# FAQ

Quick answers about the tracking code, ad platform settings and access.

- [Does ClickGuard support Search campaigns](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-search-campaigns.md): Yes. ClickGuard fully supports Google Ads Search campaigns. It tracks every ad click, spots invalid traffic such as bots and repeat clickers, and excludes their IP addresses and IP ranges automatically, so your budget goes to the people who are actually searching for what you sell.
- [Does ClickGuard support Display campaigns](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-display-campaigns.md): Yes. ClickGuard fully supports Google Ads Display campaigns. It tracks every ad click, excludes invalid traffic by IP address and IP range, and excludes the low-quality ad placements on websites, apps and videos that send clicks without results, so your budget reaches real people.
- [Does ClickGuard support Shopping campaigns](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-shopping-campaigns.md): Yes. ClickGuard fully supports Google Ads Shopping campaigns. It tracks every click on your product ads, spots invalid traffic such as competitors and bots, and excludes their IP addresses and IP ranges automatically, so your budget goes to real shoppers who can buy.
- [Does ClickGuard support Video (YouTube) campaigns](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-video-youtube-campaigns.md): Yes. ClickGuard supports Google Ads Video (YouTube) campaigns. It tracks their ad clicks through a tracking template and blocks invalid traffic with account-level IP exclusions, because Google Ads doesn't accept IP exclusions on a single Video campaign. Account-level exclusions cover every campaign in the account.
- [Does ClickGuard support Smart campaigns](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-smart-campaigns.md): Yes. ClickGuard supports Google Ads Smart campaigns, which replaced AdWords Express. Google fully manages Smart campaigns and doesn't accept campaign-level exclusions in them, so ClickGuard blocks invalid traffic with account-level IP exclusions, which cover every campaign in the account, and tracks clicks with an account-level tracking template.
- [Does ClickGuard support Microsoft Advertising](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-microsoft-advertising.md): Yes. ClickGuard fully supports Microsoft Advertising, bringing the same click fraud protection it offers for Google Ads and Meta Ads to your Microsoft campaigns. Connect your Microsoft Ads account, let ClickGuard set up its tracking template, and it tracks every ad click and blocks invalid traffic sources automatically.
- [Does ClickGuard support App campaigns](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-app-campaigns.md): No. ClickGuard doesn't support Google App campaigns, which promote mobile apps across Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover and the Display Network. If you also promote your app with other campaign types, like Search, Display or Shopping, ClickGuard tracks and protects those campaigns.
- [Does ClickGuard support Call-only ads and extensions](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-call-only-ads.md): No. Call-only ads and call extensions lead to a phone call straight from Google's search results instead of a visit to your website, so there's no click for ClickGuard to track or analyze. ClickGuard can't protect them, but it keeps protecting your Search, Display and other campaigns in the same account.
- [Does ClickGuard support Google AdSense and Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-google-adsense.md): No. Google AdSense and Google AdMob are services for publishers who show ads on their websites and apps. ClickGuard works with advertisers, the people who buy ads, and protects their campaigns on Google Ads, Meta Ads and Microsoft Ads. It can't protect the ads you show as a publisher.
- [Does ClickGuard support LinkedIn ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-linkedin-ads.md): No. ClickGuard isn't integrated with LinkedIn Ads. It currently works with Google Ads, Meta Ads (Facebook) and Microsoft Ads, where it automatically detects and blocks fraudulent and low-quality traffic. If you also advertise on those platforms, you can protect all your campaigns there from one ClickGuard workspace.
- [Does ClickGuard support X (Twitter) ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-x-twitter-ads.md): No. ClickGuard doesn't support X (Twitter) Ads yet. It protects campaigns on Google Ads, Meta Ads and Microsoft Ads. X Ads protection is on our roadmap, and we'll share an update as soon as it's available. Until then, you can protect all your campaigns on the three supported platforms.
- [Why approve ClickGuard as a manager for Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/why-approve-clickguard-as-manager.md): ClickGuard needs access to your Google Ads account to protect and optimize your campaigns, for example to add IP exclusions. You can give it access in two ways: approve ClickGuard's manager (MCC) account as a manager of your account, or connect your account directly through your Google account.
- [How to enable support access to your Google Ads account](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/enable-google-ads-support-access.md): If you connected Google Ads through OAuth, our support team can't see the account, so sometimes they can't help you configure it. Invite ClickGuard's support email to your Google Ads account with Read only access. Accounts linked through ClickGuard's manager account already give us access, so they don't need this.
