Which HilltopAds zones send bot traffic?
ValidVisit judges every HilltopAds visit Valid or Invalid and pins it to the zone that sent it, worst first.
zone in HilltopAdsThe buyer opens the campaign’s BlackList setting and pastes the non-profitable ad-zone IDs separated by commas, then saves; those zones are removed from the campaign’s traffic sources (BlackList and WhiteList are mutually exclusive per campaign).
HilltopAds review for advertisers.
HilltopAds is a self-serve network for popunder, In-Page, video and banner traffic, with a $100 deposit and fast moderation. Its own machine learning sorts traffic into High, Medium and Low Activity channels, and it offers a deposit refund if you aren’t satisfied with the traffic, which few pop networks do. It names no anti-fraud partner and doesn’t share the metrics behind its channels, so judge visits per zone and blacklist the weak zones before you scale. We don’t run HilltopAds campaigns ourselves; the facts below are its own pages.
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Formats | Popunder, In-Page, video (VAST) and banners (300×250, 300×100). source |
| Pricing | CPM on every format; CPC on In-Page, video and banners; CPA Goal and Smart CPM on popunder only. source |
| Minimum deposit | $100 per method; wire from €500, and UK advertisers can pay by Paxum only. source |
| Payment | Capitalist, USDT, BTC, wire, Paxum, Wise, card and UnionPay. source |
| Targeting | Countries, cities, languages, browsers, apps and interests. source |
| Traffic channels | High, Medium and Low Activity, set hourly by HilltopAds’ own machine learning; it describes Low as free from bots. source |
| Moderation | Usually within one business hour; campaigns without a deposit aren’t reviewed. source |
| Blocking | Zone blacklists per campaign, plus auto-optimization that blacklists sources. source |
| Bot traffic | A built-in anti-fraud system; no partner is named. source |
| Refunds | A deposit refund if you aren’t satisfied with the traffic, after KYC, within 30 days; promo funds and banned accounts are excluded. No bot-specific compensation. source |
| Trustpilot | 3.4/5 from 326 reviews on 26 October 2026, publishers and advertisers mixed. |
- Detail
- Popunder, In-Page, video (VAST) and banners (300×250, 300×100). source
- Detail
- CPM on every format; CPC on In-Page, video and banners; CPA Goal and Smart CPM on popunder only. source
- Detail
- $100 per method; wire from €500, and UK advertisers can pay by Paxum only. source
- Detail
- Capitalist, USDT, BTC, wire, Paxum, Wise, card and UnionPay. source
- Detail
- Countries, cities, languages, browsers, apps and interests. source
- Detail
- High, Medium and Low Activity, set hourly by HilltopAds’ own machine learning; it describes Low as free from bots. source
- Detail
- Usually within one business hour; campaigns without a deposit aren’t reviewed. source
- Detail
- Zone blacklists per campaign, plus auto-optimization that blacklists sources. source
- Detail
- A built-in anti-fraud system; no partner is named. source
- Detail
- A deposit refund if you aren’t satisfied with the traffic, after KYC, within 30 days; promo funds and banned accounts are excluded. No bot-specific compensation. source
- Detail
- 3.4/5 from 326 reviews on 26 October 2026, publishers and advertisers mixed.
- Low entry: a $100 deposit and approval usually within an hour.
- A deposit refund if you’re unhappy with the traffic.
- CPA Goal and Smart CPM bidding on popunder.
- Zone blacklists and auto-optimization.
- No named anti-fraud partner, and no metrics behind its traffic channels.
- No bot-specific compensation.
- Refunds need KYC and take up to 30 days.
- Wire deposits start at €500, and UK advertisers can only pay by Paxum.
Checked against HilltopAds’s own pages on 2026-10-26. ValidVisit is independent of HilltopAds.
See which HilltopAds zones send bots before you scale.
- Every HilltopAds visit judged Valid or Invalid, worst zone first.
- Pinned to the zone that sent it, through HilltopAds’s own tracking tokens.
- One script on your landing page, nothing added to the click path.
How bot traffic slips in through HilltopAds zones.
HilltopAds is a self-serve ad network selling popunder, In-Page, video and banner traffic in mainstream and non-mainstream categories, bought on CPM or CPC, with CPA Goal and Smart CPM on popunder. It works as a blind network: it does not tell you the names of its traffic sources and passes a {{zoneid}} for each one instead. The zone is also the unit you blacklist at the campaign level, so zone-level findings translate directly into action. ValidVisit captures {{zoneid}}, {{adid}} and {{campaignid}} on arrival, with {{token}}, the conversion ID HilltopAds’ postback carries, and judges every visit Valid or Invalid with its evidence, giving each zone its own invalid share.
