How to detect fraudulent clicks in Google Ads?
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 8:54 am
What are click fraud?
We call fraudulent clicks all those clicks on PPC (Pay Per Click) ads that do not respond to a keyword search by a real user and, therefore, there is no interest in the content of the ad, but are robots or individual people who intend to make the advertiser pay.
Below is how Google itself defines invalid clicks in the Google Ads tool:
In this definition we can already see how Google does not charge us for those clicks, that is, it returns the amount for them when it considers them illegitimate.
Types or intentions of fraudulent clicks
There are two types of fraudulent clicks depending on the intention of the person who makes them:
Competition: Clicks on search ads from competing companies, which aim to interior designers email database lower the profitability of our ads and our investments in general.
Website owners: These clicks are basically on display ads by website owners, who receive money for each click on the ads on their websites. The motivation in this case is clearly economic.
Detect fraudulent clicks in the account
As we can see in the screenshot above, Google detects most of the clicks that it calls invalid. We can also see that the percentage is quite high, since, for example, an account of an e-commerce of computer products has 3.86% of invalid clicks. I also find it interesting to see how display campaigns have a much higher percentage of fraudulent clicks, due to the intention that we mentioned before, of website owners to generate income. Advertisers that are in more competitive sectors, with more use of Display or more niche, have higher percentages of invalid clicks.
However, it is not necessary to think that this entire percentage is fraudulent, since Google also detects unintentional clicks, errors or several clicks on the same ad in a short period of time, and also puts them within this category of invalid without them being fraudulent.
On the other hand, all these clicks that Google detects as invalid are returned to us in the billing process as we can see in the following screenshot:
The first thing you need to do is analyse the traffic to your website, for example, through Analytics. There you can check for increases in clicks that do not lead to increases in conversions; significant increases in clicks in a specific country; a significant decrease in user session time; or an increase in the bounce rate on a given day, campaign or platform, among others. Obviously, each sector has its own characteristics and each one has to see which actions are suspicious on its website.
You need to cross-check this information with the log data, which is accessible through your server log. By cross-checking the information, you can find out that, for example, an IP address is responsible for a large number of clicks, but that these clicks have never resulted in a conversion. You can also find out that an IP address is responsible for many clicks and very little session time on the website. All these clicks look fraudulent and you need to block them.
Win customers!
How to fight click fraud
Block IP addresses:
Obviously, once you have detected which IP addresses are attacking your ads, you need to block them. To do this, simply log into your Google account, go to settings within the campaign in which you want to exclude the IP and scroll down to advanced settings, as shown below:
Once you hit edit, you can exclude the fraudulent IP. Also, if you notice that the fraudulent clicks are coming from a range of IPs and not just one, you can exclude the entire range. For example, for the IP 123.4.5.67, you can exclude the entire range by typing 123.4.5* so that even at the risk of excluding other users, you are sure to completely block that source of fraudulent clicks.
Another imaginative way to find out the IP addresses of your clients is through a live chat. There are several free options and you just need to add the code to the head of your website. In the chat control panel, you will be able to see which users enter your website so that you can chat with them, and it will also provide you with the user's IP. If you detect fraudulent activities on your site through this panel, you can directly exclude their IP.
We call fraudulent clicks all those clicks on PPC (Pay Per Click) ads that do not respond to a keyword search by a real user and, therefore, there is no interest in the content of the ad, but are robots or individual people who intend to make the advertiser pay.
Below is how Google itself defines invalid clicks in the Google Ads tool:
In this definition we can already see how Google does not charge us for those clicks, that is, it returns the amount for them when it considers them illegitimate.
Types or intentions of fraudulent clicks
There are two types of fraudulent clicks depending on the intention of the person who makes them:
Competition: Clicks on search ads from competing companies, which aim to interior designers email database lower the profitability of our ads and our investments in general.
Website owners: These clicks are basically on display ads by website owners, who receive money for each click on the ads on their websites. The motivation in this case is clearly economic.
Detect fraudulent clicks in the account
As we can see in the screenshot above, Google detects most of the clicks that it calls invalid. We can also see that the percentage is quite high, since, for example, an account of an e-commerce of computer products has 3.86% of invalid clicks. I also find it interesting to see how display campaigns have a much higher percentage of fraudulent clicks, due to the intention that we mentioned before, of website owners to generate income. Advertisers that are in more competitive sectors, with more use of Display or more niche, have higher percentages of invalid clicks.
However, it is not necessary to think that this entire percentage is fraudulent, since Google also detects unintentional clicks, errors or several clicks on the same ad in a short period of time, and also puts them within this category of invalid without them being fraudulent.
On the other hand, all these clicks that Google detects as invalid are returned to us in the billing process as we can see in the following screenshot:
The first thing you need to do is analyse the traffic to your website, for example, through Analytics. There you can check for increases in clicks that do not lead to increases in conversions; significant increases in clicks in a specific country; a significant decrease in user session time; or an increase in the bounce rate on a given day, campaign or platform, among others. Obviously, each sector has its own characteristics and each one has to see which actions are suspicious on its website.
You need to cross-check this information with the log data, which is accessible through your server log. By cross-checking the information, you can find out that, for example, an IP address is responsible for a large number of clicks, but that these clicks have never resulted in a conversion. You can also find out that an IP address is responsible for many clicks and very little session time on the website. All these clicks look fraudulent and you need to block them.
Win customers!
How to fight click fraud
Block IP addresses:
Obviously, once you have detected which IP addresses are attacking your ads, you need to block them. To do this, simply log into your Google account, go to settings within the campaign in which you want to exclude the IP and scroll down to advanced settings, as shown below:
Once you hit edit, you can exclude the fraudulent IP. Also, if you notice that the fraudulent clicks are coming from a range of IPs and not just one, you can exclude the entire range. For example, for the IP 123.4.5.67, you can exclude the entire range by typing 123.4.5* so that even at the risk of excluding other users, you are sure to completely block that source of fraudulent clicks.
Another imaginative way to find out the IP addresses of your clients is through a live chat. There are several free options and you just need to add the code to the head of your website. In the chat control panel, you will be able to see which users enter your website so that you can chat with them, and it will also provide you with the user's IP. If you detect fraudulent activities on your site through this panel, you can directly exclude their IP.