Digital traffic diversion: how to protect your results?

Digital traffic diversion is a growing threat for brands of all sizes, directly impacting their results and return on marketing investment.

That's why, if you invest in SEO optimization, paid advertising campaigns, or other strategies to attract visitors to your site but realize that traffic doesn't convert into sales or leads as expected, it's important to understand what's happening and how to protect yourself.

In this complex scenario, Branddi stands out as an intelligent solution to monitor, identify, and combat these deviations.

And it was this expertise that helped us develop this manual with information about digital traffic diversion, how it affects your brand, and what are the main tactics used to divert traffic from your site.

Read on and discover how to protect your brand and ensure the success of your campaigns!

What can we understand by digital traffic diversion?

Briefly, we can say that digital traffic diversion is a practice that sneakily redirects internet users to online destinations other than those they intended to reach.

Imagine the following situation: a potential customer searches for your brand on Google, but when clicking on one of the results, they are directed to a competitor's site, a misleading advertisement, or worse, a malicious page. That's traffic diversion in action.

This practice, which has become increasingly common in the Brazilian digital landscape, can have a significant impact on your results.

After all, each diverted visitor represents a lost business opportunity, a customer that could have been won, and a revenue that stopped coming in.

Recent studies have demonstrated the increasing concentration of online traffic on Google platforms, such as the search engine itself and YouTube.

This dominance, combined with increased investment in online advertising, creates a fertile environment for traffic diversion, with brands misusing keywords and terms related to their competitors to attract visitors to their own sites.

Types of traffic diversion

Digital traffic diversion is not a homogenous practice. On the contrary, it is manifested in a variety of ways, each with its own characteristics and levels of sophistication.

For this reason, understanding these different modalities is the first step in protecting your brand effectively.

To get an idea of the magnitude of this problem, MonetizeMore, a specialist in website monetization, announced in its report that invalid traffic increased approximately 167% from 2021 to 2022, and the trend continues to increase for this problem.

In the next few topics, we'll explore the main types of digital traffic diversion, from the most common tactics to the most elaborate, and how each of them can harm your results.

Get ready to discover a universe of threats that may be undermining your brand's success!

Digital traffic diversion from sponsored links

Diverting traffic on sponsored links is a common tactic, where competitors divert clicks from your paid ads. O Brand Bidding, using your brand as a keyword, is an example.

In addition, negative keywords are also used to prevent your ads from appearing, inflating your costs and favoring competitors.

Digital traffic diversion from redirects

Bypassing by redirects involves sneakily altering the destination of your site's traffic, without the user's knowledge. That's because scammers can insert malicious code, redirecting you to phishing sites or counterfeit products.

However, that's not all: fake shortened links also mislead, leading to unwanted pages. In other words, this practice undermines trust in your brand and impairs the customer experience.

Digital traffic diversion by SEO

SEO bias occurs when tactics are used to harm your site's ranking in search results, driving traffic elsewhere.

And that's where duplicate content, misuse of keywords, and low-quality backlinks can bring down your ranking.

What are the 7 impacts of digital traffic diversion?

As we've seen, diverting digital traffic isn't just a fleeting nuisance; it can trigger a series of negative consequences that directly affect the health and success of your brand. After all, from lost revenue to reputational damage, the impacts can be devastating if not combated effectively.

But what exactly are those impacts? And how can they harm your business?

In the next few topics, we will reveal the 7 main impacts of digital traffic diversion, showing how each of them can undermine your results and jeopardize the future of your brand.

Get ready to discover a dark side of the digital world that you need to know to protect yourself!

Direct financial impact

The direct financial impact is one of the most evident. After all, diversions in digital advertisements, a component of traffic diversion, can generate significant losses.

Proof of this is a study by Juniper Research, which estimated that the Invalid traffic would cost US$ 100 billion globally in 2023, which means that advertisers lose a considerable portion of their budgets to unfair activities.

That is, in addition to wasting budget, campaigns optimized based on false clicks can lead to erroneous decisions, affecting revenue and customer acquisition.

Reduced Return on Investment (ROI) in digital marketing

The diversion of digital traffic compromises the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, resulting in a ROI smaller.

That's because, when traffic is diverted to unqualified or false sources, conversion rates decrease, cost per acquisition increases, and overall return on investment is hampered.

Damage to brand reputation

Every entrepreneur knows that brand reputation is a valuable asset, and diverting traffic can cause significant harm to it.

After all, if consumers are redirected to phishing sites, counterfeit products, or inappropriate content, trust in the brand is shaken.

A survey by the Guide to the Best revealed that, for 77% of consumers, Brand reputation is a decisive buying factor. In other words, protecting the brand against traffic diversion is essential to maintain the trust of your consumer.

Loss of organic positioning

In addition to everything mentioned above, the diversion of digital traffic can also harm a site's organic positioning in search results.

