Last updated: 7 July 2025

Display networks, also called audience networks, are flooded with bots. These bots exist because website publishers use them to generate fake ad clicks and make money. This guide covers why these bots are so prevalent, who benefits from them, and how you can protect your ads from click fraud.

What is click fraud?

At least USD $100 billion is stolen from online advertisers every year through click fraud. The perpetrators are website publishers, and bots act as their tools.

Here’s how it typically works:

A website publisher signs up with an ad network such as Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta Ads, or LinkedIn Ads, opening a publisher account. This lets them place other companies’ ads on their website.

Instead of waiting for genuine visitors to click the ads, the publisher programs bots to visit the site and click on the ads automatically.

These click fraud bots are highly sophisticated. They constantly change IP addresses using residential and cellphone proxy services and randomize device fingerprints to mimic real computers and smartphones.

To an average observer, these bots appear as real people visiting and clicking on ads.

Polygraph, a small cybersecurity company, can detect these bots, but the major ad networks seem unable or unwilling to do so. Google has even introduced a browser feature (--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled) aimed at making it harder to detect these click fraud bots.

Who profits from click fraud?

Let’s follow the money.

  1. An online store wants more visitors, so it opens an advertiser account with a major ad network.
  2. The store creates an ad and chooses to publish it on the display (audience) network, agreeing to pay a fee each time the ad is clicked.
  3. The ad network distributes the ad across the display network, where both real people and bots can click it.
  4. Every click costs the store owner money, which the ad network receives and then shares with the website publisher hosting the ad.

Two key points stand out:

  • Both the ad network and the website publisher make money from every click-whether it’s from a human or a bot. They both profit from click fraud.
  • There are millions of publisher websites on the display network using bots to generate clicks, ranging from obvious scams to well-known multinational companies. This makes click fraud a massive issue.

How can I prevent click fraud?

Ad networks often fail or refuse to detect and block most click fraud bots. A common view is that they have little incentive to act, since they earn revenue from every click, real or fake.

To show the scale of the problem, here are estimated click fraud rates on major ad networks as of early February 2024:

  • LinkedIn: 48%
  • Facebook: 36%
  • Bing: 29%
  • Twitter: 26%
  • Google: 12%

Your actual click fraud rate will vary depending on the ad network, your industry, the keywords you target, location, and history of fake conversions. Polygraph can measure your specific click fraud risk.

To reduce fake clicks, turn off search partners and either disable the display network or use a whitelist. This blocks scammy display sites from showing or clicking your ads.

Bots also try to force your search ads onto display sites via retargeting click fraud.

Avoid broad and phrase keyword matching, as they make it easier for bots to find your ads. Also avoid Performance Max campaigns and similar types, as these often place your ads on click fraud websites.

Finally, don’t waste time blocking IP addresses - it’s an ineffective gimmick.

How does Polygraph solve the problem?

Most click fraud solutions stop at detection, but Polygraph goes further.

We actively re-train ad networks like Google Ads to stop sending bots and instead send you high-quality human traffic. Here's how it works:

  1. Bot traffic is disabled at the source - we block bots from interacting with your website, which means they can no longer complete fake conversions such as submitting spam leads and adding items to shopping carts.
  2. Only human conversions are allowed, which signals to the ad networks which traffic is truly valuable.
  3. Within days, ad networks adapt. Because their algorithms prioritize conversion data, they begin allocating more of your budget toward traffic that behaves like your verified, human customers - not bots.

This process means you can safely run search and audience network ads without constantly worrying about click fraud. You don’t need to limit your targeting or disable entire campaign types just to avoid wasting money. Instead, you can let Polygraph handle the fraud - and focus on growing your business.

In summary

Click fraud is a widespread online scam that steals at least USD $100 billion annually. Website publishers exploit display networks to monetize their sites, with many using bots to generate fake ad clicks.

Ad networks have little incentive to address the problem since they earn revenue from every click, whether genuine or fraudulent. As a result, their click fraud detection and prevention measures are often minimal or ineffective.

To protect your ads, use Polygraph to detect and prevent click fraud.