Where the loss comes from
You pay for every click on an ad. But some of those clicks are bots, click farms, automated scripts and competitors. None of them produces an enquiry, and the money is charged at the full rate. In some verticals up to a third of the budget goes that way. If you are not sure whether this is your case, start with the signs your ads are being click-farmed.
How to calculate it on your own data
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Isolate paid traffic | take only sessions that came from advertising, over a representative period |
| 2. Define a junk session | under a few seconds, no scroll, no interaction, no depth |
| 3. Count the share | junk sessions divided by all paid sessions |
| 4. Convert to money | that share multiplied by the period’s spend |
| 5. Break it down | repeat per campaign and per placement — the spread is usually wide |
What to do with the figure
- •Cut or restrict the placements with the worst junk share first,
- •Recalculate your cost per lead using only qualified enquiries,
- •Put real-time filtering in place so charges stop before they happen,
- •Re-measure monthly — the operators rotate, and so does the share.
Recalculating the economics honestly afterwards is covered in the true cost per lead, and following it through to revenue in end-to-end marketing attribution.
Frequently asked questions
What share of clicks are bots?
It depends on the vertical and how much display inventory is in the mix. In competitive niches bots and junk traffic account for roughly 15-30% of budget, and in some cases up to a third of all clicks. The exact figure has to be measured on your own analytics.
Do ad platforms refund invalid traffic?
They detect and credit back part of the obviously invalid traffic. But a significant share gets through the filters, especially on display and in-app placements, and you pay for it. That grey zone is what your own antifraud catches.
Is it worth measuring if we spend modestly?
Yes, because the share is proportional rather than fixed. On a small budget the absolute loss is smaller but the percentage is the same — and a small advertiser feels a third of the budget disappearing more acutely, not less.