Recently, I stumbled upon Google’s new documentation that sheds light on a handy tool called the Invalid Activity Credit Report. It’s designed to give us advertisers a clearer picture of refunds issued for those pesky invalid clicks and interactions.
The big picture. Although it’s not entirely clear if the report itself is brand new, it’s definitely showcasing some metrics we’ve seen before, like the invalid click rate. What’s exciting is that the documentation provides a detailed view of credits issued for invalid traffic in both Search and Performance Max campaigns.
How it works. Google mentions that they use automated systems to detect and filter out invalid traffic before it costs us anything. However, if any invalid activity slips through, these credits come to the rescue post-billing.
In such cases, Google might issue credits to cover the associated spend.
While I’ve seen these credits in billing and transaction histories before, this new report breaks down:
- Credited clicks
- Credited interactions
- Credited spend
- Campaign-level impact
- Adjusted performance metrics after credits are applied
Why we care. Having a transparent view of how much of our campaign budget is being refunded due to invalid activity helps me understand my true performance and costs much better. Plus, this new documentation is a gem for raising awareness about a tool many of us might not have known about.
Google’s goal with this report seems to be providing a better understanding of campaign performance after these adjustments.
They say that it helps us:
- See costs, clicks, and interactions post-credits.
- Reduce the hassle of manually reconciling billing credits with campaign performance.
- Gain insights into how Google’s invalid traffic protections affect each campaign.
How to access it. Finding this report is straightforward through the Report Editor in Google Ads.
Just go to the Template Gallery, and select “Invalid Activity Credit Report: Search & PMax” to generate a report with standard campaign metrics, alongside new columns for credited clicks, interactions, and amounts.
You can even add performance metrics to see how campaigns fare after credits adjustment.
What to watch. The report could soon become invaluable for those of us running large budgets, especially if we’re meticulously examining traffic quality and discrepancies in reported performance versus billing.
As AI-driven campaign automation grows, insights into invalid traffic and refunded spend will likely become critical in our campaign strategies.
Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
Leave a Reply