A few days ago, I added a new module to the website, which provides for Google Auto-Captcha connections. If you are not familiar with Captcha, it is the small graphic picture or puzzle you have to answer when you connect to some sites. In this case, the routine makes an attempt to decide if a user is a real person or an automated bot. If you are human, no extra steps. If you are a bot, then you are rejected. If it is unsure, then you get the puzzle. The older alternative was a puzzle for everyone, or more simply just ignoring it and allowing everyone.
In my case, I was originally just ignoring it – I didn’t really expect any significant volume from bots and have other methods in place to avoid repeated spam. However, after adding this new module, I have noticed a very significant change. Previously, new “user” accounts averaged perhaps one or two per day – those are now non-existent (and practically all of the existing accounts are almost certainly bots to be purged). More unexpectedly, the amount of traffic and “hits” on the site has taken a nose dive, from 500-600 “hits” per day down to approximately 100. Visitor counts are similarly down, from approximately 150 to 50 per day. All of which makes me think that this traffic is either real visitors, or cataloging engines like Google and Yahoo (which I expect is the majority).
Also unexpectedly, my Search statistics have increased – the number of times the site shows up on an internet search. Not a huge amount, and may just be a matter of the duration of the site, but there does seem to be an increase.
Overall, I would say I am rather happy with this option, it has been surprisingly more effective than I imagined.
