# Protecting your first website

After you start your free trial, a setup wizard walks you through protecting your first website in a few minutes. Choose how ClickGuard starts, connect your Google Ads, Microsoft Ads or Meta Ads account, and install the tracking code, which ClickGuard can do for you with Google Tag Manager.

Source: https://www.clickguard.com/help/getting-started/protecting-your-first-website
Published: 2026-10-10
Updated: 2026-10-10
Author: Nikola Pejic

Once you start your free trial, a setup wizard guides you through protecting your first website, step by step. It only takes a few minutes.

## Before you start

Make sure you have:

-   **Access to the ad account** you want to protect (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads or Meta Ads).
-   **Access to Google Tag Manager**, so ClickGuard can install its tracking code for you. If your website doesn't use Google Tag Manager, the tracking code is a snippet added to your website, which may need a developer. The wizard can email the instructions to your developer or website manager.

## Step 1: Choose how ClickGuard starts

-   **Block attackers and unwanted traffic** (recommended): ClickGuard monitors your traffic and blocks bad sources automatically.
-   **Monitoring only**: ClickGuard flags bad visitors without blocking anything. It's a good way to test ClickGuard's detection and see your invalid traffic first. You can switch to full protection at any time.

## Step 2: Connect an ad account

### Google Ads and Microsoft Ads

ClickGuard tracks your ad clicks with a **tracking template** and a **final URL suffix**. The setup is automatic: ClickGuard shows you exactly what it will apply, and you just confirm.

-   If your account already has a tracking template, from HubSpot for example, you can keep it or switch to ClickGuard's, which gives the most accurate click fraud detection. If you switch, turn off the automatic tracking setup in the tool that used the old template, so it doesn't overwrite ClickGuard's.
-   Campaigns with their own tracking parameters are updated automatically: ClickGuard adds its parameters to the end of what they already have.
-   ClickGuard doesn't change tracking settings on ad groups or ads. In the rare case you have a final URL suffix there, copy the suffix shown in the wizard and paste it at the end of each one.

### Meta Ads

-   After selecting the ad account, select the **Meta pixel** you use on that website.
-   Make sure you've accepted Meta's Terms of Service for audiences in Meta Ads. It's not part of ClickGuard's setup, and you've probably done it already, but ClickGuard needs it to block visitors in Meta Ads.
-   Make sure your ad URLs include each campaign's ID, in a `cgcid`, `cid`, `campaign_id` or `utm_campaign` parameter. Most ads already have it.

For more detail on each platform, see [How to add more ad accounts](https://www.clickguard.com/help/managing-your-account/how-to-add-more-ad-accounts).

## Step 3: Install the tracking code

The last step is installing ClickGuard's tracking code on your website. It analyzes what visitors do on your site, which is what lets ClickGuard identify bad quality traffic.

With Google Tag Manager, ClickGuard installs it for you automatically. To install it yourself, see [How to install ClickGuard's tracking code](https://www.clickguard.com/help/getting-started/install-clickguards-tracking-code).

> **On a Pro or Custom plan?** You can also set up **server-side tracking**, an advanced method that sends click and visitor data from your website's server straight to ClickGuard, so browsers and ad blockers can't interfere. It tracks nearly every ad click. The wizard gives you all the instructions to set it up.

## You're all set!

When you finish the setup, you land on your ClickGuard dashboard.

![ClickGuard's dashboard with the Invalid Traffic Rate, ad clicks analyzed, prevented ad waste and blocked sources](/docs-media/dashboards-dashboard.png)

For a while, ClickGuard's algorithm analyzes your incoming visitors and learns your traffic patterns. Soon you'll see the **Invalid Traffic Rate** start to fill in.

If your website is in **Monitoring** mode, **Prevented ad waste** and **Blocked sources** stay at zero. In this mode ClickGuard detects invalid traffic but doesn't block it. To start blocking, switch to full protection in the **AI Protection** menu.

## Related articles

- [How to add more ad accounts](https://www.clickguard.com/help/managing-your-account/how-to-add-more-ad-accounts.md)
- [Install ClickGuard's tracking code](https://www.clickguard.com/help/getting-started/install-clickguards-tracking-code.md)