I audit a lot of Google Ads accounts.

When I see Max Clicks as the bidding strategy, I already know what’s coming.

The Pattern

One account had zero conversions.

I checked the sessions using Microsoft Clarity. Here’s what showed up:

• 5-second visits

• No clicks

• No scrolls

• All signs of bots

We switched to Max Conversions, and real leads started coming in.

This pattern keeps showing up in audit after audit.

What’s Really Going On

Fake traffic isn’t rare. It’s routine. And it’s getting smarter.

• In July 2025, Google sued the operators of BadBox 2.0. Over 10 million devices were used to generate fake clicks

• In March, the Wall Street Journal reported that more than 40% of web traffic is fake

• Spider Labs estimated $41.4 billion in ad fraud this year, mostly from click spamming

• TrafficGuard found that bots now pass CAPTCHAs, mimic human behavior, and spoof real devices

• Microsoft Clarity helps reveal how bot traffic distorts real session data

Max Clicks vs Max Conversions: A Quick Breakdown

Max Clicks tells Google to bring in as much traffic as your budget allows. It doesn’t care if that traffic has intent.

Max Conversions focuses on actions that matter—form fills, calls, purchases. It learns from your historical data and optimizes for outcomes, not just visits.

If you’re running ads without conversions, your bidding strategy might be setting you up for failure.

Helpful Tools to Detect Bot Traffic

Want to confirm whether your traffic is real? These tools can help:

• Microsoft Clarity – Free session recordings and heatmaps. Great for spotting fake behavior

• TrafficGuard – Blocks invalid clicks in real time using machine learning

• Google Ads Data Hub – Advanced tool for analyzing user-level performance in a privacy-compliant way

Use these to verify session patterns, spot bot activity, and clean up your campaign insights.

What I Check in Every Audit

Here’s what I always review when digging into an account:

• Is bidding set to Max Conversions?

• What does session behavior look like in Microsoft Clarity?

• Are low-engagement sessions polluting the data?

• Are lead filters in place before syncing to Google Ads?

Garbage traffic gives you garbage data. Clean signals give you better campaign performance.

Final Take

If you’re stuck wondering why conversions are flatlined, the issue might not be your creative.

The real problem is probably the traffic—and the bidding strategy that's feeding it.

Audit your inputs.
Check your signals.
Prioritize what actually works.

Seen this in your own account?
Don’t just pause campaigns—fix the foundation.
👉 Let’s talk strategy