have loaded.
Non-intentional traffic affects both marketers and targeters. The IAB explains that people behind non-intentional traffic reap two primary rewards from their efforts:
- They artificially inflate page views (often in huge volumes), so they can produce ad inventory to sell on advertising exchanges.
- They produce “conversion” events, which could even generate false leads. For example, botnets simulate clicks on invisible ads or hijack an infected user’s browser to record a “visit” to the sites of marketers whose ads were invisibly run.
Non-intentional traffic is not a new problem in the digital advertising industry, so it’s great to see the IAB focusing on it with the Traffic of Good Intent Task Force. Bottom-line, no one wins when non-intentional traffic exists except the people who shouldn’t win. Honest advertisers, honest website owners, and consumers lose.
What do you think of the IAB’s new Traffic of Good Intent Task Force? You can follow the link above to visit the IAB site where you can check for ways to get involved with the Traffic of Good Intent Task Force in the future.
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Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
