Michael Green | November 24, 2025

How PPC Agencies Should Report Click Fraud And Invalid Traffic To Clients Without Creating Panic

Click fraud and invalid traffic are not rare. If you manage PPC for clients, you see suspicious clicks, strange sessions, and fake leads in almost every account.

This article gives you a simple way to talk about click fraud and invalid traffic with clients without scaring them or damaging trust. You will also see where Clixtell fits into your reporting and protection workflow.

1. Why agencies must talk about click fraud, not hide it

Many agencies avoid the topic of click fraud and invalid traffic. They hope that if they do not mention it, clients will not ask.

This usually backfires.

Sooner or later a client sees:

• many clicks and few leads
• weird countries or placements in reports
• “invalid clicks” or “invalid traffic” numbers inside Google Ads or Meta

If you never talked about it, they think: “Why did my agency not tell me about this?”

When you talk openly about click fraud, 3 good things happen:

• You look like a partner, not a vendor.
• You control the story instead of reacting to panic.
• You can show your protection process as added value, not as damage control.

The goal is simple. Make click fraud and invalid traffic part of your normal quality control, not a crisis.

2. Client friendly definitions of invalid traffic and click fraud

Clients do not need a legal or technical definition. They need 1 clear sentence for each term.

You can use something like this.

Invalid traffic in Google Ads, Meta Ads and Bing Ads: “Invalid traffic is any click or impression that does not come from real user interest. That can be bots, accidental clicks, or repeated clicks from the same person.”

Click fraud: “Click fraud is invalid traffic that is done on purpose to waste your budget or gain an unfair advantage. For example, a competitor or a bot farm that keeps clicking your ads.”

Then add 1 more short point that sets expectations:

“Google and Meta already filter part of this traffic and should not charge for clicks they mark as invalid. But they do not catch everything, so we run extra checks on our side.”

This gives clients a simple mental model of the problem.

3. The reporting problem: lots of data, not enough clarity

Agencies have a lot of data:

• Google Ads and Microsoft Ads dashboards
• Meta Ads Manager
• Google Analytics or other analytics tools
• Clixtell logs, session recordings, and call tracking

Clients do not want all the data. They want a clear story.

If you dump every number into a monthly report, you confuse them. If you only show high level metrics, you hide important risk.

The solution is a small “quality and protection” block inside your monthly report. This block covers click fraud, invalid traffic, and what you did about it.

Later in this article we will build that block step by step.

4. What to show in a monthly report and what to avoid

Here is a simple structure you can reuse in every PPC report.

4.1 Quality and protection overview

Show 3 to 5 key numbers for the month:

• total ad clicks across platforms
• estimated invalid or suspicious clicks
• clicks actively blocked or filtered
• estimated spend saved
• impact on a main KPI, for example cost per lead

These numbers can come from:

• platform reports on invalid clicks and impressions
• your own monitoring
• independent tools like Clixtell click fraud protection for Google Ads and Bing Ads

Keep this section to 1 chart and a few lines of text. Focus on trends, not every single incident.

4.2 Examples, not a dump of logs

After the numbers, show 1 or 2 short examples:

• a spike of traffic from a country or placement that you then blocked
• a group of IPs, devices, or VPN networks that hit several campaigns and were excluded

You can use anonymized screenshots from Clixtell or from your reports.

Avoid:

• pasting raw log tables with hundreds of rows
• long technical explanations of every filter or rule
• emotional language like “attack”, “disaster”, “huge problem”

Your goal is to show that you watch traffic quality and act early.

5. Data sources for your click fraud report

To build a reliable “quality and protection” block, you need consistent data.

Most agencies use a mix of:

Platform data:

• Google Ads invalid traffic metrics
• Meta invalid clicks and delivery quality columns

Independent tracking:

• Clixtell click fraud protection for Google Ads, Bing, and other sources
• session recordings
• call tracking and website call conversions

A simple rule: use platforms to see what they filter and credit. Use Clixtell to see what actually happened on your site and phone lines.

To make this work, your tracking must be set up correctly:

• follow a proper Google Ads tracking template so you capture all click data
• make sure your scripts and pixels run on all key landing pages
• enable tracking for calls, forms, and other main conversion actions

Once this setup is stable, reporting becomes easier every month.

6. Building your agency click fraud reporting workflow

Here is a basic workflow you can follow for each client.

Step 1: Monitor

Daily or weekly, depending on volume:

• look for abnormal spikes in clicks, impressions, or spend
• check for patterns in Clixtell such as:
  • many repeated clicks from the same IP or device
  • very short sessions and instant bounces
  • visits from countries, placements, or devices that do not match your targeting

Step 2: Investigate

When something looks wrong:

• open session recordings for suspicious traffic
• look at mouse movement, scroll, and interaction
• check whether any real leads or calls came from that segment

The goal is to answer 1 question: “Does this traffic come from real people who could become customers?”

