An SMS bot click occurs when an automated system, rather than a real user, clicks a link inside an SMS message. These clicks can misrepresent actual engagement, making campaign results appear more successful than they are.
Most bot clicks originate from devices or telecom operators that automatically interact with links for previewing or scanning purposes. As a result, performance metrics such as click-through rates may become distorted.
Our Redirector API and advanced bot filtering mechanisms help eliminate these false interactions, ensuring your reports reflect genuine user behavior. The system is continuously updated with new bot signatures, maintaining the integrity of your campaign analytics.
In this guide, you can find:
Common Sources of Bot Clicks
Common sources of bot clicks include systems that may automatically interact with links in an SMS message, such as:
Device link previewing: Most iOS and Android devices include link preview features. When an SMS contains a link, the device might automatically access the link to generate a preview, without requiring any user interaction.
Telecom operator scanning: Telecom providers might automatically scan SMS content and links for legal compliance and security reasons.
Security software: Antivirus and security tools may scan links to protect users from harmful content, which can trigger bot clicks.
Corporate filters: Internal security systems might scan incoming SMS links in corporate networks before delivering them to employees' devices.
Signs of Bot-Generated Clicks
Specific patterns in click behavior can indicate that the interaction was triggered by an automated system rather than a real user.
Multiple clicks from the same user immediately after an SMS is delivered.
A high number of clicks are coming from the same IP address within a short time.
Clicks from geographically inconsistent locations (far from the user’s known location).
Click patterns that don’t align with typical human behavior (clicks at perfectly regular time intervals).
Common bot user-agent signatures detected in the traffic.
Types of Bot Clicks in the SMS Ecosystem
There are three main types of bot clicks found in the SMS ecosystem:
Operator-originated bot clicks:
Telecom security scans: Automatic fraud detection or compliance checks by carriers.
Gateway-level checks: Link validation at the point of SMS routing.
Device-based bot clicks:
iOS link previews: Generated by iMessage without user interaction.
Android apps: Link fetching by apps like Google Messages.
Email clients: Email systems that integrate SMS features may mimic this behavior.
Security software-driven clicks: Antivirus and anti-fraud tools that preemptively scan URLs for potential threats.
Impact of Bot Clicks
Bot clicks can lead to the following issues:
Inflated click-through rates (CTR increases by 15–30%)
Misleading conversion tracking
Distorted A/B test results
Misallocation of marketing spend
Waste of operational efforts on inaccurate data
Redirector API & Bot Detection Mechanisms
The Redirector API is designed to identify and filter out bot clicks, ensuring only genuine user interactions are logged in your reports.
How does the Redirector API work?
All SMS links are routed through a Redirector API that performs the following:
Collects metadata such as UTM parameters and user environment data.
Validates whether the interaction is human before logging any event.
Redirects verified users to the final destination URL.
How do bot detection techniques work?
To accurately filter out non-human interactions, our system uses multiple detection methods that analyze traffic behavior and source characteristics. These techniques help distinguish legitimate user clicks from automated bot activity:
User-agent analysis: Matches traffic against a database of known bots.
IP-based filtering: Flags suspicious or blacklisted IP addresses.
Active Bot Click Prevention Measures
The system incorporates multiple layers of protection:
Only one click per IP is counted within a 24-hour period
A dynamic blacklist blocks traffic from known bots
Behavioral analysis detects unnatural click activity
Geolocation checks filter inconsistencies
Bot signature databases are regularly updated
Types of Bots on the Blacklist
Our filtering system blocks clicks from various bot categories:
Search engine bots: Googlebot, bingbot, Applebot, Baiduspider, Yandex, DuckDuckBot, Sogou etc.
Social media crawlers: Twitterbot, facebookexternalhit, Pinterest, Slackbot-LinkExpanding.
General web crawlers: CCBot, Facebot, Mail.Ru, MojeekBot, Qwantify, SeznamBot, YoudaoBot, Google-PageRenderer, and more.