In digital marketing, your identity graph is only as good as the data inside it. A single bot, a click farm ID, or a falsified linkage can cascade through your targeting, waste your budget, and skew your measurement. Yet most identity providers treat data quality as an afterthought—a checkbox exercise rather than a core competency.
At BDEX, we’ve spent over a decade building validation into the foundation of our identity graph. The result? We’re the only identity provider that guarantees every ID in our graph links to a real person. Here’s how we do it.
The Data Quality Problem No One Talks About
Most conversations about identity graphs focus on methodology: probabilistic versus deterministic. But there’s a more fundamental issue that affects both approaches—data corruption from bad actors.
Probabilistic graphs make educated guesses about device connections based on behavioral signals. They offer scale, but they’re prone to errors. Shared networks in apartments, offices, and libraries can cause the system to cluster unrelated devices. Similar browsing patterns can falsely link people who have nothing in common.
Deterministic graphs rely on verified signals—logins, hashed emails, account IDs, authenticated sessions. They’re considered more accurate, but they’re not immune to corruption. Users can provide false information. Bots and click farms create seemingly legitimate profiles. Fraudulent activity can inject fake linkages that appear real.
The dirty secret of the identity industry? Most graphs contain significant volumes of non-human identifiers that no one has filtered out.
BDEX’s Approach: Built for Identity Graph Validation from Day One
BDEX’s identity graph is built entirely in-house. We don’t license data from third parties. We don’t resell someone else’s graph. This gives us complete control over every aspect of data collection, linkage, and—most importantly—validation.
Here’s what that means in practice:
1. Signal Monitoring at Massive Scale
We track 2-3 trillion signals per month across MAIDs (Mobile Advertising IDs), household IPs, hashed emails, CTV IDs and other identifiers. This volume isn’t just about building a bigger graph—it’s about pattern recognition. With enough signals, anomalies become visible. Fraudulent behavior leaves fingerprints.
Our systems continuously assess what data is legitimate and what’s not, creating a feedback loop that improves accuracy over time.
2. Proprietary Fraud Detection Algorithms
BDEX has developed specialized algorithms designed to detect and eliminate identifiers linked to ad fraud. These algorithms flag:
- Bot activity patterns that mimic but don’t match real human behavior
- Click farm signatures that show coordinated, inorganic engagement
- Anomalous connection patterns where identifiers link in ways that don’t make logical sense
When these patterns are detected, the associated IDs are removed from the graph—not just flagged for review, but actively eliminated.
3. Confidence Scoring for Every Match
Not all identity matches are created equal. BDEX assigns a confidence score to every identifier linkage in the graph. This allows our clients to set thresholds based on their specific needs—prioritizing accuracy when precision matters, or expanding reach when broader coverage is the goal.
This isn’t a binary “match or no match” system. It’s a nuanced approach that acknowledges uncertainty and gives marketers control over their acceptable risk level.
4. Geo-Validation
Location data provides a powerful reality check. If an identifier is linked to impossible geographic movements—a device in New York at 9 AM and Los Angeles at 9:05 AM—that’s a red flag. Our geo-validation layer adds another dimension of verification, ensuring that matches make real-world sense.
5. Real-World Testing Against Trusted Datasets
We don’t just validate our graph against itself. BDEX tests matches against known-good deterministic datasets—verified, authenticated data where the linkages are certain. This cross-referencing ensures statistical confidence and helps us refine our algorithms based on real-world ground truth, not just internal consistency.
The Continuous Monitoring Difference
Data quality isn’t a one-time cleansing project. Fraudsters evolve. New bots emerge. Click farms adapt their tactics. That’s why BDEX’s validation isn’t a batch process—it’s continuous.
Our systems monitor identifiers in real-time, detecting and removing fraudulent data as it appears. This means our clients aren’t working with a graph that was clean six months ago. They’re working with a graph that’s clean right now.
Why This Matters for Your Marketing Performance
When you build campaigns on a validated identity graph, the benefits show up across every metric that matters:
Better targeting. You reach real customers, not bots or fraudulent identities that will never convert.
Reduced wasted spend. You eliminate duplicate targeting and fraudulent impressions that drain budgets without delivering results.
Accurate attribution. Cross-device tracking actually works when the devices are correctly linked to real people.
Improved personalization. Consistent, relevant messaging across touchpoints becomes possible when your customer view isn’t corrupted by false data.
Trustworthy measurement. Your campaign analytics reflect actual performance, not noise from non-human traffic.
The BDEX Guarantee
Because we control our entire validation process—from signal collection to fraud detection to continuous monitoring—we can make a claim no other identity provider makes: every ID in the BDEX graph is guaranteed to link to a real person.
Not “mostly clean.” Not “filtered for obvious fraud.” Guaranteed real.
In an era where third-party cookies are disappearing, privacy regulations are tightening, and ad fraud continues to grow, a validated identity graph isn’t a nice-to-have feature. It’s the foundation of sustainable marketing performance.
That’s why blue-chip enterprises integrate BDEX’s validated identity graph. When billions of marketing dollars are at stake, data quality isn’t negotiable.
Want to see how BDEX’s validated identity graph can improve your marketing performance? Contact us to learn more about our proprietary validation technology and fraud detection capabilities.
