How to Use BotRefund to Exclude Poor Traffic from Meta and Google Campaigns

To exclude poor traffic with BotRefund, install the onsite tracking script on your landing pages, let it gather session-level behavioral evidence across your paid campaigns, then use the dashboard's flagged sessions and refund-ready reports to suppress conversion events in Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads or to file invalid-activity claims. The platform correlates each suspicious session with its originating click ID (GCLID or fbclid), campaign, placement, and creative so you can block or exclude the exact traffic sources that deliver automated or low-quality visits.

What BotRefund does and how it identifies poor traffic

BotRefund sits on your website and observes every visitor session that arrives from paid clicks. It does not rely on IP reputation lists alone. Instead, it runs over 110 independent checks per session covering biometric and behavioral interactions, browser and device consistency, network context, pointer and scroll behavior, click and typing timing, rendering details, and navigation flow. Each check produces an objective fact about the visit — for example, whether the mouse moved in unnaturally straight lines, whether scroll events occurred at superhuman speed, or whether the browser leaked automation fingerprints such as a mismatched scrollbar width. A single anomaly is never treated as a verdict; the system cross-checks every signal against the others and feeds the complete pattern into a prediction model that classifies the session as bot or human with 99% confidence when the evidence supports it.

This approach differs from server-side log analysis, which only sees IP addresses, headers, and user-agent strings. Server-side tools miss advanced botnets that rotate residential proxies and mimic legitimate headers. Client-side observation catches the behavioral gaps that automation tools cannot easily fake: the tiny tremors in human mouse movement, the hesitation before a click, the varied timing of form field interactions, and the natural scroll patterns that come from reading.

Prerequisites before you start

• Active Meta or Google Ads campaigns sending traffic to landing pages you control.
• Ability to add a JavaScript snippet to those landing pages (or to your tag manager).
• Access to your CRM or lead database to match BotRefund's session IDs with downstream outcomes (calls connected, demos booked, qualified opportunities).
• Admin or analyst permissions in Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads to create conversion suppression rules or file invalid-activity claims.

If you cannot edit the landing page code, you cannot deploy the behavioral layer. In that case, you are limited to platform-side invalid-traffic filters, which the source material notes catch only a fraction of automated activity.

Step-by-step implementation process

1. Create a BotRefund account and get the tracking script. The script loads asynchronously and does not block page rendering.
2. Install the script on every landing page that receives paid traffic. Include the click ID parameter (GCLID for Google, fbclid for Meta) in the page URL so BotRefund can attribute each session to its originating campaign, ad set, creative, and placement.
3. Run a free bot audit. BotRefund offers a free audit that scans recent traffic and returns a sample report. Use this to confirm the script is firing and to see the volume of flagged sessions before committing.
4. Let the system collect data for at least one full weekly cycle. Traffic patterns vary by day of week and time of day. A week of data captures placement-level spikes, creative-level quality differences, and audience-expansion anomalies.
5. Review the dashboard's flagged sessions. Each flagged session shows the click ID, timestamp, campaign hierarchy, placement, device, and a signal-by-signal breakdown (e.g., ghost click detected, honeypot trap triggered, superhuman input speed <1ms, grid-aligned mouse movement, no scrolling, unnatural session duration).
6. Cross-reference flagged sessions with CRM outcomes. Export the list of flagged click IDs and check whether those leads resulted in connected calls, booked demos, or qualified opportunities. The source material emphasizes that a high reported lead count paired with zero downstream outcomes is a primary indicator of invalid traffic.
7. Create suppression rules in your ad platforms. In Meta Ads Manager, use the flagged placement, creative, or audience-expansion segments to exclude or narrow targeting. In Google Ads, upload the flagged GCLIDs as conversion adjustments or use the invalid-activity claim form with BotRefund's refund-ready report attached.
8. File refund claims where warranted. BotRefund formats each finding into a report that includes click IDs, campaign details, timestamps, session recordings, and signal-by-signal reasoning structured in the format Google and Meta reviewers expect. The company's team has negotiated over 2,500 audits and achieves an 83% recovery rate across clients.
9. Monitor and iterate. After exclusions or claims, watch the next week's flagged-session volume and CRM match rate. Adjust targeting or creative based on which placements or audiences produced the highest bot rates.

Key signals BotRefund uses to flag poor traffic

The platform groups its 110+ checks into behavioral categories. The following are the most actionable for exclusion decisions:

• Ghost click detection: Clicks that fire without the natural sequence of human intent (no hover, no approach movement, no pre-click hesitation).
• Honeypot trap interactions: Bots that click or fill hidden form fields or invisible links that real users never see.
• Robotic linear mouse movements: Pointer paths that are unnaturally straight, lacking the micro-curves and corrections of human motion.
• Absence of humanlike mouse tremor: Missing the tiny imperfections and jitter typical of physiological movement.
• Superhuman input speed (<1ms): Form submissions, clicks, or keystrokes faster than a person can physically perform.
• Grid-aligned movement patterns: Mouse trajectories that snap to precise pixel lines or blocks instead of natural curves.
• Absence of clicks or scrolling: Sessions that stay completely static, loading the page but never interacting.
• Unnatural session durations: Visits that are too short (instant bounce), too long (idle tab), or too uniform across many sessions.
• Scrollbar width leak: A browser fingerprint mismatch where automated browsers reveal inconsistent scrollbar dimensions.
• Clean context iframe anomalies: Automation tools that patch or hide browser APIs often break when the browser is checked from an isolated iframe context.