A popunder opens in a window beneath the one the visitor is using, so the format itself offers no quality filter. HilltopAds sorts its traffic into High, Medium and Low activity channels with its own machine-learning system, but a channel is a price tier across many zones, not a verdict on the zone in front of you. Invalid visits pile up inside particular {{zoneid}} values rather than spreading evenly across the campaign. Because {{zoneid}} rides on every click, ValidVisit attributes each visit’s verdict to its zone, so one problematic zone separates cleanly from a campaign that is otherwise fine.
Auto Optimization rules and CPA Goal disable zones that miss your numbers, and its help centre notes that a zone with no conversions has an eCPA of zero, so an “eCPA higher than” rule never catches it. A verdict per visit does not wait for conversions.
What to watch on HilltopAds
Sort active {{zoneid}} values by invalid share. A zone well above your campaign baseline warrants review before you scale spend into it.
Pair any eCPA rule with a Spend or Impressions condition, as HilltopAds advises, then check the invalid share of the zones it catches: mostly invalid confirms the blacklist; mostly valid points at the offer or landing page.
Cross-reference {{campaignid}} click volume against conversions. A segment where clicks spike but conversions stay flat often traces to one zone carrying invalid traffic; the zone breakdown confirms which.
What HilltopAds lets you judge by.
Invalid share broken down by:
- Zone ID
{{zoneid}}ID of the traffic source / zone the click came from — the unit you blacklist in the campaign.
Per-click id: HilltopAds passes a unique click id, and ValidVisit stores it with each visit, so a verdict traces back to the click in HilltopAds’s own reports.
Compare bot & invalid-traffic breakdown across every ad network →See your own HilltopAds sub-sources judged this way.
How ValidVisit attributes HilltopAds traffic
Each HilltopAds macro maps to a normalized parameter, so every judged visit is pinned to the right campaign, creative and publisher.
https://yoursite.com/landing?utm_source=hilltopads&utm_medium=pop&vv_campaign_id={{campaignid}}&vv_publisher_id={{zoneid}}&vv_ad_id={{adid}}&vv_click_id={{token}}| Token | HilltopAds macro | Maps to | Identifies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign ID | {{campaignid}} | campaign_id | campaign |
| Zone ID | {{zoneid}} | publisher_id | publisher |
| Ad ID | {{adid}} | ad_id | ad |
| Conversion Token (Click ID) | {{token}} | click_id | click |
- HilltopAds macro
{{campaignid}}- Maps to
- campaign_id
- Identifies
- campaign
- HilltopAds macro
{{zoneid}}- Maps to
- publisher_id
- Identifies
- publisher
- HilltopAds macro
{{adid}}- Maps to
- ad_id
- Identifies
- ad
- HilltopAds macro
{{token}}- Maps to
- click_id
- Identifies
- click
Macros checked against HilltopAds’s own documentation on 2026-10-02. HilltopAds docs
The verdict works the same way on every network. ValidVisit never changes your HilltopAds account: you make the exclusion there yourself. How the verdict works →
HilltopAds traffic quality, answered.
Is HilltopAds legit?
HilltopAds is a working self-serve network with a public help center, campaign review and a deposit-refund policy. It names no anti-fraud partner and Trustpilot reviews are mixed, so test small and judge visits per zone before you scale.
How do I blacklist a zone in HilltopAds?
Go to Manage Campaigns, click the campaign’s Settings icon and open BlackList, then paste the zone IDs separated by commas and save; those zones are removed from the campaign’s traffic sources. HilltopAds also has an API method that adds a traffic source to a campaign BlackList, with a delay of up to an hour.
Can I use a BlackList and a WhiteList on the same HilltopAds campaign?
No. BlackList and WhiteList are mutually exclusive per campaign, so each campaign runs in one mode or the other.
Can HilltopAds blacklist zones automatically?
Yes. An Auto Optimization rule sets a Period (1 to 90 days), an Action (Blacklist Zone, or Move Zone to Whitelist Campaign) and Conditions on impressions, spend, conversions, label conversions or eCPA. Rules act after a zone has spent; the verdict shows whether a non-converting zone was sending invalid visits or real visitors who did not buy.
Which tokens does the postback need?
Your postback URL is in the Trackers tab. HilltopAds’ tracker guides list {{token}} (the conversion ID), {{price}}, {{currency}} and your advertiser ID as the required postback parameters. Put {{token}} in your destination URL too, so a verdict and a conversion line up on one click.
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Find the bots in your HilltopAds spend.
See which publishers and placements send real buyers vs bots — every visit judged Valid or Invalid, worst first.
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