Keep Invalid Traffic Out of Your Prebid Auctions

How it works

1. Step 1

   Check the page view

   Before the auction, the module asks Transfon Security whether the visit is a real person or invalid traffic, such as a bot or automated browser.

2. Step 2

   Pass the signal

   Every bidder receives tss_qs in the first party data, and your ad server receives tss_qs as a key-value, so demand partners and your own line items can act on it.

3. Step 3

   Stop invalid requests

   Optionally, the module removes all bid requests for page views marked invalid or matching your project's block rules, so bots never reach your demand partners.

4. Step 4

   Visualize bot traffic

   Your Transfon Security dashboard shows how much of your Prebid traffic is invalid, and why: bots, automated browsers, data centers and more.

Set up the module

1. Create a project in Transfon Security and copy its license from the Installation page. A license is 10 characters, for example abcdef1234.
2. Build Prebid.js with the RTD core module and the provider: gulp build --modules=rtdModule,transfonSecurityRtdProvider
3. Add the provider to your Prebid config:

pbjs.setConfig({
  realTimeData: {
    auctionDelay: 500,
    dataProviders: [{
      name: 'transfonSecurity',
      waitForIt: true,
      params: {
        licenseId: 'YOUR_LICENSE',
        blockIvt: false
      }
    }]
  }
});

Parameters

What the module sends

• The auction is never held up: if the verdict is not back within auctionDelay, the auction runs as normal.

Filter invalid traffic in Google Ad Manager

1. In Inventory, Key-values, create a key named tss_qs with the values 0 and 1.
2. Run a report by tss_qs first to see how much of your inventory is invalid traffic.
3. Target the line items you want to protect with tss_qs is not 0. Do not use "is 1": page views without a verdict carry no key, and "is not 0" keeps serving them.

Works with any ad server

Read the key-value for another ad server

pbjs.requestBids({
  bidsBackHandler: function () {
    var targeting = pbjs.getAdserverTargeting();
    // targeting['div-1'].tss_qs is "1" or "0"
    // pass it to your ad server with the hb_ keys
  }
});

Module or tag?

The RTD module is the quickest way to protect Prebid auctions: it needs only a Prebid build and a config change. The Transfon Security tag adds browser checks and protects the whole site, not just the auction. You can run both: each visit is still checked and counted once.

Already running the tag? Add data-prebid="signal" to it and the tag sends tss_qs to bidders and Google Ad Manager without any Prebid change, or data-prebid="block" to also skip bid requests for invalid traffic.

The module runs in Prebid.js in the browser. For AMP pages, apps and server to server setups, use the tag or the Transfon Security API.

Frequently asked questions