Not all bad clicks are fraud. Some are low quality placements or weak targeting. Your report should separate clear fraud from general optimization issues.

Step 3: Act

When you are confident that a pattern is invalid or abusive:

• add IP exclusions or ranges in Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. You can follow a clear process like in a Google Ads IP exclusions guide
• adjust location, device, and placement targeting
• create or tune rules inside Clixtell to catch similar patterns sooner next time
• if needed, prepare a case for Google Ads refunds using logs, screenshots, and patterns, and support it with a structured process based on our Google Ads refunds guide

Step 4: Report

At the end of each month:

• summarize how much suspicious or invalid traffic you detected
• show what you blocked or changed
• explain in 1 or 2 lines how this improved traffic quality and why it matters for future performance

Use the same structure every month so clients get used to it.

7. Talking about Clixtell data without creating panic

When clients see words like “fraud” and “invalid traffic” they can get nervous. The way you talk about the data matters.

Keep the language calm and neutral:

• “We run a quality control layer on top of Google Ads and Meta to protect your budget from bad traffic.”
• “This month our systems flagged a certain share of clicks as suspicious. We blocked repeated patterns and adjusted targeting.”

Frame Clixtell as part of your standard service, not as a special alarm:

• “Every account we manage is monitored with Clixtell so we can track clicks, sessions, and calls in more detail.”
• “This gives us more visibility into what really happens after the click, so we can keep your traffic as clean as possible.”

Avoid blaming language like “Google does not do its job” or “your account was under attack”. Instead, say: “Platforms filter part of the problem, but they are not perfect. We add our own layer to close the gap.”

This builds trust and keeps the conversation rational.

8. Handling tough client questions about fraud and refunds

Clients will ask questions like:

• “How much money did we lose to fraud?”
• “Can we get all of it back from Google or Meta?”
• “Is this going to happen every month?”

Here is a simple way to answer.

“How much did we lose?”
Give an estimated range based on your data. “We estimate that around X to Y percent of clicks were invalid or very low quality. We have already blocked the most obvious patterns.”

“Can we get it back?”
Explain that refunds are limited and not guaranteed. “Google has its own invalid traffic filters and sometimes issues automatic credits. When we have strong evidence, we can file a refund request with clear documentation from our logs and reports, and follow the process from our Google Ads refunds guide.”

“Is this going to happen every month?”
Be honest. “There will always be some level of invalid traffic in online advertising. The important thing is that we monitor it, block what we can, and keep improving the quality of your traffic.”

Your tone should be calm, factual, and focused on what you are doing to protect them.

9. Packaging click fraud protection as a service

For agencies, click fraud protection is not only risk management. It can also be a clear value add.

Here are a few ways to package it.

Include basic protection in every plan

• standard monitoring and simple rules for all accounts
• monthly “quality and protection” block in every report
• clear mention that you use a dedicated solution like click fraud protection for agencies

Offer an advanced “traffic quality” add on

• deeper investigation of session recordings and suspicious segments
• custom rules by network, device, and industry
• dedicated quarterly review of invalid traffic trends
• support for refund requests with structured documentation

Use it in sales conversations

• show a simple example report with total clicks vs suspicious clicks vs blocked clicks
• explain that many agencies do not monitor this at all
• present your approach as “standard quality control” for serious advertisers

This positions your agency as a long term partner that cares about quality, not only about volume.

10. Bringing it together

Click fraud and invalid traffic are not topics you can ignore as an agency. Clients will hear about them from articles, peers, or their own reports.

If you bring a clear, calm system for detecting, blocking, and reporting invalid traffic, you stand out in a good way.

Your next steps can be:

• standardize the “quality and protection” block in your monthly reports
• keep your tracking and exclusions process documented for every account

Over time this gives you more data, better rules, and cleaner traffic for your clients. You also build a reputation as an agency that takes traffic quality seriously and can explain it in simple language.

FAQ

How often should agencies report click fraud and invalid traffic to clients?

Most agencies include a short quality and protection block in every monthly report. For very large or sensitive accounts, a brief weekly note about major patterns and actions is also useful.

Should agencies share raw click logs with clients?

In most cases no. Clients need clear summaries and a few examples, not full log dumps. Raw logs can be shared on request when you need to support a refund case or a deeper review.

Can agencies guarantee there will be no click fraud?

No one can guarantee zero fraud. What agencies can guarantee is an ongoing process: monitoring, investigation, blocking, and clear reporting that keeps traffic quality as high as possible.

When should agencies request Google Ads refunds for invalid clicks?

Refund requests make sense when you have clear patterns: repeated abuse from specific IPs, locations, or placements, and enough spend involved to justify the process, supported with evidence from your tracking tools.

How can agencies charge for click fraud protection work?

Many agencies include basic monitoring for all clients, and offer a higher tier that includes advanced investigation, custom rules, and refund handling as part of a premium management or “traffic quality” package.