Traffic Quality Measurement: Metrics That Keep Their Meaning

Choose one unit for each question

Use provider clicks for ad interaction questions, eligible measured sessions for on-site quality, visitors for continuity, conversion occurrences for outcomes, and provider credits for confirmed billing adjustments. Switching units mid-calculation makes a polished metric unreliable.

Document website, channel, timezone, currency, date range, attribution window, and source before comparison.

Publish the metric envelope

A result should include its numerator, denominator, eligibility rule, excluded population, coverage, freshness, confidence, and known limitations. If the denominator changes after late data arrives, retain the earlier state and reconciliation.

• Use unavailable for missing evidence.
• Use insufficient for samples below a decision threshold.
• Use unclassified for unresolved risk.
• Use stale when freshness exceeds the supported window.

Avoid the savings shortcut

Analyzed spend, spend associated with suspicious traffic, protected spend, estimated impact, and confirmed provider credit are different. A risk score is not a probability and should not be multiplied by cost as an automatic savings calculation.