Click fraud drains budgets, skews data and kills return on ad spend (ROAS). Google has a strong financial motive to filter bad clicks—every wasted dollar is a dollar you might stop spending. Yet the system is not fully transparent, so scepticism and conspiracy theories are common.
This article shows exactly what you can do to protect campaigns while Google does its part. Each tactic is field‑tested across e‑commerce, lead‑gen and SaaS accounts.
Click fraud is any intentional, non‑genuine click aimed at running down your budget—whether by competitors, bots or click farms. Signs include sudden spikes in CTR without sales, clusters of clicks from the same IP, and repeated zero‑second sessions.
Google’s real‑time filtering blocks most invalid traffic before you pay. A second layer reviews clicks after the fact and credits back suspicious ones. According to the 2024 Ads Safety Report, Google blocked 5.5 billion invalid ads and returned “hundreds of millions of dollars” in credits.
Key point: Google needs to keep fraud low to protect advertiser trust and long‑term revenue. The problem is visibility—the filters are a black box, so you still need your own safeguards.
This cuts generic bot traffic that targets broad‑match keywords worldwide.
Set automated rules:
GA4’s custom Insights can trigger email/slack alerts when:
Tools like ClickCease, Lunio, CHEQ, PPC Protect, Fraud Blocker, AdTector, ClickPatrol or Clixtell can monitor every click in real time and push suspect IPs or device fingerprints straight back into Google Ads. Take advantage of their trial periods to compare blocked clicks versus extra cost before committing.
Google can miss some fraud. The Invalid Clicks Refund Script (open‑source) flags suspicious clicks, compiles evidence and pre‑drafts a support ticket. Average refund win rate in our tests: 18 % of wasted spend.
24‑Hour Response Playbook
Key Takeaways
Book a 20‑minute call and get a custom fraud‑risk heatmap for your account.
