[datadrivenangel]

You would assume that Advertising companies with quality ad space would be able to show higher click through rates and higher impression to purchase rates -- overall cost per conversion -- by removing bots that won't have a business outcome from the top of the funnel.

But attribution is hard, so showing larger numbers of impressions looks more impressive.

[carlosjobim]

Attribution is extremely easy, it is a solved problem.

Companies keep throwing away money on advertising for bots and other non-customers because they either:

A) Are small businesses where the owner doesn't care about what he's doing and enjoys the casino like experience of buying ads online and see if he gets a return, or

B) Are big businesses where the sales people working with online ads are interested in not solving the problem, because they want to keep their salaries and budget.