Bots on the Internet: friend or foe? This is how you protect yourself!

Bots on the Internet: friend or foe? This is how you protect yourself!

In the digital age, managing internet traffic is becoming increasingly complicated, largely due to the continued presence of bots. This brings both challenges and opportunities for website operators and users. A young colleague from a local news magazine recently looked into this topic in more detail. Today, June 30, 2025, we are reporting on the core issues that arise around crawler bot traffic on websites and the measures necessary to handle it.

Like the reporting from News Corp Australia shows, a large part of internet traffic is generated by so-called crawler bot traffic. These are automated scripts that operate on the Internet and collect information about websites. These bots are both useful and harmful. Malicious bots can be used for identity theft and other criminal activities, while useful bots like Googlebot and Bingbot are essential for search engine optimization.

Bots on the Internet: Advantages and Challenges

Statistics show that bots now account for almost half of all internet activity. Particularly interesting: Around 32 percent of these bots are considered harmful, while the rest perform useful tasks, such as categorizing content for search engines. Loud Human Security It is essential to find a balance between blocking unwanted bots without hindering the useful ones.

The rapid growth of bot technologies is underlined by findings from Pew Research Centers, which say that in 2020, 39 percent of web activity was already generated by bots. Recent estimates suggest that number could rise to an impressive 50 percent by 2023.

But how do you deal with abusive bot traffic? It is recommended that you regularly check your security settings and take certain measures. This includes disabling AdBlockers or adding the website to the allowed list in such programs. Furthermore, affected users should contact website support directly if problems persist; for News Corp, for example, at the email address accessissues@news.com.au with relevant details of their IP address.

The future of digital transport

The experts agree: good bot management can be crucial to the success of a website. Using mechanisms like the robots.txt file to control access is just one of many best practices. There are also special solutions that help distinguish useful from harmful bots and optimize traffic handling.

In conclusion, the issue of bot management should not be taken lightly. The prevailing data highlights the importance of a strategic approach to reap the benefits of digital transformation and protect against the risks. In the complex world of the Internet, good knowledge of bots becomes a decisive competitive advantage.