Twenty one UK agencies remove click fraud and unlock more than six percent media savings

Twenty one marketing agencies in the United Kingdom partnered with ClickPatrol to understand how much of their client media budgets disappeared into click fraud and low quality visits that would never convert.

Across more than five million paid clicks in Google Ads we found that a meaningful slice of spend went to visitors who should never have been in the campaigns in the first place. By automatically identifying and blocking fake and low value traffic sources, the agencies achieved an average saving of more than six percent on media investment while keeping conversion volume stable or higher.

For many clients that translated directly into lower cost per lead, more budget available for the best audiences and cleaner reporting that everyone could trust.

About ClickPatrol

ClickPatrol is a protection and quality control platform for paid media teams. It focuses on one clear promise

Clean data without click fraud drives smarter decisions.

The platform monitors incoming clicks on paid campaigns, identifies fake and low quality traffic patterns and blocks the sources at IP and placement level. The goal is simple. Stop waste before it enters your remarketing pools, dashboards and client reports.

Key capabilities used in this study

1. Traffic quality scoring at click level
2. Automatic blocking of repeat offenders in Google Ads
3. Detailed reports for agencies and their clients that show where budgets are wasted
4. Clear proof of savings through before and after comparisons

Customer profile

The cohort in this study consisted of twenty one agencies based in the United Kingdom. Together they manage paid search and paid display budgets for clients across sectors such as

1. Business services
2. Home improvement
3. Ecommerce stores
4. Professional services and software

The agencies share three characteristics

1. They manage many accounts in parallel
2. They are responsible for performance and for explaining results to clients
3. Their teams are busy and need tools that do not add heavy manual work

The challenge

Every agency in the group had a version of the same problem.

They suspected that fake clicks, competitors, bots and low intent visitors were quietly consuming part of the budget. They also felt that many remarketing and audience lists were polluted with visitors who would never buy. But it was difficult to prove the size of the problem or to do something about it at scale.

Common pain points

1. Budgets used up early in the day without a clear reason
2. Sudden spikes in clicks without matching growth in conversions
3. High share of clicks from certain placements or locations that rarely converted
4. Time wasted on manual IP block lists and ad placement exclusions
5. Client calls filled with questions about traffic quality and data trust

The agencies needed a way to quantify the problem, remove waste and present clear results to their clients.

Case Study Approach

Study design

Together with ClickPatrol the agencies agreed on a simple and transparent approach

1. Connect Google Ads accounts to ClickPatrol
2. Run a period of monitoring to establish a baseline
3. Activate automatic blocking rules based on traffic quality signals
4. Compare media performance before and after activation

In total ClickPatrol analysed more than five million clicks from search and display campaigns for the twenty one agencies and their clients.

Traffic quality framework

ClickPatrol uses a collection of signals to identify fake and low intent traffic. Among others

1. Repeated click behaviour from the same source in a short time frame
2. Suspicious device and browser signatures
3. Abnormal location patterns versus the target audience
4. Interaction patterns that are strongly associated with non human traffic

Clicks that score poorly across these dimensions are flagged. Repeat offenders are blocked at IP level or through other exclusion methods in Google Ads. This removes those sources from future auctions and protects subsequent campaigns.

Implementation

A key requirement from the agencies was that any new tool should be easy to roll out and maintain. The implementation followed three steps.

1. One central setup

Each agency nominated one person to connect their client accounts. This created clear ownership and avoided confusion. Within a short time all relevant accounts were linked and visible in the ClickPatrol dashboard.

2. Light touch configuration

The default protection rules were applied with minimal changes. Only a few clients needed specific adjustments such as stricter rules for very small budgets or slightly softer rules for awareness campaigns with broader audiences.

3. Communication with clients

Agencies used ClickPatrol reports in client meetings to explain

1. How much of their budget had been protected
2. Which placements and IP ranges were blocked
3. How the changes would support better results in future months

This transparency helped to build trust and positioned the agencies as proactive partners who protect their clients investment.

Case study results

Across the more than five million clicks in this study the agencies saw three main outcome areas.

