Bots terminology
Bots have specialized terminology. In this article, you can find a glossary of common bots and automated traffic terminology. Review the following list of definitions and terms to learn more about bots and automated traffic at Shopify.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Adware hosting | Use of Shopify's infrastructure to host adware, which can lead to unwanted advertisements and potential security risks. |
| Automated authorized integrations | Automated setup of applications designed to help you manage your store efficiently. |
| Automated customer signup creation | Automated creation of customer accounts, often used to degrade email reputations or conduct fraudulent activities. |
| Automated merchant signup creation | Automated processes that create merchant accounts, often with malicious intent to strain resources or damage reputation. |
| Automated traffic | The flow of data and interactions generated by automated systems or bots, software programs, or scripts designed to perform specific tasks. These tasks can range from beneficial activities, such as indexing a site for search engines to harmful actions, such as engaging in fraudulent activities. Automated traffic can impact performance, security, and reputation, depending on the intent behind the automation. |
| Authorized load tests | Load tests conducted with prior permission to ensure Shopify can handle business traffic scenarios. |
| Checkout bots | Automated systems that navigate the checkout process to secure products quickly, often used in high-demand product releases. |
| Counterfeit scrapers | Automated tools that clone website content, often for creating counterfeit sites or conducting negative SEO attacks. |
| Customers (+ Accessibility) | Automated processes that simulate customer activities, including account creation, browsing, and purchasing, often with a focus on accessibility for users with disabilities. |
| Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) | Malicious attacks that overwhelm a website's infrastructure with excessive traffic, disrupting normal operations. |
| Financial fraud | Activities involving fraudulent transactions, such as creating fake orders or testing stolen credit card information. |
| Form and blog spam | Automated submissions to forms and blogs, typically for SEO manipulation or to harm reputation and cause toil. |
| Internal load tests | Tests conducted by Shopify to ensure the platform can handle expected traffic loads. |
| Intent | The underlying purposes or objectives behind the use of automated traffic sources. In the context of Shopify, intents help to categorize and understand the motivations behind different types of automated activities, whether they're beneficial, neutral, or harmful to the platform and its users. |
| Malware hosting | Use of Shopify's infrastructure to host malicious software, potentially harming users and systems. |
| Negative SEO attack | Malicious tactics aimed at damaging a competitor's search engine rankings. Using methods, such as backlink spam, content scraping, and fake reviews to harm a website's visibility and reputation. The goal is to undermine a competitor's online presence rather than improving one's own SEO. |
| Private data exfiltration | Unauthorized transfer of private data from Shopify or its merchants, often for malicious purposes. |
| Restock bots | Automated tools that monitor inventory levels and make purchases as soon as products are restocked, often used to gain an unfair purchasing advantage. |
| SEO indexers | These are automated tools used to crawl websites to ensure they're properly indexed and ranked by search engines. They help maintain the visibility and accessibility of a website on search platforms. |
| Unknown scrapers | These can include automated tools that gather data from websites, often without permission, for various purposes including data collection and competitive analysis. |