1. IP Protection
IP Protection identifies IP addresses linked to suspicious or unqualified activity and automatically excludes them from interacting with your ads. This prevents repeat fraudulent clicks from the same source, safeguarding your campaigns from unnecessary ad spend.
Unqualified IPs Only:
Ads Defender exclusively blocks IPs that are detected as unqualified.
No legitimate users are affected by the exclusion process.
Privacy-Focused Approach:
Blocked IP addresses are never shared between accounts or customers.
Each account operates independently to ensure full privacy and data protection.
Protection Scope – Account vs. Campaign Level
Ads Defender offers two options for IP blocking:
Account-Level Protection:
Blocks unqualified IPs across all campaigns within the account.
Recommended for broad protection, including campaigns like Performance Max that don’t natively support IP exclusions.
Campaign-Level Protection:
Blocks IPs only in selected campaigns.
Both options effectively reduce fraudulent traffic, but account-level protection provides the widest coverage.
Compatibility with Ad Platforms
IP Protection is supported exclusively for Google Ads.
Ads Defender automatically excludes unqualified IPs at the account or campaign level.
When activated at the account level, IP protection applies across all campaign types, including Performance Max and Smart Campaigns.
Enabling IP Protection in Ads Defender
To enable IP Protection, follow these steps:
1. Ensure Setup is Complete:
Main Tags, Session Tags, and off-site tracking should be fully configured.
Audience and Whitelisting Events must be active and running.
2. Traffic Analysis (only for accounts which are newly configured)
Allow Ads Defender to collect data for 7 to 10 days after setup. This period is crucial for detecting patterns and identifying unqualified IPs.
3. Activate IP Protection:
Log into Ads Defender.
Go to the Click Fraud feature.
Open the Settings menu.
Locate the IP Protection section.
Toggle the switch to activate protection.
Choose between account-level or campaign-level protection.
Results:
Ads are no longer displayed to unqualified IPs.
IP exclusions will appear in Google Ads.
The duration of blocking is determined by the risk score assigned to an individual IP, the available protection slots and individual rules applied to the account based on individual performance.
The Ads Defender dashboard updates every 24 hours, so blocked IPs may take up to a day to appear.
2. Placement Protection
Placement Protection focuses on excluding unqualified third-party websites and apps from displaying your ads. This protects your campaigns from fraudulent or low-quality placements, which are common sources of click fraud.
Key Objectives:
Block fake or low-quality websites/apps that generate invalid clicks to earn ad revenue.
Improve overall traffic quality by ensuring ads are displayed on legitimate, valuable placements.
Dual Approach to Protection:
Traffic Assessment
Ads Defender monitors placements and detects those with a high concentration of unqualified clicks.
Quality Assessment
Ads Defender evaluates the overall quality of the placement based on common fraud indicators.
Protection Scope – Account vs. Campaign Level
Ads Defender offers two levels of Placement Protection:
Account-Level Protection:
Blocks fraudulent placements across all campaigns in the account.
Ensures coverage for Performance Max and Smart Campaigns, which don’t support campaign-level exclusions.
Campaign-Level Protection:
Blocks placements in specific campaigns only.
Compatibility with Ad Platforms
Placement Protection is available exclusively for Google Ads.
Placement exclusions can be applied at both the account level and campaign level.
Account-level protection ensures comprehensive coverage across all campaigns, including Performance Max.
Enabling Placement Protection in Ads Defender
Enabling Placement Protection is straightforward and does not require a waiting period.
1. Ensure Setup is Complete:
Main Tags, Session Tags, and off-site tracking should be fully configured.
Audience and Whitelisting Events should be active.
2. Activate Placement Protection:
Log into Ads Defender.
Navigate to the Click Fraud feature.
Open the Settings menu.
Locate the Placement Protection section.
Toggle the switch to activate Placement Protection.
Choose between:
Account-Level Protection (recommended for broad coverage).
Campaign-Level Protection
Results:
Unqualified Placements are excluded from Google Ads, so none of your ads will display there anymore.
Placement exclusions will appear in Google Ads
The Ads Defender dashboard refreshes daily, reflecting the excluded placements.
3. Audience Protection in Ads Defender
Audience Protection is the most advanced protection method in Ads Defender, working across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Meta Ads.
