Where invalid traffic comes from: campaigns, keywords, devices and countries

These cards show which campaigns, keywords, devices, operating systems and countries attract invalid traffic. They are spread over the Overview, Invalid traffic, Conversions and Geography tabs.

Where to look

Each card follows the date range and filters unless its chip or caption says otherwise. See Dashboard filters, date ranges and time zone.

By campaign

Top blocked campaign types and Top blocked campaigns rank campaign types and campaigns by blocked visitors. The % column is each row's share of the table's own total, so the rows add up to 100%. Invalid traffic by campaign type over time shows the split over the date range.

Compare with Top clicks by campaigns on the same tab (toggle Campaign types / Campaigns). A campaign with a small share of clicks and a large share of blocks is where invalid traffic concentrates.

• Audience blocks have no campaign. A visitor excluded through an audience is not tied to one campaign, so these blocks show as Unknown.
• The campaign type chart adds up to Total Blocked. Each visitor counts once a day, under the campaign type of their first block, so with no filters the bars match the tile.

By keyword

Keyword-level invalid traffic lists your Google Ads keywords with Keyword, Match, Campaign Type, Visits, Invalid and Blocked Clicks % (Wasted Clicks % on a monitor-only workspace), the keyword's own blocked clicks divided by all of its clicks in the window, not the account-wide rate. It uses its own rolling window ("Rolling window · ignores the date filter") and does not follow the Campaign filter.

Keyword by conversion ranks keywords by conversions, with Keyword, Match, Campaign Type, Top Block Reason, Conversions and Blocked Clicks %, also over its own rolling window. It shows which keywords bring customers and how much invalid traffic comes with them.

Keywords reach Tapper through the Google Ads tracking template Tapper sets when you connect. A campaign, ad group or ad with its own tracking template overrides Tapper's, and Tapper does not see those clicks at all; see Fix campaigns, ad groups or ads that override Tapper's tracking.

By device and operating system

Invalid traffic by device type stacks invalid traffic by device over time. It counts block actions, not unique visitors, so a visitor blocked by IP and by audience counts twice. It does not follow the Campaign or Block reason filters. Invalid traffic by OS splits by operating system and counts block actions the same way.

For all your traffic, see Clicks by device type on Geography (Devices & browsers). Conversions by device type on Conversions shows where conversions come from.

By country

Invalid traffic by country sits on Overview under By country, beside Clicks by country and Conversions by country, so you can read the three together. Blocked traffic by country gives the blocked side on Invalid traffic, Details.

Act on what you find

• Protect a campaign, or stop protecting it: switch its Protection under the Campaigns tab on the Google Ads page of Setup > Ad accounts. See Choose which campaigns Tapper protects.
• Keywords that waste money: Lift checks your ad accounts every day and, on Google Ads, raises recommendations such as "Keywords not paying their way" and "Add exact-match negatives for wasted search terms". See Lift: what it does and where to find it.
• A country you never sell to: see Block or allow clicks by country.

Related

• Reading the Invalid traffic tab: reasons, click frequencies and IP types