Click-Fraud Risk Check
Are competitors really clicking your ads? Six questions and a straight answer — which, far more often than the industry admits, is that your risk is lower than you fear.
How to use
Answer six questions
About your sector, your competitors and what you have actually observed.
Get an honest verdict
Including “lower than you fear”, which is the truthful answer far more often than the industry likes to admit.
Know what to watch
What Google already filters for you, the signs that would genuinely matter, and when paid protection is worth it.
Automated estimate, not a formal audit. This is a structured way to think about a fear, not a measurement of your traffic. We sell no click-fraud product and earn nothing from your answer here — which is precisely why we can tell you that the risk is usually lower than you think. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
What we check
- Six weighted factors: your sector’s typical risk level, whether aggressive local competitors exist, whether you have actually observed a suspicious click pattern (not just worried about one), monthly spend, campaign types running, and how tight your location targeting is.
- Scores into three tiers — Low, Moderate or Elevated — and Low is the honest, most common outcome, not a hedge.
- Explains what Google already filters and credits automatically (check the “Invalid clicks” column in your account), the actual warning signs worth watching for, and when paid click-fraud protection is genuinely worth paying for.
Related tools
- Google Ads Waste Estimator — A much more common source of wasted spend than click fraud
- Search Terms Waste Finder — See exactly what your budget is actually being spent on
- Google Ads Account Grader — Location targeting, one of the six factors here, is also scored in the fuller account check
Last updated: 19 August 2026 · Built by the CWA Europe PPC team.
Frequently asked questions
Do competitors really click on ads?
It happens — but far less than the fear suggests, and Google already filters a great deal of it automatically. The fear is unfalsifiable, which is exactly what makes it so easy to sell protection against. We sell no such product, which is why we can afford to tell you your risk is probably low.
Does Google refund invalid clicks?
Yes. Google filters invalid clicks before you are charged, and credits you for ones it detects afterwards. There is an "Invalid clicks" column in your account showing the clicks you were NOT charged for. Most advertisers have never looked at it and are surprised by the number.
When is paid click-fraud protection worth buying?
Rarely, and only on evidence rather than suspicion: meaningful spend, a genuinely combative niche, and an observed pattern that persists after you have tightened location targeting. Buying protection to soothe an anxiety is just a tax on the anxiety.
What should I do first if I am worried?
Tighten location targeting to presence-only, look at your invalid-clicks column, and check your search terms report. In most accounts what looks like fraud turns out to be broad match and loose geo-targeting spending your money on people who were never going to buy.