Google's invalid traffic card shows what it caught. Your CRM shows the rest

Google is rolling out an Invalid Traffic Overview Card in Google Ads, which it says gives advertisers front-end transparency into how it protects their campaigns. For the first time, Google says, businesses can see both the amount saved and the credits it automatically provides for invalid activity in Google Ads.

Google says it doesn't charge for invalid traffic, that its defences work to catch it before an advertiser is billed, and that it issues a credit when it's detected later, where appropriate and possible. In its help pages, invalid traffic refers to clicks and impressions on ads that aren't a result of genuine user interest, including intentionally fraudulent traffic and accidental or duplicate clicks.

The announcement does not describe where the card sits, which campaign types it covers or how the amount saved is worked out, so we do not state any of them.

Our reading: the card is Google reporting on its own filter. That is useful, because Google is the only party that can see what it blocked. But a filter can only count what it caught. Traffic that got past it is not on the card, and that is the traffic you paid for.

Google's own figure makes the point. It says that so far in 2026 it has reduced advertiser exposure to invalid leads by an average of 30% through continuous system upgrades. In our reading, a reduction in exposure is not the end of exposure, and the announcement does not say what the 30% is measured against.

Credits are the part you can check against money, in our view. Google says invalid traffic credits appear on subsequent invoices and in account transaction history reports as negative values, and that in the billing summary they are labelled 'Invalid activity' under the 'Adjustments' drop-down in the month card. It says you won't receive refunds for invalid traffic: clicks determined to be invalid result in adjustments or credits.

For Search and Performance Max campaigns, the invalid activity credit report breaks these credits down by campaign and network. Google says it adds credited clicks, credited interactions and credited amount columns, and that users can add adjusted metrics that subtract credited clicks, interactions and cost.

Our reading: the leads are where a founder feels invalid traffic, and they sit downstream of everything the card counts. A bot that got through the filter, or a person who was never going to buy, arrives as a form fill and looks like a lead until somebody calls it.

Google's help page on invalid traffic lists three practices for lead quality: implement server-side validation for web forms, use double opt-in to confirm user interest, and use enhanced conversions for leads to track both qualified and converted leads.

Google's investigation route covers this case too. It says that if you're having issues with invalid clicks, poor quality form submissions, clicks outside of location targeting or sudden short-term cost increases, you can submit an investigation request using the Click quality form. It says investigations are limited to the past 60 days.

This is our practice, not Google's. Once a month, put three numbers side by side for the same month: the invalid activity credit on the billing summary, the leads Google Ads counted as conversions, and the leads your CRM marked as junk. If the junk count rises while the credits stay flat, the problem is reaching you past the filter, and the card will not show it.

Then work on the junk itself. Tag each lead with its campaign, so the CRM can show where the junk comes from. Google lists web server logs, IP addresses and GCLIDs among the data to gather before you request an investigation. We would keep them for suspicious clicks as routine, so that a request can go in inside the 60 days.

One thing not to over-read. Google notes that in rare cases a click may be deemed invalid and removed while the conversion from that click is not, which can lead to conversions being higher than clicks.