- Same event
- Same time window
- Same filtering basis
- Finalized counts
Use this sequence to organize the investigation. Confirm the details in the affected platform and campaign.
Invalid traffic, or IVT, includes impressions or clicks that do not represent genuine user activity. It can include automated traffic, repeated activity, accidental clicks and traffic from unreliable sources. Different systems evaluate these signals using their own filters, data availability and processing timelines.
A publisher report may initially include an event that a platform removes during later filtering or earnings finalization. A verification vendor may also classify more or less traffic as invalid because it sees different device, page, identity or behavioral evidence. That means an IVT discrepancy does not automatically prove that either counter is broken.
Investigate the same date range, timezone, inventory, device, geography and traffic source in both systems. Compare matched request or event IDs where available, separate estimated from finalized data and look for concentrated changes after a new traffic partner, implementation or app version. Escalate with evidence, but do not attempt to reverse-engineer or bypass a platform's fraud controls.
Align filtering and report maturity
- Confirm whether counts are estimated or finalized.
- Match the event definition and filtered or unfiltered basis.
- Compare the same inventory, date range, and timezone.
- Ask the reporting owner what processing delays apply.
Measure the difference without assuming its cause
Investigate concentrated changes
Break down the divergence by traffic source, device, placement, and app version. A new source coinciding with increased filtering is a lead to investigate, not proof that all its traffic is invalid.
Preserve timestamps, report settings, and permitted diagnostic samples. After a verified traffic or implementation correction, compare finalized results over a comparable interval and document any remaining uncertainty.
Test your reasoning: Compare report maturity
Original simulated exercise. This is not a real client case.
A client calls a tracking discrepancy a tag failure.
Evidence available
- Publisher report is estimated and gross.
- Vendor report is finalized and filtered.
- Both have the same campaign name.
Are the reports ready for a like-for-like comparison?
Read the answer and next check
No. Align maturity, filtering, event definition, scope, and timezone before attributing the difference to missing tracker calls.
Next check: Obtain comparable reports and investigate whether the remaining gap concentrates in a traffic source.