By utilizing audience exclusions at the user level, Ads Defender minimizes ad exposure to unqualified users, ensuring that your ads reach only valuable prospects.
Audience Protection for Google Ads
How Audience Protection Works in Google Ads
Audience Protection in Google Ads operates by:
Adding unqualified users to exclusion lists via the Audience Event.
Deprioritizing users on the list – the Google Ads bidding algorithm views them as lower-value, resulting in fewer ads being shown to them.
Levels of Audience Protection in Google Ads
Account-Level Protection (Standard):
Audience lists are created per ad account.
Unqualified users detected on one account are excluded only from that account.
Cross-Account Protection (For Accounts using cross-account conversions):
For accounts using cross-account conversions, audience lists are created at the conversion manager level.
This enables audience exclusions to apply across multiple ad accounts connected to the same conversion manager.
Unqualified users detected on one ad account are excluded from all accounts under the conversion manager.
Enabling Audience Protection for Cross-Account Conversions
Ads Defender automatically detects if an account uses cross-account conversions and displays a message at the Audience Event and Audience Protection Section.
Click on "Connect Manager Account" to start the integrated setup assistant which will guide you through four steps to activate Audience Protection for Cross-Account Conversions.
Important: New Accounts in Conversion Manager:
When new accounts are added to the conversion manager, while the conversion manager is connected, Ads Defender temporarily protects them.
Users must connect the new account to Ads Defender within 30 days.
Failure to connect the account will result in Ads Defender pausing audience protection for the entire conversion manager.
Minimum List Sizes for Google Ads
Display Campaigns: Minimum of 100 users.
Search, Performance Max, and Discovery Campaigns: Minimum of 1,000 users.
Audience Protection can still be activated, and exclusions will take effect once the list meets the size requirement.
Audience Protection for Microsoft Ads
How Audience Protection Works in Microsoft Ads
Audience Protection in Microsoft Ads functions through:
Audience exclusions – Users added to exclusion lists are fully blocked from seeing ads.
Levels of Audience Protection in Microsoft Ads
Audience lists are created at the ad account level.
Unqualified users are excluded only from the ad account where they were detected.
Minimum List Sizes for Microsoft Ads
All Campaign Types: Minimum of 300 users.
Audience Protection for Meta Ads
How Audience Protection Works in Meta Ads
Audience Protection for Meta Ads is handled through:
Additional Server-to-server audience exclusions.
Event-based audience exclusions via the Audience Event.
Full exclusion – Users on the exclusion list are fully prevented from seeing ads.
Levels of Audience Protection in Meta Ads
Portfolio-Level Protection:
Audience lists are created per business portfolio
Minimum List Sizes for Meta Ads
All Campaign Types: Minimum of 100 users.
Meta Ads displays audience lists as “<1,000” until they surpass 1,000 users, but exclusions begin at 100 users.
Enabling Audience Protection in Ads Defender
To activate Audience Protection across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Meta Ads, follow the steps below.
1. Ensure Setup is Complete
Before activating Audience Protection, ensure that the entire Ads Defender tracking and setup process is finalized:
Main Tags and Session Tags are installed and fully operational.
Off-site tracking methods (e.g., tracking templates and custom parameters) are configured.
The Audience Event is set up on all pages and firing correctly behind user consent.
2. Wait for Audience List Growth
Audience Protection relies on list size thresholds specific to each platform (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta Ads).
Lists below the minimum size will not be effective, Ads Defender will continue adding unqualified users to the list.
List Size Requirements:
Google Ads: 100 users (Display), 1,000 users (Search, Performance Max, Discovery).
Microsoft Ads: 300 users.
Meta Ads: 100 users.
3. Activate Audience Protection
Even if lists are not yet large enough, Audience Protection can still be enabled. It will become effective automatically once the list reaches the minimum size.
Log into Ads Defender.
Navigate to the Click Fraud feature.
Open the Settings menu.
Locate the Audience Protection section.
Toggle the switch to activate Audience Protection for each ad account (or conversion manager in Google Ads)
4. Monitor Audience Lists and Protection Status
Audience lists grow dynamically as unqualified users are detected.
Ads Defender’s dashboard will reflect:
Audience list sizes.
Protection status (active/inactive based on list size).
The dashboard updates every 24 hours.