Compliance
Invalid traffic: what GIVT and SIVT actually are
The MRC splits invalid traffic into two classes: GIVT (declared bots, data centers, spiders — detectable with lists and rules) and SIVT (sophisticated traffic that mimics humans — residential proxies, farms, malware — requiring advanced analysis).
For the publisher, high IVT isn't just clawbacks: it's CPM falling with no explanation, because demand silently cuts whoever sends dirty traffic. The bill arrives before any formal audit.
The good news: most of the problem is visible with serious analysis — data-center share, geography and hour coherence, concentration by origin. It's an X-ray almost no publisher has ever seen of their own site.
In our process that read is step 1, before any contract, and the report stays with the publisher. Whoever knows their own quality negotiates better with any partner, including us.
Sources and reading
MRC — IVT guidelines · TAG