In Reviews We Trust

Ep.10 Mitigating Click Fraud in Paid Media: Insights from Neil Andrew, Founder of PPC Protect (Lunio.ai)

• Callum Mckeefery • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Update: PPC Protect is now Lunio.ai

In this episode of In Reviews We Trust, Callum McKeefery sits down with Neil Andrew, founder of PPC Protect, a leading click fraud detection software that helps businesses safeguard their ad budgets across all major paid media channels. Neil dives into how click fraud affects Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other platforms, costing businesses millions in wasted spend. He also shares insights on preventing fraud, boosting ROI, and scaling ad campaigns efficiently.

Key Topics Covered:

  • Introduction to PPC Protect: Neil explains how his SaaS platform detects and blocks invalid traffic (including bots, scrapers, and competitor clicks) across paid media channels like Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Microsoft, TikTok, and more.
  • Impact of PPC Click Fraud: How up to 20% of paid ad traffic can be invalid and what businesses can do to prevent this.
  • Billing Structure: PPC Protect charges a percentage of ad spend, ensuring ROI with a performance-based billing model.
  • Fundraising and Business Growth: Neil shares insights into PPC Protect’s successful Series A funding and its focus on capital efficiency and growth.
  • Click Fraud on Social Media: The extent of bot traffic on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and how click fraud undermines ad performance.
  • Paid Media Mistakes to Avoid: Neil’s advice for eCommerce brands, including why you should avoid Google Smart Campaigns and how to optimize conversion rates and ROI.
  • Google Ads Click Fraud: Neil highlights that 11% of Google Ads traffic is often fraudulent and how this affects ROAS and revenue opportunities.
  • Recommended Tools: Neil and Callum discuss using tools like Opteo for ad optimization and PPC Protect’s display exclusion list to prevent fraudulent clicks on Google Display Network.

Actionable Takeaways:

  • Use tools like PPC Protect to safeguard your ad budget from invalid clicks and traffic.
  • Avoid Google Smart Campaigns for search and display ads to maximize efficiency.
  • Make use of PPC Protect's display exclusion list to block invalid websites from showing your ads.

Tools and Resources Mentioned:

Callum: Today, on In Reviews We Trust, I’m joined by my good friend Neil Andrew, founder of PPC Protect. Neil, thanks for joining us! Can you give our listeners a quick overview of what PPC Protect does?

Neil: Thanks for having me, Callum! PPC Protect is a SaaS platform that helps businesses detect and prevent invalid traffic—whether it's bots, competitors clicking ads, or other fraudulent activity—across all paid acquisition channels like Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. We make sure the traffic you're paying for is real, with genuine conversion intent, so you’re not wasting your budget.

Callum: That's fantastic. How does your billing model work?

Neil: We take a small percentage of the amount you spend on ads—around 4%. But the key part is, if we don’t deliver an ROI, we don’t charge you. Our goal is to make sure you’re getting the value from our platform.

Callum: Love that model. It’s very aligned with your clients’ success. You’ve raised capital recently, right?

Neil: Yes, we raised a seed round in 2020, and we’ve just closed a Series A, though I can’t share too many details yet! But despite raising capital, we’ve always maintained a lean, efficient operation.

Callum: That’s awesome. Now, PPC fraud—how big of an issue is this for brands?

Neil: It’s significant. We typically see that 7% to 20% of traffic on paid media is invalid, depending on the platform. So, imagine if you’re spending millions and losing up to 20% of that to fraudulent clicks—that’s not just lost spend, but also missed revenue.

Callum: That’s crazy. And you also cover social platforms like Facebook, right?

Neil: Yes, Facebook is notorious for bot accounts trying to mimic real user behavior. Despite their efforts, we still see 22-23% of traffic being invalid. Twitter has an even bigger bot problem, as Elon Musk famously pointed out.

Callum: Right. Do you think there’s a solution for the bot issue on social platforms?

Neil: It’s tough. Platforms are driven by short-term profits and aren’t incentivized to fully solve the problem. If they took a hit in the short term to clean up their user base, they could charge more for ads in the long term. But right now, there’s just no real incentive.

Callum: Agreed. Now, what’s the biggest mistake you see eCommerce brands make in paid media?

Neil: Two main things: First, avoid smart campaigns on Google (except for Smart Shopping), as they usually perform terribly. Second, if you’re new to paid media, don’t try to do it all yourself. Hire a professional or use tools like Opteo to help optimize your campaigns.

Callum: Great advice. Thanks so much for joining today, Neil! This has been a brilliant conversation.