Original publication
Open the original report rather than a repeated headline. Record its author, publication date and relevant page or table. Check whether a newer edition changes the definition or result.
Research reading guide
What does a click fraud statistic tell you?
Check who measured it, which traffic was included and how invalid activity was defined. A headline percentage cannot tell you how much your own advertising account will save.
Check the source before using the number
This page offers reading and evaluation guidance. It does not publish an original MyClickShield dataset or measured customer performance benchmark.
Sample and method
Look for the period, geography, channels and sample size. A provider’s customer sample is not automatically representative of all advertisers. Read how the report classified invalid activity.
What the result measures
Distinguish detected traffic, applied exclusions, platform credits and commercial outcomes. A change in one measure does not establish the same change in the others.
Bring the question back to your campaigns
Use an outside report to decide what to investigate. Use your account records to evaluate what actually happened.
Keep the counting rules together
A study of all website requests may include helpful crawlers as well as unwanted bots. That population is different from billed ad clicks. Record the denominator and exclusions beside any percentage you quote.
Check traffic definitionsSeparate estimates from charges
Multiplying flagged visits by an average click price gives an estimate. It does not show which visits were billed, whether the platform credited them or what a protection setting prevented.
Plan your own comparisonAsk for the underlying source
For a MyClickShield statement you want to cite, send the page URL and exact wording. Ask for a dated source and method before presenting it as independently verified research.
Contact the teamHow to read click fraud research
Check who produced the report, which traffic it measured and when the data was collected. A percentage of impressions, clicks or website requests describes a different thing. Keep that definition with any statistic you use.
Read moreRead less
Use a relevant finding to choose what to inspect in your own campaigns. It may prompt a closer look at a source or network, but your account records are still needed to judge its effect on your advertising spend and customers.
Does a click fraud statistic apply to your business?
Before using a statistic in a budget discussion, check its source, dates and definition. Was the study counting ad impressions, clicks, website visits or requests? Which channels and countries did it cover? A report about one type of traffic may tell you little about a local service campaign or a specialist B2B business.
Keep the link and the definition with any number you quote. If a report gives a percentage, check what that percentage is a share of and how the researchers identified invalid activity. Then compare the question with your own account. You might inspect a particular network or source because a report highlights it, but use your campaign records to judge its effect on your business. For a client presentation, explain these limits in ordinary language. A useful statistic helps you decide where to look; it cannot tell you what a particular advertiser has already lost without account-specific information.
What is the difference between a click, a visit and a conversion?
A click is an interaction recorded by the advertising platform. A website visit is recorded after someone reaches your site, using the rules of the tracking tool. A conversion is the action your business has chosen to count, such as a submitted enquiry or paid order. These numbers can differ because someone clicks more than once, leaves before the page loads or returns later to buy.
A flagged visit also needs an explanation. It means the protection system identified something to review or act on under your settings. Check the reasons and action status before describing the visit as a confirmed financial loss. When comparing reports, use the same dates and check how each system defines its totals. If one counts all website activity while another counts paid clicks, a direct percentage comparison can mislead. Knowing what each term means makes it easier to ask support a precise question and explain campaign results to a colleague.
How can you tell why a visit was flagged?
Open an example flagged visit and check when it happened, which campaign brought it and what the visitor did. Several visits from one address may deserve a closer look, but offices and mobile networks can share addresses. A customer researching a costly purchase may also return repeatedly. The visit's timing and behaviour help you judge whether the flag makes sense.
Then check what happened after the flag. Was the visit recorded for review? Was access restricted on the website? Was an available action sent to an advertising account? Check the status shown for your setup. If you cannot explain a particular decision, save its date, campaign and record details for support. Looking closely at a few examples is a useful way to learn the dashboard, spot a configuration problem and decide whether a rule needs adjusting before you apply it more widely.
What should you measure before switching protection on?
Before changing protection settings, save a report for the campaign you want to improve. Include its spend, clicks, landing pages and useful results: qualified calls, accepted enquiries or paid orders. Note the existing exclusions as well. Choose dates that reflect your normal business. A weekend promotion will usually bring different visitors from an ordinary Tuesday.
Keep a short note of changes during the trial, including new ads, budget increases, promotions and website edits. If sales improve after several changes at once, that note will help you understand what may have contributed. Check lead quality with the people answering calls or handling enquiries; a larger form-submission count can conceal more unsuitable requests. With a low-volume campaign, you may need longer to judge the effect on sales. You can still use the first week to confirm that tracking works, reports make sense and the right account is connected.
