What Is Cookie Stuffing?
This is a question we hear quite frequently. The term itself can be a bit confusing to the behavior it is describing. So what is cookie stuffing?
What is really being described is the practice of automatically simulating a physical click of an affiliate link. Generally, it is used to described a simulated click that is happening on a web site versus a simulated click happening through adware. Although occasionally people will use the term in conjunction with adware.
When a simulated click of an affiliate link happens, the clickstream happens as it normally would if a real person had actually clicked the link. The affiliate link is sent to the respective Network (or Merchant in the case of an in-house program) servers, the click is recorded and tracking cookies are placed on the end user's computer. Hence the term cookie stuffing since in many cases the most obvious sign that something has happened is the appearance of the tracking cookie(s) on the computer.
There are many ways to technically automate a simulate a physical click of an affiliate link, but we aren't saying what those methods are. The term cookie stuffing generally encompasses any of the various ways of achieving a simulated click of an affiliate link.
Cookie stuffing really describes a result of the behavior rather than the actual behavior itself. As such, we prefer the term forced click.
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