Glossary · Compter
Robot
A robot is a program that visits an address automatically, with no intention of buying: a search engine indexing, a messaging app previewing, an antivirus checking. It produces a real visit on the link, and a zero in every column that follows.
Ce qui s’est réellement passé, humains d’un côté, robots de l’autre. The forty terms of the trade
What it is for
Recognising it is what separates a readable curve from one that jumps. It is also a signal in itself: a link that receives twenty automated visits within a minute of publishing really was published, even if nobody has clicked it yet.
How it is spotted
Three clues, from most to least reliable: a request asking only for headers without loading the page, the complete absence of software identification, and an identification containing a known program name. None of the three proves anything on its own; together they rule out most of the noise.
The classic mistake
Deleting automated visits instead of labelling them. The total can no longer be reassembled, the filtering rule can no longer be checked, and the day it is wrong nobody can show it.
What gives an automated visit away
Headers only
No identification
A known name
Three clues, none decisive alone. That is why a good filter labels instead of deleting.
What Subtraq does with it
Subtraq labels robots instead of hiding them, and that is a public policy: the analytics screen carries an “Include robots” switch, unchecked by default. Both the filtered and the raw total therefore remain reachable.
Read next
Un terme seul ne sert à rien. Voici ceux qui le rendent utilisable.
Clic humain
Read the definition →Pixel de suivi
Read the definition →Taux de clic
Read the definition →Point de contact
Read the definition →« Robot », une fois posé sur de vraies ventes
The real question is not how many clicks, but which ones count. The report separates humans from robots, visits from people, and always says what it does not know.
See a complete report