- [How to fix support access invitation error in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/fix-support-access-invitation-error.md): Google Ads shows this error when the domain of the email you're inviting isn't in your account's allowed domains list. To fix it, open your Google Ads security settings, add the domain of the email address to the allowed domains, save, and then send the support access invitation again.
- [Why does ClickGuard use the website tracking code](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/why-clickguard-uses-website-tracking-code.md): ClickGuard uses the website tracking code to follow devices across several ad clicks and to measure how visitors behave on your website. That takes protection beyond a simple counter that blocks IP addresses after a set number of clicks, so ClickGuard's rules can catch fraud that changes IP addresses or behaves like a bot.
- [Can ClickGuard work without the website tracking code](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/can-clickguard-work-without-tracking-code.md): Yes. The Google Ads tracking template is enough for ClickGuard to log and process your ad clicks and apply some protection rules. Without the website tracking code, though, you lose the rules and settings that rely on visitor behavior and device tracking, so your protection catches less invalid traffic.
- [Is ClickGuard tracking visible to my visitors](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/is-clickguard-tracking-visible-to-visitors.md): No. ClickGuard's click tracking takes around 6 milliseconds, so your visitors won't notice it or the redirect to your landing page that follows. A tech-savvy visitor could spot ClickGuard's tracking parameters in the URL, but nothing on the page changes and the visit works exactly as it would without ClickGuard.
- [Does ClickGuard's tracking code influence page load speed](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-tracking-code-influence-page-speed.md): No. ClickGuard's website tracking code has no impact on page load speed. It loads asynchronously, so it never delays your page's main content, and it doesn't change your page's layout or visible elements. Visitors see your pages load exactly as fast as they did before you installed it.
- [How to install the Google tag (gtag.js)](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-to-install-the-google-tag.md): The Google tag, gtag.js, is a single tag you add to your website to use several Google products, like Google Ads and Google Analytics, instead of managing a separate tag for each. Install it once in the head of every page, or through Google Tag Manager, and each product can use it.
- [How ClickGuard tracks page visits](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-clickguard-tracks-page-visits.md): With the website tracking code on your landing pages, ClickGuard tracks every page a visitor opens after clicking your ad. Tracking starts the moment the code loads, and each page load counts as a visit. Page visits help ClickGuard tell engaged visitors from bots that land and leave without looking around.
- [How does ClickGuard track time on website](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-clickguard-tracks-time-on-website.md): ClickGuard measures time on website with its tracking code. The clock starts the moment the code loads on your landing page and runs for the whole browser session, until the visitor closes the browser. Very short visits are a common sign of bots, so time on site helps ClickGuard spot invalid traffic.
- [How does ClickGuard track website interactions](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-does-clickguard-track-website-interactions.md): With the tracking code on your landing pages, ClickGuard measures how each visitor interacts with your website, including clicks, scrolling, mouse movement and keyboard use. Real people interact in ways bots rarely copy, so these interactions help ClickGuard tell genuine visitors from automated traffic and block the sources that waste your spend.
- [Does ClickGuard support web session recording](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-support-web-session-recording.md): No, ClickGuard doesn't record web sessions. Dedicated tools already do that, and watching hundreds of recordings isn't a practical way to spot fraud. Instead, ClickGuard's tracking code measures visitor behavior automatically, like time on site, page visits and interactions, and uses it to detect bots and invalid traffic for you.
- [Why does ClickGuard require the tracking template](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/why-clickguard-requires-tracking-template.md): ClickGuard needs the Google Ads tracking template because it's the only method that guarantees every paid ad click gets logged. With every click recorded, ClickGuard can run its forensic analysis on each one and block the sources of invalid traffic. Without the template, clicks go missing and protection has gaps.
- [Does ClickGuard work with Google Ads parallel tracking](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-work-with-parallel-tracking.md): Yes, ClickGuard's Google Ads tracking template is fully compatible with parallel tracking. The key difference with parallel tracking is that ClickGuard no longer acts as a proxy to forward visitors to landing pages. Instead, it logs and processes click information in the background.
- [Use a custom tracking template with ClickGuard](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/custom-tracking-template-with-clickguard.md): If you're using a 3rd party tracking template (e.g. for Facebook Ads), use our template merge tool to get a merged template. If you're using a custom tracking template to add UTM parameters to your landing page, simply follow the steps below to move these parameters to the final URL suffix in Google Ads.
- [How to check custom tracking templates in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-to-check-custom-tracking-templates.md): Custom tracking templates and other trackers can override ClickGuard's, so check each level of your Google Ads account where one could be set. At account level, go to Admin › Account settings › Tracking: ClickGuard's tracking template and final URL suffix should be there. Then check your campaigns and ads for templates of their own.
