Not every click is a person. Link previews (WhatsApp, Slack, iMessage), search engine crawlers, security scanners and automated tools all fetch links.
- We label an event as a bot when the client identifies itself as one, matches known crawler or data-centre network lists, or behaves like automated traffic (for example many hits within milliseconds).
- Bot events are excluded from totals, uniques and click limits by default. Turn on Include bots to see them.
- Bot events are kept for the same retention as other events so you can audit them.
- A sudden spike of bot clicks after sharing a link in a group chat is normal: each recipient's app fetches a preview.
If you believe real visitors are being labelled as bots (for example from a corporate network), contact support with the link and time window.