You can do it if you know how to bypass cloaking and find the bundle. Let’s consider the ways to protect your landings from spy services and other arbitrageurs.
Protecting landings using referrer
Let’s start with a simple solution, using the example of the MTWSPY spy service, which provides its users with links to the creatives’ landing pages. The service first bypasses the cloaca and then gives a direct link to the pre-landing, that’s why the standard Keitaro filters can no longer protect you.
The CPARIP promo code gives a 10% discount on MTWSPY.
One way to protect in this situation is to use a whitelist of allowed referrers or verify the domain. However this approach can limit access to real users who come from unexpected sources or directly, and this is undesirable. Therefore, we will filter only those who come with a “bad” referrer.
To do this, we use a simple PHP script from Snegovikof, which checks the HTTP_REFERER header and blocks access if it contains the referrer of the spy service – 'mtwspy'.
It’s important to realize that if someone just copies a link to the landing page from MTWSPY and opens it directly, without the spy-service referrer, this code will no longer be able to protect your pre-landing. The referrer check only works if the spy service sends a specific referrer that can be filtered.
This code should be added to the index file of the landing page:
<?php
$ref = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] ?? '';
if (stripos($ref, 'mtwspy') !== false) {
header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
echo "<h1>404 Not Found</h1><p>The page you are looking for does not exist.</p>";
exit;
}
?>Paste the code into the index.php of the webpage with the first line and click save.
If you need protection from another spy service, this code can be adapted for it.
How to adapt the code for other spy-services
If you want to block several spy services at the same time, you can use an array with known referrers and check for their presence.
Example code:
<?php
$ref = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] ?? '';
$spyServices = ['mtwspy', 'otherspy', 'anotherspy'];
foreach ($spyServices as $spy) {
if (stripos($ref, $spy) !== false) {
header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
echo "<h1>404 Not Found</h1><p>The page you are looking for does not exist.</p>";
exit;
}
}
?>An experienced affiliate will be able to bypass many types of defenses. It is difficult to completely prevent pre-landings from leaking to spy services, and it may not always be worth spending a lot of resources on it. It’s better to use a good cloaca that will be hard to bypass.
Top 11 cloaking services for Facebook, Google Ads, and others: https://cpa.rip/en/services/top-cloaking/
Keitaro Local Landing Page Protection
To exclude the possibility of direct access to landings added locally in the Keitaro tracker you can use a method from Yellow Web:
Add a code in the first line of the index.php of the landing page that checks if it works via Keitaro:
<?php
if (!isset($rawClick)){
echo '404 Not Found';
exit();
}
?>Protecting landing page with filters
We will customize the protection of landings with filters, but in such a way as not to lose targeted traffic.
- Bots, moderators, affiliates – get to the White page.
- Target users – on the Offer page (pre-landing, landing, track link etc).
CLOAK IT
Set up protection with the help of cloaking and traffic filtering service CLOAK IT.
The CPARIP promo code will give a 40% discount on all deposits on Cloakit.pro.
In 90% of cases, arbitrageurs use VPN and proxy servers. They connect to the desired geo and enter your advertising domain via the spy service.
For filtering, we turn on filters:
- Cloakit – filters out all bots and moderators.
- VPN/Proxy – filters traffic from IP addresses that belong to VPN and proxy providers. This filter will protect you from arbitrageurs who check your ads in spy services.
- IPv6 – can also be enabled if your target users come from ip format IPv6. (USA and Asia are already using IPv6).
- Enable Geo-filter to prevent visits from untargeted geo.
Let’s say an arbitrageur who wants to bypass the cloaca and move to a real landing, has found and bought resident proxies of the right geo (proxies used by real people).
For this purpose, we enable other filters:
- Devices – allow only targeted devices. For example, we are targeting mobile devices, and we select mobile. Almost all arbitrageurs use spy services from PCs.
- Referrer – passes the source of traffic. For example, all visits from fb will be with a Facebook referer. Turn on this filter and add the source of traffic from which we drive traffic, for example, Facebook. For an arbitrageur to pass this filter, he will need to enter via FB. But this approach can restrict access for real users!
All filters work on the principle of complementing each other.
The final configuration, using FB as an example, looks like this:
So, for an arbitrageur to get to your offer page – he needs to find resident proxies, enter from the right geo, from the right device, and that his transition was from the right source of traffic.
99% of arbitrageurs will not be able to do this, because they do not know what filters you have enabled, and even after entering from the right geo they will see the white page and will forget about your ads. At the same time, we will not lose targeted traffic from Facebook. This is the end of setting up protection from spy services, you can drive traffic and not be afraid that your bundle will be seen by other arbitrageurs.
The CPARIP promo code gives a 40% discount on all deposits on Cloakit.pro
Keitaro
Similar filters for protection can be set when creating a stream in a campaign in the Keitaro tracker.
Promo code for Keitaro for 22% off – CPARIP
Example of the same filters used above in CLOAK IT:
This is how the created stream looks like:
As we have already written at the beginning of this article, checking by the white list of referrers can restrict access to real users, so you should work with this filter carefully!
In addition to filters to protect against spying, don’t forget to set up cloaking for moderators and bots of the advertising network.
Setting up campaign and cloaking in Keitaro: https://cpa.rip/articles/traffic-arbitrage/#Nastrojka_kampanii_i_kloakinga_v_Keitaro