How to investigate a sudden increase in ad clicks
Suppose a campaign suddenly receives more clicks without more enquiries. Before investigating, you only know that costs have risen. Pausing the campaign may stop the spending, but it can also stop genuine customers reaching you. Start by noting the affected dates and checking whether you changed the budget, targeting, offer or landing page around that time.
Next, inspect the traffic source and a few visits from the affected period. Test the enquiry form yourself. If you find a page problem, repair it. If a particular group of visits looks suspicious, review the available protection settings for that campaign and record the change you make. Afterwards, watch both the suspicious activity and genuine enquiries. This before-and-after example shows how to narrow the response. To assess your own result, compare similar days and keep other campaign changes in the record so you can see what helped.
Where can you check invalid clicks in Google Ads?
Google Ads has its own systems for identifying invalid traffic. Its invalid-click reporting and billing adjustments are useful starting points when you suspect a problem. Compare the affected campaign and dates with the visits recorded on your website. Some activity may already have been filtered from charges, so check the account before treating every flagged website visit as money lost.
Look for a repeatable pattern you can describe: a particular campaign, time period or group of visits. Save the relevant details if you need to request an investigation. Check which exclusions are available for that campaign type and how they are applied in your connected account. Search and Performance Max do not necessarily offer the same controls. If you are unsure which action is supported, use the current Google documentation and ask about your specific campaign. That gives you a clearer next step than adding broad exclusions based only on a high click count.
Source: Google Ads: invalid clicks
What do low-quality clicks mean in Microsoft Advertising?
Microsoft Advertising reports low-quality clicks and identifies activity that is not charged. Read those definitions when comparing its figures with MyClickShield. A suspicious website visit and a low-quality ad click are recorded at different stages, so the totals may differ even when both reports are working correctly.
Select the same dates, time zone and campaign before comparing the numbers. Check the network and source of the traffic that concerns you. For a local service business, also ask whether the resulting enquiries come from areas you actually serve. Poor targeting can produce unsuitable calls without fraudulent activity. If you decide to use an available exclusion, confirm that the correct Microsoft Advertising account is connected and check the action status. Keep a few examples of the visits or enquiries that prompted the change. They make it easier to review the result and to explain a remaining problem to support.
Why do ad clicks and website visits show different totals?
Your advertising account and website analytics count different things. A visitor can click twice during one session, leave before a slow page loads or decline analytics cookies. A redirect can also remove campaign parameters. Start by checking these possibilities when the numbers do not match; the difference alone cannot tell you how many clicks were fraudulent.
Use the same date range and time zone in both reports. Check that you selected the same campaign and landing page, and allow for reporting delays. Open the actual destination URL and follow any redirects to see whether its campaign information is kept. If an enquiry becomes a sale several days later, include that delay when reviewing results. For recurring discrepancies, save a specific example with the click time and destination. It will give the person maintaining your tracking a much clearer starting point than a screenshot of two unexplained totals.
How much money has click protection actually saved?
Start with what you were actually charged and the results your business received. A flagged visit does not automatically equal a paid click. Your advertising platform may already have filtered or credited some invalid activity. Check its reporting and billing adjustments before adding up a claimed saving from the same visits.
For a practical comparison, look at spend per qualified enquiry or paid order before and after the change. Include the subscription fee and the time you spend reviewing traffic. For example, if ten flagged visits are multiplied by a $4 average click price, the resulting $40 is an estimate of possible exposure, not proof of a $40 refund. Keep estimates labelled and explain the calculation. A useful review should show whether your account is producing better-quality enquiries or orders for its overall cost, with promotions, bid changes and other adjustments taken into account.
What should a useful traffic report show?
Start your report with the campaign, dates and question you investigated. For example: enquiries fell after a new placement started sending traffic. Show the change in spend and qualified enquiries, then add a few visits that explain why you investigated that source. Include the action taken and any question that still needs an answer.
If the report goes to a client, explain unfamiliar terms the first time you use them. They should be able to see what happened without interpreting a list of IP addresses. Keep the detailed records available for the person checking the account. Where a change has been made, say when you will review its effect and what you will compare. A short report with a specific follow-up is easier to use in a campaign meeting than a long list of blocked visits with no explanation of how customers or advertising costs were affected.
