Identification of software robot activity

Abstract

A system comprising: at least one hardware processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by said at least one hardware processor to, automatically: receive, from each of a plurality of web clients, a request to receive data, wherein said data comprises (i) advertisement copy and (ii) a landing page URL (Uniform Resource Locator) associated with said advertisement copy; determine, for each of said web clients, a client identifier associated with said web client; automatically select a subset of said web clients; send said data only to said subset of said web clients; and identify a web client not included in said subset of web clients is a software robot, when a received redirection request to said landing page URL is associated with a client identifier associated with said web client.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 at least one hardware processor; and   a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by said at least one hardware processor to, automatically:
 receive, from each of a plurality of web clients, a request to receive data, wherein said data comprises (i) advertisement copy and (ii) a landing page URL (Uniform Resource Locator) associated with said advertisement copy; 
 determine, for each of said web clients, a client identifier associated with said web client; 
 automatically select a subset of said web clients; 
 send said data only to said subset of said web clients; and 
 identify a web client not included in said subset of web clients is a software robot, when a received redirection request to said landing page URL is associated with a client identifier associated with said web client. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of said web client identifiers are cookies. 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the web client identifiers are values computed from one or more cookie attributes. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein said program instructions are further executable to store each of said client identifiers associated with said web clients identified as software robots. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 4 , wherein said program instructions are further executable to generate a report comprising redirection activity associated with said web clients, wherein said report does not include said redirection activity associated with said identified software robots. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 4 , wherein said program instructions are further executable to compare a client identifier of a new web client to said stored client identifiers, to determine whether said new web client is a software robot. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein said selecting is based, at least in part, on a modulo operation applied to each respective web client identifier, wherein the modulo operation produces two different results. 
     
     
         8 . A method for identifying software robots, the method comprising using at least one hardware processor for:
 receiving, from each of a plurality of web clients, a request to receive data, wherein said data comprises (i) advertisement copy and (ii) a landing page URL (Uniform Resource Locator) associated with said advertisement copy;   determining, for each of said web clients, a client identifier associated with said web client;   automatically selecting a subset of said web clients;   sending said data only to said subset of said web clients; and   identifying a web client not included in said subset of web clients is a software robot, when a received redirection request to said landing page URL is associated with a client identifier associated with said web client.   
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein at least some of said web client identifiers are cookies. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein at least some of the web client identifiers are values computed from one or more cookie attributes. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 8 , further comprising storing each of said client identifiers associated with said web clients identified as software robots. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising generating a report comprising redirection activity associated with said web clients, wherein said report does not include said redirection activity associated with said identified software robots. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising comparing a client identifier of a new web client to said stored client identifiers, to determine whether said new web client is a software robot. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein said selecting is based, at least in part, on a modulo operation applied to each respective web client identifier, wherein the modulo operation produces two different results. 
     
     
         15 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by at least one hardware processor to, automatically:
 receive, from each of a plurality of web clients, a request to receive data, wherein said data comprises (i) advertisement copy and (ii) a landing page URL (Uniform Resource Locator) associated with said advertisement copy;   determine, for each of said web clients, a client identifier associated with said web client;   automatically select a subset of said web clients;   send said data only to said subset of said web clients; and   identify a web client not included in said subset of web clients is a software robot, when a received redirection request to said landing page URL is associated with a client identifier associated with said web client.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product according to  claim 15 , wherein at least some of said web client identifiers are cookies. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product according to  claim 15 , wherein said program instructions are further executable to store each of said client identifiers associated with said web clients identified as software robots. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product according to  claim 17 , wherein said program instructions are further executable to generate a report comprising redirection activity associated with said web clients, wherein said report does not include said redirection activity associated with said identified software robots. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product according to  claim 17 , wherein said program instructions are further executable to compare a client identifier of a new web client to said stored client identifiers, to determine whether said new web client is a software robot. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product according to  claim 15 , wherein said selecting is based, at least in part, on a modulo operation applied to each respective web client identifier, wherein the modulo operation produces two different results.