1. Cleaner traffic and reduced waste

On average the agencies achieved a saving of more than six percent of media spend by blocking fake and low quality traffic sources. In practical terms

• A client who spends one hundred thousand per year on Google Ads and recovers six percent effectively gains six thousand in additional budget for real customers
• For larger accounts the recovered amount quickly reaches five figure yearly savings

Important along with the savings the agencies observed stable or improved conversion volumes. In other words they removed waste rather than cutting healthy traffic.

2. Better performance metrics

When low value clicks were removed, key performance indicators improved even where spend stayed at the same level

• Cost per lead dropped as click fraud no longer consumed part of the budget
• Conversion rate increased because the remaining clicks contained a higher share of real prospects
• Return on ad spend became more reliable as it reflected genuine visitors rather than inflated traffic numbers

These changes made it easier for agencies to present clear performance stories to clients and to plan future campaigns.

3. Stronger data foundations

Finally the agencies reported a significant improvement in data quality

• Remarketing audiences contained more real users and fewer fake visitors
• Location and device reports in Google Ads reflected real customer behaviour
• A sudden spike in traffic could be examined with more confidence because fake sources were already filtered out

This aligns directly with the ClickPatrol principle that clean data without click fraud leads to smarter decisions.

Example snapshots

To illustrate how the results appeared in practice, here are three anonymised examples from within the cohort.

Agency one

Performance partner for home services

A client in the home improvement sector struggled with rising cost per lead. After activation of ClickPatrol

• More than seven percent of their monthly spend was reallocated from fake and low value clicks to proven search terms
• Cost per lead dropped by eleven percent over eight weeks
• The client reported fewer irrelevant calls from outside their service area

Agency two

Specialist in business to business software

This agency managed paid search for a software provider with a niche audience. Fake and low intent traffic had an outsized effect because the audience pool was limited.

After three months with ClickPatrol

• Approximately eight percent of spend had been recovered from repeat offenders and suspicious sources
• Sales qualified leads increased while total clicks remained similar
• The agency used ClickPatrol reports as part of quarterly business reviews to show clearly where the budget was now protected

Agency three

Digital agency for ecommerce brands

A retailer with a strong seasonal pattern saw frequent click spikes from display placements that rarely produced sales.

With ClickPatrol active

• Low quality placements were progressively excluded from campaigns
• Shopping campaigns received a larger share of the saved budget
• The client achieved more orders with the same seasonal budget compared with the previous year

What agencies valued most

From feedback sessions with the twenty one agencies several themes emerged.

1. Proof and transparency
   Agencies could finally show clients how much budget was saved and which sources had been blocked. This turned vague concerns about click fraud into clear numbers and charts.
2. Protection at scale
   Instead of managing long manual block lists in individual accounts, the agencies relied on ClickPatrol to handle this across many clients. This freed the team to focus on strategy and creative work.
3. Better conversations with clients
   With cleaner data and clear savings, account managers could talk about growth opportunities instead of defending fluctuating metrics and unexplained traffic patterns.
4. Competitive advantage
   Offering protection against click fraud became part of the agency sales story when pitching for new clients. It signalled that they take data quality and budget protection seriously.

Lessons learned

The study with twenty one UK agencies highlighted several lessons for any agency that manages paid media budgets.

1. Fake and low quality traffic is present in almost every account even when performance looks acceptable on the surface.
2. A structured approach to detection and blocking can recover a meaningful share of spend without sacrificing results.
3. Clean data is a strategic asset. When dashboards reflect real visitors it becomes much easier to test, learn and grow.
4. Tools that work quietly in the background and integrate directly with existing platforms are more likely to be adopted by busy teams.

Final conclusion

Across more than five million clicks and twenty one agencies ClickPatrol delivered an average saving of more than six percent of media spend, improved performance metrics and more reliable data. Agencies gained a new way to protect their clients budgets and to tell a clear performance story backed by evidence.

For any agency that manages multiple accounts and wants cleaner traffic, stronger results and more confident client conversations, this study shows that systematic protection against fake and low value traffic is no longer a nice to have. It is a core part of responsible media management.

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

Twitter LinkedIn