How refunds for invalid clicks work

Tapper's main job is to keep invalid traffic away from your ads before you pay for it. Blocking works by excluding a visitor once Tapper has flagged them, so the clicks that got them flagged have already happened, and Google may have charged you for some of them. For those clicks you can ask Google Ads for a credit. Tapper gives you the evidence; you file the claim with Google yourself, and Google decides. A refund is never guaranteed.

How it works

Google Ads only

Tapper's refund report covers Google Ads clicks only. There is no refund report for Meta, TikTok or Microsoft Ads. If you want to talk about a claim on another platform, write to support@tapper.ai.

What Google refunds

• Only clicks you were charged for. Google's own systems filter some invalid clicks before billing. You never paid for those, so they cannot be credited, even when Google agrees they were abnormal. See Doesn't Google already filter invalid clicks?
• Only clicks from the last 60 days. Google investigates a click only up to 60 days after it happened. A Tapper report covers at most 30 days, so generate one for the most recent 30 days and file it promptly.
• Only after a manual review. Google reviews each claim by hand, may ask you for more information and can take several weeks to answer.

The typical process

Tapper detects the invalid clicks and builds the evidence file when you ask for it; every step with Google is yours.

1. Spot the problem. The Dashboard's Invalid Traffic tab shows how much invalid traffic your campaigns received and why it was flagged. The Clicks and Exclusions pages list the individual visitors.
2. Generate the evidence. On the Refunds page, generate a Google Refund Report for a period of up to 30 days. See Generate a Google Ads refund report.
3. File the claim. Fill in Google's form by hand, set the date range to the report's period and attach the CSV.
4. Stay in touch. Reply to Google's questions with the same data.
5. Check for the credit. If Google approves the claim, the credit is applied to your Google Ads account.

What makes a claim hold up

• Lead with GCLIDs. The GCLID is Google's own click ID, so Google can match each one to its records. Every row of Tapper's report starts with one.
• Use objective network facts. Data center, VPN and known-attacker IP addresses carry more weight with Google than time on site or page reloads. The report has a column for each of these flags.
• Keep your dates consistent. The date range on Google's form should match the period of the report you attach.
• Stay factual. Describe what the data shows, without speculation.

If your workspace is in monitoring-only mode, Tapper flags invalid clicks but writes no exclusions of its own, so recovering spend through a refund claim matters more there. See Monitoring-only mode.

What you see in Tapper

The Refunds page is in the sidebar's Protection section.

Related

• Generate a Google Ads refund report
• Request a refund from Google Ads for invalid clicks
• Reading the Invalid Traffic tab: reasons, click frequencies and IP types
• The Exclusions page and the proof drawer