- [Low-level tracking templates override account-level](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/low-level-tracking-templates-override.md): ClickGuard uses an account-level tracking template in Google Ads to track Ad clicks. If you have a tracking template on a lower level (campaign, ad group, ad) the lower-level tracking template will be used and the account-level tracking template will be ignored.
- [Custom URL parameters and ClickGuard compatibility](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/custom-url-parameters-and-clickguard-compatibility.md): ClickGuard doesn't strip or remove your custom URL parameters. When someone clicks your ad, it keeps every parameter and passes it through to your landing page, so the URL arrives exactly as you set it. Your UTM tags and other tracking tools keep working alongside ClickGuard.
- [How does ClickGuard determine bot probability](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-does-clickguard-determine-bot-probability.md): ClickGuard estimates bot probability from how each visitor interacts with your website. Its tracking code measures clicks, mouse movement, scrolling and other interactions, and compares them with how real people behave. Visitors who act like automated scripts get a high bot probability, which ClickGuard uses to detect and block invalid traffic.
- [How does ClickGuard check IP addresses](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-does-clickguard-check-ip-addresses.md): ClickGuard checks the IP address of everyone, people and bots, who clicks your ads. It uses a suite of geolocation and anti-fraud services to learn details like the IP's location, internet provider, network type and whether it's a known proxy or threat, then uses them to decide which sources to block.
- [IP address tracking in ClickGuard](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/ip-address-tracking-in-clickguard.md): ClickGuard logs the IP address of every ad click through your Google Ads tracking template, and of organic visits through the website tracking code. It checks each IP against billions of data points, like known proxies, data centers and blacklists, to judge its risk and decide which sources to block with IP exclusions.
- [Does ClickGuard track IPv6 addresses](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/does-clickguard-track-ipv6-addresses.md): Yes. ClickGuard tracks both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, and it never converts an IPv6 address into an IPv4 one, as some systems do. Every ad click keeps its real address, so ClickGuard can analyze it and block the source with IP exclusions, whether it's an IPv4 or an IPv6 address.
- [How ClickGuard determines IP address location](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-clickguard-determines-ip-address-location.md): ClickGuard finds the location of an IP address by combining several geolocation services. Each one keeps a database of where internet providers' IP addresses are used. IP addresses are mostly dynamic and often change location, so no service can be 100% accurate, and combining them gives ClickGuard the best estimate.
- [How ClickGuard detects VPN, proxy, and Tor traffic](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-clickguard-detects-vpn-proxy-tor.md): ClickGuard detects VPN, proxy and Tor traffic by checking each IP address against several services that track which addresses belong to public proxies, VPN providers and Tor exit nodes. When an ad click comes from one of them, ClickGuard flags it, because hiding a real location is a common sign of click fraud.
- [How does ClickGuard track unique devices](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-does-clickguard-track-unique-devices.md): ClickGuard tracks unique devices with its website tracking code. It stores a device ID in the visitor's browser local storage, which lets it recognize the same device across several ad clicks, campaigns and keywords, even when the IP address changes. That way it can block a device that keeps clicking your ads.
- [Browser fingerprinting and device tracking in ClickGuard](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/browser-fingerprinting-and-device-tracking.md): Browser fingerprinting builds a profile of each visitor from details of their browser or device. It raised privacy concerns, so almost all popular browsers now block or sabotage it, which makes it unreliable. ClickGuard doesn't rely on it. It tracks unique devices with a device ID stored in the visitor's browser instead.
- [Disabled AI-driven vs monitoring mode](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/disabled-ai-driven-vs-monitoring-mode.md): Monitoring mode and disabled AI-driven mode are different settings. In monitoring mode, ClickGuard keeps analyzing every ad click and shows the click fraud it finds, without blocking anything. With AI-driven mode turned off, its AI doesn't detect or block bad traffic at all, though your own custom rules still apply.
- [How does ClickGuard make exclusions in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-clickguard-makes-google-ads-exclusions.md): When you block a source in ClickGuard, or one of its protection rules does, ClickGuard tells Google Ads to create an exclusion record for the affected campaigns. Google then stops showing your ads to that IP address, IP range or placement in those campaigns, until the exclusion expires or you remove it.
- [How fast does ClickGuard block in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-fast-clickguard-blocks-google-ads.md): In most cases, ClickGuard blocks instantly: it creates the exclusion in Google Ads as soon as a blocking action is triggered. When clicks and blocking actions are very frequent, Google can take a little longer to process the changes, so an exclusion may show as Pending for a short while.
