How to block competitor IPs in 2025: Multi-layered PPC protection strategies that stop click fraud for good

Blocking competitor IPs is usually the first thing advertisers think of when they start noticing suspicious clicks draining their budget.

In 2023 alone, ad fraud cost the global digital advertising industry $84 billion, representing 22% of total spend.

While many advertisers start by manually blocking IP addresses in Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising, this approach has severe limitations.

This article will break down how to block competitor IPs effectively and how to build a multi-layered PPC protection system that actually stops click fraud for good.

Why competitors click your Google Ads (and why it’s worse in 2025)

The reason competitors are clicking your ads is that they work. One bad actor can drain a $500-2,000 daily budget within minutes, putting your ads offline while their own keep running in the meantime.

This is particularly prevalent in local service sectors with high stakes (such as locksmithing, plumbing, roofing, legal services, etc.) and competitive e-commerce niches.

Why manual IP blocking fails against modern click fraud

Manual IP blocking in Google Ads and Microsoft Ads simply cannot keep pace with today’s sophisticated click-fraud methods.

Here’s why it fails:

• Easy IP rotation: Competitors use residential proxy networks and mobile IPs that rotate thousands of addresses per minute, instantly bypassing whatever block you put in place.
• Widespread VPN usage: With more than 35% of users now regularly using VPNs, attackers can obtain new, clean IPs with just one click.
• Unlimited cloud instances: AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure are just some of the services that let fraudsters spin up new IPs at will, often cheaper than your ad spend.
• Click farms and botnets: control millions of unique, real-looking IPs across geographies; this means every blocked address can be instantly replaced.
• Time and resource drain: Manual research, adding, and updating of IP exclusions turn into an unending target-tapping game while your budget bleeds.
• False sense of security: Large block lists (10k-50k IPs) usually catch less than 5-10% of sophisticated fraud because new IP addresses appear faster than you can block them.

The 7-layer PPC protection framework for blocking competitor IPs

Here are seven layers to safeguard your PPC campaigns against competitor IPs:

Layer 1: Competitor IP detection and blocking: Real-time

Use tools that automatically detect competitor office IPs, employee devices, and proxy ranges.

ClickPatrol provides a constantly updated list of business and proxy IPs and blocks at the server level before they even view your ads, which is a single layer that can cut competitor clicks by 85-95% in competitive niches.

Level 2: Behavioural analysis and fingerprinting

Contemporary security extends well beyond IP addresses. Advanced systems track:

• Single source click-frequency.
• Patterns of movement or immobility of the mouse.
• Session length (competitors seldom remain more than 3 seconds).
• Device + browser + IP + geolocation + time-of-day combinations.

Layer 3: Geo-velocity/impossible travel detection

Flags users travelling 500 miles in 5 minutes or showing up in more than one country within hours, as well as VPN/proxy use, are two typical features.

Layer 4: Reported fraud pattern blocking

Automatically block:

• IPs of data center providers and hosting companies.
• TOR exit nodes
• Known VPN/proxy services
• Suspicious ASN ranges
• Devices that never convert and only ever click ads.

Level 5: Schedule-based protection

Between your high time periods, competitors tend to click the most.

Design rules that practice ultra-strict filtering between 8 am and 6 pm in your target time zones, and lighten overnight (when actual customers are not surfing).

Layer 6: Source-based conversion rate monitoring

Create warnings when conversion rates for certain IPs, cities, or networks plummet to 0% while click volumes skyrocket, a nearly always-significant sign of competitor action.

Layer 7: After-click landing page protection

Server-side blocking effectively prevents a competitor from loading up your landing page (and charging you a click) even when they slip through.

The invisible pixel and server-side verification in Click Patrol ensure that fraudulent users will not receive paid clicks.

How ClickPatrol stops competitor IPs with real-time, multi-layer defence

Unlike generic fraud tools that cannot detect high-quality manual attacks, ClickPatrol is designed to address the exact issue that broad-spectrum bot-detection systems cannot: aggressive competitor click fraud perpetrated by humans and concealed behind VPNs, residential proxies, or mobile data.

• Real-time blocking before the fraudulent clicks are registered by Google or Microsoft, and you have been charged a single cent.
• None of the false positives are for legitimate customers, and your real traffic and conversions are misaligned.
• Detailed competitor intelligence reports identify companies and display click patterns, locations, devices, and times, so you can see which companies are targeting your ads.

Strategies to amplify your protection

Here are strategic tips to amplify your PPC protection, layered with Click Patrol’s real-time defence:

• Use brand keywords in distinct campaigns with more stringent geo-targeting, device bids, and lower budgets.
• Build negative remarketing audiences to avoid recent site visitors who have not converted–competitors are window shoppers.
• Use dayparting to delay or lower bids during your competitors’ typical office hours.
• Use automated rules in Google Ads to pause keywords or raise thresholds when CTR spikes above the natural level.
• Periodically check search-term reports and filter irrelevant searches that include competitor brand names (they often search themselves to activate your ads).

Stop competitor click fraud: Protect your PPC budget with advanced blocking strategies

To protect your budget from competitors draining it with low-cost clicks, put your ads on autopilot and block competitors before they can see or click them.

A multi-layered approach to competitor blocking requires blocking at the network level, behavioural fingerprinting, geo-velocity checks, known proxy blocking, and real server-side protection that blocks competitors without them even seeing or clicking your ad.

Block at the network level, with behavioural fingerprinting, geo-velocity, and known proxy blocking, and actual server-side protection: ClickPatrol will save your campaign budget from waste, and you can finally put an end to competitors stealing another cent of your budget with their underhanded clicks.

Start ClickPatrol today and block competitors before they ever see or click your ads, and save thousands in wasted PPC spend every month.

Abisola

Meet Abisola! As the content manager at ClickPatrol, she’s the go-to expert on all things fake traffic. From bot clicks to ad fraud, Abisola knows how to spot, stop, and educate others about the sneaky tactics that inflate numbers but don’t bring real results.

View all posts by Abisola (Abisola)

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