“Sociable” is the latest commentary on important social media developments and trends from industry expert Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today.
Google says that it’s expanding its use of AI to fight fake traffic on its ads, which should lead to better actual results and data stemming from your Google promotions.
Invalid traffic (IVT) on Google ads comes from clicks and impressions from non-genuine users, which includes accidental clicks, but also clicks from bots and/or malicious sources, as well as “deliberate attempts to inflate costs or earn illegitimate revenue.”
Which is a significant problem. Invalid clicks can increase ad costs and skew your metrics, without producing any real result. And while Google does have regulations to combat this, ultimately, it’s up to publishers to ensure that their ad clicks are relevant.
But Google is looking to provide more assistance, with its latest AI tools now better able to detect traffic from invalid sources.
As explained by Google:
“We’ve long used AI to fight IVT, and new applications are further improving our results. Our Ad Traffic Quality team, with Google Research and Google DeepMind, recently introduced industry-leading defenses powered by large language models to more precisely identify ad placements generating invalid behaviors.”
Google says that its updated systems provide stronger protections by analyzing app and web content, ad placements and user interactions.
“For example, they’ve significantly improved our content review capabilities, leading to a 40% reduction in IVT stemming from deceptive or disruptive ad serving practices. This helps advertisers better reach their intended audiences and keeps policy violators off our platforms.”
That should, at least in theory, see a reduction in Google Ads costs, while also ensuring that you’re reaching more of your actual target audience with your promotions.
Google says that it also runs “extensive automated and manual checks” to ensure advertisers aren’t charged for IVT, even if an ad serves.
In combination, these measures should help improve your Google Ads experience, and maximize your results, by reducing false indicators of engagement.
And when you also combine this with improving AI targeting, you should be more assured of reaching more actual people with your promotions. Which in addition to better campaign performance, will also increase your audience understanding, giving you more context for future promotions.
You can read more about how Google’s improving its invalid traffic detection measures here.