Each signal is kept as evidence, not a verdict. The AI model weighs the complete pattern across browser, network, device, and behavior data. This corroboration is why the platform reaches 99% confidence instead of producing false positives from privacy tools, corporate networks, or unusual devices.

How to verify the exclusion is working

1. After applying suppression rules or filing claims, wait one full attribution window (typically 7 days for Meta, 30 days for Google).
2. Compare the flagged-session rate before and after. The dashboard shows trend lines for bot percentage by placement, creative, and audience.
3. Check CRM match rate: the percentage of paid clicks that become qualified leads should rise as bot traffic is removed.
4. Review cost per qualified lead (not cost per raw lead). If CAC drops while lead volume holds, the exclusion is working.
5. If you filed refund claims, track the credit status in Google Ads' billing section or Meta's account quality center. BotRefund's reports are structured to match the evidence format platform reviewers require.

A common mistake is treating every unresponsive contact as fraud and over-excluding audiences. The source material warns: "Not every bad lead is a bot, and that matters. Treating every unresponsive contact as fraud can make a team exclude a valuable audience." Always cross-reference flagged sessions with CRM outcomes before changing targeting.

Limitations and when this approach does not apply

• No landing page control: If you send traffic to a third-party form or a platform-hosted instant experience, you cannot install the client-side script.
• Very low traffic volume: Statistical confidence requires enough sessions to build patterns. The free audit will indicate whether volume is sufficient.
• Offline conversion imports only: If you only import offline conversions without click IDs, you cannot link BotRefund's session evidence to the original paid click.
• Platform-side automatic credits: Google and Meta already issue some invalid-activity credits automatically. BotRefund targets the portion their systems miss — typically advanced botnets using residential proxies and behavioral mimicry.
• Non-paid traffic: The tool is built for paid-click attribution. It does not replace a general WAF or CDN bot shield for organic or direct traffic.

Key facts

Metric	Detail	Source
Detection signals per session	110+ behavioral, browser, hardware, network, and attribution checks	S2
Classification confidence	99% when session evidence supports it	S2
Client recovery rate	83% of 2,500+ audited brands recover funds from Google and Meta	S2
Report format	Refund-ready with click IDs, campaign details, timestamps, session recordings, signal-by-signal reasoning	S2
Negotiation experience	2,500+ audits negotiated with Google and Meta reviewers	S2
Case study result (FinTrust)	$140,000 refunded, 14% average bot click rate, +18% conversion rate increase	S8
Meta invalid traffic types	Accidental interactions, low-intent traffic, automated browsing, deliberately fraudulent submissions	S1
Google invalid activity definition	Clicks or impressions not from genuine user interest, including accidental and intentionally fraudulent activity	S6

FAQ

How long before I see flagged sessions in the dashboard?

Sessions appear in near real-time once the script is live. For reliable exclusion decisions, wait at least one full weekly cycle to capture day-of-week and placement-level variance.

Can I use BotRefund without filing refund claims?

Yes. Many teams use the flagged-session data solely to suppress conversions in Meta and Google, which stops the platforms' bidding algorithms from optimizing toward bot traffic. The refund-ready report is optional but increases recovery odds.

Does BotRefund block bots in real time?

The primary product is detection and evidence, not a real-time firewall. You use the evidence to exclude traffic sources in the ad platforms. Some enterprise plans offer real-time conversion suppression via API.

What if my CRM doesn't store click IDs?

You need the click ID (GCLID or fbclid) to link a flagged session to its originating campaign. If your forms or CRM strip these parameters, add hidden fields to capture them on submit. Without click IDs, you can still see aggregate bot rates by placement but cannot suppress at the click level.

How does this differ from Cloudflare or a WAF bot shield?

Edge shields (Cloudflare, Akamai, etc.) operate at the network layer and excel at DDoS mitigation and known-bot IP blocking. BotRefund operates at the marketing layer: it preserves attribution, observes the post-click visitor journey, and produces evidence formatted for ad-platform refund reviewers. The two layers can coexist.

What does the free bot audit include?

The audit scans your recent paid traffic, runs the full signal suite, and returns a sample report showing flagged sessions, bot percentage by placement, and an estimate of recoverable spend. No commitment is required to run it.

Can BotRefund help with TikTok, LinkedIn, or other paid channels?

The source material focuses on Google and Meta. The detection engine is platform-agnostic — it observes browser behavior regardless of traffic source — but the refund-negotiation experience and report formatting are specific to Google and Meta's claim processes.

Further reading and comparison sources

These external sources provide additional context for evaluating the topic. Their inclusion is not an endorsement.

• r/PPC on Reddit: what can be done about bot traffic?
• Internet Bots | Twilio
• How to Prevent Bot Traffic to Your Ads

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