Techniques such as creating duplicate content or using low-quality backlinks for your site can lead to a drop in your ranking and a loss of visibility.

That is, in addition to affecting direct traffic, the diversion of digital traffic can also compromise your brand's ability to be found organically by your potential customers.

Impact on customer experience

The diversion of digital traffic can have a negative impact on the customer experience, leading to frustration, dissatisfaction, and loss of trust in the brand. Proof of this is a study by the Ovum Institute that revealed that 82% of consumers would stop doing business with a company after a bad experience.

Remember: if customers are redirected to unwanted or fake sites, the experience is compromised and the likelihood that they will return is reduced.

Increase in unfair competition

The diversion of digital traffic is a form of unfair competition that harms honest and innovative companies in a profound way.

This was proved by the study carried out by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), which pointed out that unfair competition has become a Serious problem for the manufacturing industry, hindering the integrity and adaptation of companies to the new challenges of the digital market.

Legal and regulatory risks

Diverting digital traffic can expose your business to legal and regulatory risks. That's because unfair practices can result in lawsuits, fines, and other sanctions. Especially when they directly harm the consumer.

To avoid these issues, it's critical to ensure that your business complies with applicable laws and regulations and to protect your intellectual property rights.

How to avoid digital traffic diversion?

Now that you know the negative impacts of digital traffic diversion, it's time to learn how to protect yourself against this threat.

The good news is that there are several steps you can take to protect your brand and ensure that your customers arrive at the right destination.

With years of experience in combating digital traffic diversion, Branddi has become a reference in the market, developing innovative and effective solutions to protect brands of all sizes. To this end, our specialists closely monitor the latest trends and tactics used, ensuring that our clients are always one step ahead.

In the next few topics, we'll share some tips and strategies you can implement to prevent digital traffic diversion and protect your results. Shall we go?

Count on trademark registration and legal defense

O trademark registration is a fundamental step to protect your rights and prevent the diversion of digital traffic.

This is because, by registering your trademark, you guarantee the exclusive use of your name and logo, preventing third parties from misusing your visual identity to divert traffic to their own sites.

To register your trademark, follow these steps:

• Search for availability: verify that the trademark is already registered with the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property);
• Gather documentation: prepare the necessary documents, such as the registration application form, copy of the CNPJ and brand logo;
• Pay the fees: make the payment of registration fees;
• Follow the process: monitor the progress of the registration process on the INPI website.

Monitor brand keywords

Monitoring your brand's keywords is essential to identify and combat digital traffic diversion. That's because by monitoring the keywords, you can identify who is using your brand in paid ads, which sites are ranking for your brand terms, and what tactics are being used to divert traffic from your site.

Some tools you can use to monitor your brand's keywords are:

• Google Alerts: free Google tool that sends email alerts whenever your brand is mentioned on the web;
• SEMrush: complete SEO and digital marketing platform that offers keyword monitoring, competition analysis, and website auditing features;
• Ahrefs: another complete SEO and digital marketing platform that offers similar features to SEMrush.

However, even though these are useful strategies, it is not important to have the support of a specialized partner such as Branddi, who is able to carry out this monitoring in an in-depth and complete way.

Strengthen your SEO strategy

A well-structured SEO strategy is essential to protect your organic positioning and avoid the diversion of digital traffic.

Thus, by optimizing your site for search engines, you increase your visibility in search results and ensure that your potential customers find you before your competitors.

And this reality is proven by a study conducted by BrightEdge, which revealed that 53.3% of all site traffic comes from organic search.

Report suspected cases

Reporting suspected cases of digital traffic diversion is one way to protect your brand and contribute to a safer online environment.

Therefore, if you identify cases of traffic diversion, always try to make complaints to the responsible platforms, gathering evidence and following the process until the unauthorized traffic is knocked down.

And that's exactly where Branddi comes in: we act not only with monitoring and screening, but also with the reporting of these cases, sending notifications if any suspicious behavior has been noticed.

Read on and learn more about Branddi in the topic below!

Eliminate digital traffic diversion with Branddi!

As we saw throughout the article, digital traffic diversion is a form of unfair competition that harms your brand and compromises your results.

Fortunately, you don't have to face this problem alone: Branddi offers a complete solution to eliminate digital traffic diversion and protect your brand against online threats.

To this end, our team of specialists monitors the web 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, identifying and combating the misuse of your brand in paid advertisements, the creation of fake sites, the distribution of illegal content, and other tactics used to divert traffic from your site.

Remember: with Branddi, you can:

• Identify: quickly detect digital traffic diversion and other suspicious activities;
• Combat: take effective steps to remove fake ads, take down phishing sites, and protect your intellectual property rights;
• Protect: shield your brand against online threats and ensure that your customers reach the right destination: you.

Don't let diverting digital traffic harm your brand and compromise your results. Count on Branddi's armor marketing to eliminate this threat and protect your business!