Proper click tracking relies on cookies, so if the web clients or browsers making requests to your links or rotators interfere with the cookies needed for accurate tracking, they can generate multiple “unique” clicks.

The average lifespan of a cookie is estimated to be only about six weeks, so even normal “aging” will eventually cause just about any user to generate a second unique click if they click your link again a few months later.

But you’re probably wondering about repeat “unique” clicks from the same IP in a short period, right?

In this case, there are only a few explanations:
 

1.

The web client or browser is configured so that it can't be tracked.

 

2.

The user hides behind "incognito" or "private browsing" modes.

 

3.

It’s a “bot.” Many bots don’t accept cookies and can’t be tracked.

That’s all there is to it. If someone doesn’t want to be tracked online or someone wants to generate fake clicks to your links, both of these things are very easy to do.

It’s normal to see this once in a while, and it’s not something to worry about, as it won’t affect your overall stats.

However, if you see this regularly, it almost certainly means you’re receiving fake traffic, and your traffic source should be investigated.


Can’t we track users by IP address?

No, there are many reasons you can’t just look at the IP address to determine if a click is unique.

For one, it’s very easy to fake, hide, or change the IP address that requests come from.

With the help of Google, just about anyone can learn how to set up a fake click bot “in the cloud” that can generate unlimited clicks from 1,000s of different IP addresses relatively easily if they want to.

Other reasons aren’t as sinister. Take Google’s fiber and WiFi Internet service that they currently provide in 10 major markets here in the US …

They have millions and millions of users all surfing the web behind Google’s proxies and sharing probably no more than 10,000 IP addresses.

Most mobile providers also provide Internet access to users via proxies, meaning a user’s IP address can change four times in less than two minutes.

Here’s part of a click log from a tracker that DOES track users only by IP address and which logged four “unique” clicks from the same mobile user in just a few minutes – simply because they are behind a proxy and their IP address changed in between requests …

 

Anyway, the point is that you can’t just look at the IP address to determine if a click is unique or not.

Yes, there are problems with cookies, but a combination of cookies and other methods is the best we have to work with. Just about every major analytics and tracking platform uses cookies extensively for tracking.

We’re currently experimenting with various forms of “device fingerprinting”, which is the future of tracking both for desktops and on mobile, but it’s still too early, and we have no ETA on how or when we’ll implement this.

Article 87 Last updated: 02/23/2023 9:21:19 AM
https://www.clickmagick.com/kb/?article=87