- [What happens when an IP is blocked in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/what-happens-when-ip-is-blocked.md): When ClickGuard blocks an IP address or IP range in Google Ads, Google stops showing your ads to people on that IP or range in the affected campaigns. No new impressions or clicks come from it there, so you stop paying for them. Your other campaigns and past data stay the same.
- [Google Ads limit of blocked IP addresses per campaign](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/google-ads-blocked-ip-limit.md): Google Ads lets you exclude up to 500 IP addresses or IP ranges per campaign, which limits click fraud protection. ClickGuard works around it by managing your blocking list so there's always room for new blocks: it cleans up older exclusions based on factors like severity, and re-blocks an IP if it clicks again.
- [How to view blocked IPs and IP ranges in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/view-blocked-ips-in-google-ads.md): You can see every IP address and IP range excluded from a Google Ads campaign in that campaign's settings. Sign in to Google Ads, open the campaign, go to its settings and expand IP exclusions. The list includes the exclusions ClickGuard made, alongside any you added yourself.
- [What happens when an ad placement is excluded in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/what-happens-when-placement-is-excluded.md): When ClickGuard excludes an ad placement in Google Ads, Google will stop showing ads on that placement - for the campaign(s) where the exclusion occurred.This means no new ad impressions will be generated on this placement for every campaign where it was excluded.
- [How to view excluded ad placements in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-to-view-excluded-ad-placements.md): You can see every placement excluded from a Google Ads campaign in its Exclusions section. Select the campaign you want to check, then go to Placements and Exclusions in the left sidebar menu. The list shows the websites, apps and videos ClickGuard excluded, along with any you added yourself.
- [How does ClickGuard remove exclusions in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-clickguard-removes-google-ads-exclusions.md): When an exclusion period ends for an IP address, IP range or ad placement, or you unblock it yourself, ClickGuard tells Google Ads to remove the exclusion from the affected campaigns. It does this automatically, so expired exclusions don't pile up and use the limited exclusion space in your campaigns.
- [How to view changes made by ClickGuard in Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/view-clickguard-changes-in-google-ads.md): Every change ClickGuard makes in your Google Ads account is logged in the account's change history. You can always tell ClickGuard's changes apart from those made by you or other users with access to the account, so you can review exactly what ClickGuard did, and when, at any time.
- [How to ignore specific campaigns in ClickGuard](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-to-ignore-specific-campaigns.md): To turn off ClickGuard's protection for one or more campaigns, open Settings from the dashboard menu and go to Connections › Ad accounts. Expand the ad account's campaign list and switch off the campaigns you want ClickGuard to ignore. The rest of the ad account stays protected, and you can turn them back on anytime.
- [How to create exclusions for Microsoft Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-to-create-microsoft-ads-exclusions.md): To let ClickGuard create audience exclusions in Microsoft Ads, install the Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag on every page of your website. Copy the script from UET Tracking Script in your ClickGuard Settings and add it to your site. ClickGuard then uses it to create audience exclusions and manage your campaigns.
- [How does ClickGuard block visitors in Meta Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-clickguard-blocks-meta-ads-visitors.md): ClickGuard blocks visitors in Meta Ads with audiences. It adds the visitors it flags to a custom audience in your Meta Ads account, then excludes that audience from your ad sets by updating their targeting. Those visitors stop seeing your ads, so you no longer pay for their clicks.
- [Improving ROAS with ClickGuard for Meta Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/improving-meta-ads-roas.md): ClickGuard improves your Meta Ads return on ad spend by cutting the invalid clicks you pay for. It detects bots and other bad traffic, blocks them with excluded audiences, and keeps your data clean, so Meta's algorithm learns from real visitors and more of your budget reaches people who can convert.
- [How to export click data from your ClickGuard account](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-to-export-click-data.md): You can export your click data from the Click Forensics page in ClickGuard. Click Export in the upper-right corner, above the data table, and the data downloads as a CSV file. It uses the filters and date range you've applied, and opens in Excel, Google Sheets or any other spreadsheet tool.
- [How to request refunds from Google Ads](https://www.clickguard.com/help/faq/how-to-request-google-ads-refunds.md): To request a refund from Google Ads for invalid or fraudulent clicks, submit a Click Quality Investigation Request through Google's official form. Support your request with the clicks you suspect: you'll find them in ClickGuard's Click Forensics section by selecting the time period you want Google to review.