After the Monitoring and Analysis Phase is completed (7 to 14 days, depending on account volume), and once the metrics for unqualified clicks are within an expected range, it’s time to activate the protection features.
Ads Defender offers three protection features:
IP Protection
Placement Protection
Audience Protection
This guide will walk you through the activation process step by step.
Before Activating Protection Features
Ensure that:
The Monitoring Phase is complete.
Tracking is correctly embedded and firing.
Metrics for unqualified traffic are stable and within expected ranges.
If anomalies (e.g., 0% or extremely high unqualified clicks) are detected, resolve these issues before proceeding.
Step 1: Activating IP Protection
Navigate to Click Fraud > Settings and scroll to the Protection Methods section.
Locate IP Protection and activate it using the toggle switch.
Choose the Protection Scope:
Protect Whole Account:
Recommended. This ensures IP blocking covers all campaigns, including Performance Max campaigns and others that don’t support IP exclusions on a campaign level.
Protect Selected Campaigns:
Use only if you want to apply IP Protection to specific campaigns.
Once activated:
Ads Defender begins pushing unqualified IPs to Google Ads in real time.
These IPs are automatically added to exclusion lists at the account or campaign level, depending on your selected scope.
The IPs are automatically removed from the exclusion list based on various factors like level of protection, their individual risk score, potential whitelisting event hits.
Monitoring IP Protection:
The Metrics View and Dashboard refresh every 24 hours. So after activation, you won’t see any immediate data changes inside Ads Defender.
However you can verify that IP Protection is working, by checking the Change History in Google Ads. You will see entries where Ads Defender has added IPs to exclusion lists.
Effect:
Blocked IPs will no longer see your ads, leading to reduced costs and a higher ROI by eliminating unqualified traffic.
Step 2: Activating Placement Protection
In the same Protection Methods section, locate Placement Protection and activate it using the toggle switch.
Choose the Protection Scope:
Protect Whole Account:
Recommended. This ensures unqualified placements are blocked across all campaigns, including Performance Max campaigns.
Protect Selected Campaigns:
Use this option if you want to apply placement exclusions to specific campaigns only.
Once activated:
Ads Defender automatically adds unqualified placements (websites or apps) to the block list in Google Ads.
Monitoring Placement Protection:
Like IP Protection, the Metrics View and Dashboard refresh every 24 hours.
To verify activity immediately, check the Change History in Google Ads. You will see entries where Ads Defender has excluded placements.
Effect:
Unqualified placements are excluded from your campaigns, preventing ads from being shown on fraudulent or low-quality sites and apps.
Step 3: Activating Audience Protection
Navigate to Click Fraud > Settings and locate Audience Protection.
Activate it using the toggle switch.
Account-Level vs. Conversion Manager-Level Activation:
Account-Level Protection:
If your account is standalone, activate protection for each account individually.
Cross-Account Conversion Manager Protection:
If using Google Ads Conversion Manager, activating Audience Protection automatically protects all linked accounts under the manager.
Once activated:
Ads Defender starts populating audience exclusion lists with unqualified users.
List sizes will grow based on traffic and may take time to reach minimum thresholds (100-1,000 users, depending on the platform).
Monitoring Audience Protection:
The Metrics View and Dashboard will reflect audience list sizes after the next refresh cycle (every 24 hours).
Alternatively, check the audience list sizes directly in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, or Meta Ads to confirm protection is active.
Effect:
Unqualified users are excluded from seeing your ads, significantly improving audience quality and reducing wasted ad spend.
Step 4: Activating Protection for Additional Accounts
If you manage multiple ad accounts across platforms, repeat the activation process for each account:
Google Ads Accounts:
Activate IP Protection and Placement Protection for each account.
For Audience Protection, ensure it is enabled at the account level or for the Conversion Manager.
Microsoft Ads and Meta Ads:
These platforms only support Audience Protection.
Activate Audience Protection for each account individually.
Select between manual and automated protection in Meta Ads, based on the usage of "saved audiences"
Important Notes
Metrics View and Dashboard Updates:
Both the Metrics View and Dashboard refresh every 24 hours.
You will not see immediate updates after activating protection.
Use the Change History in Google Ads to confirm that Ads Defender has started blocking IPs or placements.
Cross-Platform Protection:
Audience Protection applies to Google, Microsoft, and Meta Ads.
IP and Placement Protection are available for Google Ads only.
Effectiveness:
Protection features take full effect immediately upon activation, provided thresholds (e.g., audience list sizes) are met.