Advertisers are estimated to lose $172 billion a year due to ad fraud by 2028.
The problem is especially common in industries with high competition and CPCs. One of our clients operated in just such an industry, where high invalid click activity was tanking campaign performance.
By adjusting Google Ads targeting, we reduced invalid-click activity by 50% and restored profitable performance.
Case study: How we cut invalid clicks by 50%
Our client sold book editing and ghostwriting services. The search terms that triggered our ads were relevant and high intent. Yet the traffic wasn’t converting at anywhere near a profitable rate.
We quickly identified signs of click fraud, including:
- Google reporting a 60% to 80% invalid click rate.
- Microsoft Clarity recordings showing bot-like behavior from Google Ads traffic.
- 80%+ click-through rates across numerous search terms, with some exceeding 100%.
- Far fewer sessions in GA4 and other analytics tools than the number of clicks Google Ads reported.
We tried third-party click fraud tools but saw no measurable performance improvement.
Next, we filed an investigation with Google. Google agreed there was suspicious activity but said it had caught it all and hadn’t charged for it.
We were confident Google wasn’t filtering out all the invalid activity, so we took matters into our own hands.
We added 540 Google-defined audiences set to “Targeting” to our Google Search campaigns.
The invalid click rate immediately dropped by 50%, and the conversion rate increased to profitable levels.
We’ll explain why we tested this approach and why we believe it worked.
First, let’s review what invalid clicks are and the standard ways advertisers combat them.
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What click fraud and ‘invalid clicks’ actually are
Google defines invalid clicks as:
- “Clicks on ads that aren’t the result of genuine user interest, including intentionally fraudulent traffic and accidental or duplicate clicks.”
This includes actual fraud from competitors clicking your ads, as well as accidental double-taps.
Google doesn’t charge advertisers for clicks it deems invalid. Google also credits advertisers for clicks it initially charged for if it later determines those clicks were invalid.
Why the usual defenses sometimes fall short
Google’s detection system catches a lot of invalid click activity, but as our example shows, it’s not perfect.
Because of this, an entire industry of third-party tools tries to block fraud-prone IP addresses before they cost you.
Unfortunately, fraudsters know how these tools work and often cycle…
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