A residential IP address is an internet IP address assigned to a home internet connection by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). These addresses are given to regular households, making them appear more legitimate than data center IPs when accessing websites and online services.
How residential IPs work
When you connect to the internet at home, your ISP gives your router a residential IP address. This address acts like a digital home address, allowing your devices to communicate with websites and online services. Most residential IPs are dynamic, meaning they change periodically.
Why residential IPs matter for ad fraud
Residential IP addresses are valuable because they look like real user traffic to websites and ad networks. Fraudsters often try to get access to residential IPs to make their fake clicks and bot traffic appear more legitimate.
Since residential IPs come from real home internet connections, they're harder to detect and block compared to data center IPs. This makes them attractive for click fraud operations.
Common ways residential IPs are misused
- Botnet operators infecting home computers to generate fake ad clicks
- Residential proxy networks selling access to compromised home connections
- Click farms using residential VPNs to hide their true location
- Automation tools rotating through residential IPs to avoid detection
Protecting against residential IP fraud
While residential IPs generally indicate real users, you can't trust traffic solely based on IP type. Modern click fraud protection needs to look at multiple signals to identify suspicious patterns.
Key signs of residential IP abuse include high click volumes, unusual geographic patterns, and non-human behavior signals. Working with a click fraud prevention service helps detect and block invalid traffic from compromised residential IPs.
The value of residential IPs
For legitimate users, residential IP addresses provide reliable home internet access. But their perceived trustworthiness also makes them targets for misuse. Understanding how residential IPs work helps in protecting ad campaigns from sophisticated fraud attempts.
See also: datacenter traffic
