by Austin LeClear
on August 1, 2025
Click fraud is one of the most frustrating (and expensive) problems in online advertising. You spend weeks perfecting your Google Ads campaigns — only to see your ad budget drained by invalid clicks, bot traffic, and fraudulent activity that never converts into real customers.
If you’re running Google Ads, chances are you’ve already encountered fraudulent clicks, irrelevant traffic, or sudden surges in impressions that feel suspicious.
The good news is, you’re not powerless.
In this post, we’ll walk through 7 proven steps to help you block fraudulent clicks from Google Ads bots, prevent invalid traffic, and take control of your Google Ads account again.
Prefer video? Watch 7 Steps to STOP Click Fraud in Google Ads on YouTube here:
Still with us? Good, let’s dive in.
Step 1: Turn Off Google Search Partners
One of the most common culprits behind invalid traffic is Google’s Search Partner Network — a collection of third-party sites where your ads might be shown. While these partners can technically help increase reach, the quality of traffic is often low (and sometimes outright suspicious).
To stop click fraud before it starts:
- Go to your campaign settings
- Find the Networks section
- Uncheck the box that says “Include Google Search Partners”
Why it matters: Many click farms and fraudulent traffic sources operate through less-monitored partner sites. Turning this off can instantly reduce bad clicks that never lead to genuinely interested customers.
Step 2: Disable the Display Network (Especially in Search Campaigns)
The Google Display Network can be a hotbed for invalid traffic. Including display placements in a search campaign is a huge mistake — these two traffic sources behave very differently.
To remove it:
- Head to the same campaign settings area
- Uncheck “Include Google Display Network”
If you’re using Display or Performance Max (PMax) campaigns for lead generation, be extra careful. These formats tend to attract accidental clicks, bots, and low-quality user behavior that wastes ad spend.
Bottom line? Separate display campaigns from search and tread carefully to maximize genuine user interest (and minimize wasted ad budget).
Step 3: Fix Your Location Settings
You may think you’re targeting only your desired area — say, the U.S. — but if your settings include users who “show interest” in your location, you could be showing your ads to the entire world.
That means your ads might be seen (and clicked) by bots, other advertisers, or users in countries you never intended to reach.
Here’s how to clean it up:
- In campaign settings, open the Location Options
- Choose “Presence” instead of “Presence or interest”
- If you have experienced issues with fraudulent clicks from certain countries, you can exclude them
This change alone can dramatically reduce intentionally fraudulent traffic and protect your ad budget from invalid sources.
Step 4: Add Negative Keywords (Aggressively)
If you’re not actively managing your search terms and negative keywords, you’re leaving the door wide open to irrelevant and even fraudulent traffic.
Start by:
- Checking your Search Terms Report regularly
- Adding negative keywords for any unrelated, low-converting, or suspicious queries to protect your budget and campaigns from invalid traffic
- Using keyword tools to stay ahead of trends and detect low-quality user intent
This will also help focus your campaigns on genuine clicks from potential customers, not bots or curious clickers with no intent to buy.
Step 5: Lock Down Lead Gen Campaigns (Display + PMax)
Running Display or Performance Max campaigns to drive leads?
You’re in risky territory. Display and Performance Max campaigns (for lead generation) can attract a lot of spam and bot traffic — making fraud detection critical.
To protect yourself:
- Always use a dedicated landing page
- Add reCAPTCHA to your lead forms
- Consider using a honeypot (a hidden field only bots fill in, helping you spot and block them before they fire as a fraudulent conversion in your Google Ads account)
Why it works: If you’re feeding Google’s machine learning bad data — like bot leads — you’re training it to send you more of the same. Garbage in, garbage out. Don’t feed Google’s algorithm invalid traffic — your budget will thank you.
Step 6: Optimize for High-Quality Conversions
This is the most important strategy on the list.
If your conversion events are too weak (for example, “any form fill”), Google’s smart bidding systems will happily optimize for low-quality leads, including fake clicks and fraudulent users.
Instead, for enhanced fraud protection:
- Track only high-quality conversions (such as purchases, qualified leads, and booked calls)
- Use CRMs or lead scoring systems to filter real customers from noise
- Feed that clean data back into Google’s machine learning via conversion imports or offline tracking
This creates a feedback loop of real results → Google finds more real people (your target audience) → Your ad spend works harder. Will this weed out all ad fraud? Probably not. But it will very likely reduce it.
Step 7: Use Click Fraud Detection Software (Only If You Still Need It)
If you’ve implemented everything above and you’re still seeing suspicious, fraudulent activity, it may be time to consider third-party fraud detection and click fraud protection tools.
Options like ClickCease, PPC Shield, or ClickGUARD can help:
- Monitor and block duplicate clicks
- Detect suspicious IP addresses
- Automatically apply IP exclusions
- Analyze patterns of invalid clicks and detect ad fraud in real time
That said, don’t jump straight into this step. Many fraud detection tools use fear-based marketing to push unnecessary subscriptions. Use them only if your Google Ads account still struggles with click fraud after the foundational fixes.
Final Thoughts
Click fraud is incredibly annoying for PPC advertisers and businesses, and it isn’t going away any time soon — but with the right protection strategies, you can identify, reduce, and even prevent click fraud from sabotaging your campaigns.
Remember:
- Start with your settings (Search Partners, Display, Location)
- Use negative keywords and protect your landing pages
- Feed Google Ads high-quality data from genuine clicks
- Consider software tools as a backup, if the above tips don’t fix the problem
Doing this right means fewer fake clicks, cleaner traffic, and more money spent reaching real users who actually convert.
FAQs
What is click fraud in Google Ads?
Click fraud refers to invalid clicks on your ads from bots, competitors, or bad actors with no intention of converting. It wastes ad spend and distorts performance data.
Can Google detect click fraud automatically?
Click fraud detection is ideal. Google has built-in fraud detection systems, but they don’t catch everything. That’s why proactive setup and monitoring are essential.
Should I use click fraud software?
Only as a last resort. Most Google Ads accounts can dramatically reduce ad fraud through the 7 steps above — without needing paid tools.
