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How Spam Clicks Destroy Ad Campaigns

  • January 24, 2025
what are spam clicks

Spam clicks are a silent drain on ad budgets, misleading businesses and advertisers into thinking their campaigns are generating genuine interest. But these clicks are often worthless, driven by malicious actors who hijack unsuspecting user devices. This issue, known as click spam, is damaging businesses and can cause ad campaigns to fail.

What are spam clicks?

Spam clicks are fake and unwanted clicks generated by fraudsters, on behalf of real users who did not actually execute the click. These invalid clicks often occur through mobile apps and websites when apps are downloaded on users’ devices without their knowledge. The fraudsters then use the device to create spam clicks on digital ads to simulate organic traffic and generate fake clicks.

In many cases, unsuspecting user devices are often added to a botnet, a network of similarly hijacked computers, servers, and other devices used to execute tasks en masse. Fraudsters may use spam clicks to commit click fraud and rack up ad spend or achieve a profit by selling hacked devices to other scammers.

How are spam clicks generated?

Spam clicks are generated in a few systematic steps that often resemble the following:

  1. Scammers identify vulnerabilities: This could be exposing devices to malware or having users visit a web page/app that the scammers operate.
  2. Spam clicks are generated: At this stage, scammers execute several continuous clicks in the background while the user engages in the app. Some spam clicks can even occur without the user’s participation if they run an app that’s active in the background.
  3. Ad platforms register clicks as engagements: Since the clicks are coming from real user devices, platforms may be unable to detect fake clicks, registering them as real engagements. This causes your metrics to show inflated interest in your ad.
  4. Advertisers lose budget to fraudulent clicks: Each click eats away at your ad budget without delivering any true value or conversions, resulting in wasted marketing dollars.

The real danger of spam clicks

Fake clicks cost advertisers billions of dollars annually. A study on click fraud by Juniper research puts the number at $84B in 2023, with projections to reach $172B by 2028:

Fraud Blocker press - infographic

Reports also put the amount of automated web traffic at 47% in 2023, which means the problem doesn’t affect just advertisers; it can extend to webmasters and online business owners as well.

But that’s only part of the problem with click spam. Beyond wasting ad dollars, click spam impacts campaign performance, distorts metrics, and can damage a brand’s reputation. High levels of spam clicks can make your ad appear less effective, which means less accurate reporting and an inability to properly assess campaign success.

Spam clicks vs click fraud: What’s the difference?

Spam clicks primarily occur on hijacked devices, or click farms generating fake clicks without the intent to convert, and the goal is to inflate engagement metrics artificially. On the other hand, click fraud focuses on defrauding advertisers, often involving shady ad platforms or competitors who deliberately click on ads to exhaust ad budgets and reduce ad visibility.

While often used interchangeably, click spam is actually a subset of click fraud. Both are harmful, but click spam specifically undermines data accuracy, leading to skewed metrics that misguide marketing strategies.

Marketers need to understand this distinction because while click fraud directly impacts budgets, click spam silently damages the integrity of your analytics. This can result in wasted ad spend, poorly optimized campaigns, and a loss of confidence in performance reporting.

Learn more about different types of click fraud.

Can you test for spam clicks?

Yes, you can test for spam clicks if you view them as invalid clicks with no real conversion intent.

To do this, you can look at the total clicks generated by your campaign and use a tool like Fraud Blocker or Google Ads to see how many of those were invalid.

To test for spam clicks in Google Ads, visit your main reports dashboard and follow these steps:

  • Click campaigns
  • Click campaigns in the secondary left navigation menu
  • Select columns in the reports table
  • Add invalid clicks and invalid click rate
  • Select save
how to view spam clicks in google ads

Your report should now show invalid or spam clicks (note: you may need to scroll to the right as you’ve added these columns to the report).

You can also use Fraud Blocker to get a “Fraud Score,” which is based on the percent of visitor IPs that our software determines to be fraudulent or invalid based on your total ad traffic:

how to test for spam clicks

Here is the breakdown of our scoring categories:

  • Clean (Score of 1-4): This is normal and represents natural human-like behavior.
  • Suspected (Score of 4-7): This traffic has some suspicious behavior and should be monitored but not blocked
  • Invalid (Score of 7-10): We determine that these users, based on their IP address, are abusive or have committed some fraudulent behavior that is worth blocking immediately.

Learn more about Fraud Blocker’s Fraud Scoring system.

How to stop spam clicks

Here are some key strategies to stop spam clicks and protect your campaigns:

  • Exclude suspicious IPs: Once you identify IP addresses associated with click spam, set up exclusions. Blocking these IPs prevents repeat spammy clicks and ensures your budget is better allocated to reach genuine potential customers (our Fraud Blocker system does this automatically for you).
  • Leverage conversion tracking: By using conversion tracking, you can gauge ad performance based on actual actions (like form submissions or purchases) rather than just clicks. This way, you can distinguish between authentic engagement and click spam, helping you optimize your campaigns for real outcomes.
  • Monitor your campaign metrics regularly: Frequently check your Google Ads metrics and look for any irregularities. Unusually high click-through rates (CTR) without a corresponding rise in conversions may indicate spam clicks.
  • Use click fraud detection tools: Consider tools like Fraud Blocker that specialize in spotting spam clicks and invalid traffic. These tools provide real-time alerts and insights, tracking suspicious click patterns and fraudulent IP addresses. Having this extra layer of security helps maintain the integrity of your ad campaigns.

Learn more about stopping fake clicks on your ad campaigns.

Protect your campaigns from spam clicks with Fraud Blocker

Spam clicks are one part of a larger click fraud problem. Left unchecked, it can rack up your ad spend, waste your budgets, skew data, and even damage your brand’s reputation.

Fraud Blocker’s click fraud prevention software is designed to identify and block unusual patterns before they can impact your campaigns.

Start a 7-day free trial to see how Fraud Blocker can help you stop spam clicks.

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