● Covered by 1 source · 1 reportMedium impact1 negative
Google Ads campaign for mobile app yields 60% bot installs, wasting ad spend
Key points
- 60% of app installs from Google Ads were identified as bot activity.
- Bots installed old app versions from outside the Play Store.
- Google's algorithm optimized for these bot installs, increasing wasted ad spend.
- The developer changed the campaign goal to 'won a puzzle' to deter bots.
Bot Activity Skews App Install Data
A developer observed that a Google Ads campaign for their puzzle app, Dayzle, resulted in 60% of reported installs being attributed to bots. The campaign, initially set to optimize for installs at CA$40 per day, showed inflated install numbers that did not correspond with actual user engagement within the app's analytics.
Exploiting Conversion Tracking
Analysis revealed that these bots were installing an outdated version of the app, which was no longer available on the Google Play Store, after viewing ads. Despite the non-Play Store origin, Google's system registered these as conversions, leading its algorithm to direct more ad impressions towards this bot farm. This created a cycle where ad spend was increasingly wasted on non-human interactions.
Impact on Ad Spend and Optimization
Out of 56 billed installs over two weeks, 33 exhibited bot-like behavior, and an additional 7 came from untargeted countries, leaving only 13 genuine users. This pattern indicates a significant flaw in how Google's ad platform optimizes for install goals, allowing bot farms to consume advertising budgets without delivering real user acquisition.
Mitigation Strategy
To combat this issue, the developer has changed the campaign's conversion goal from 'opened the app' to 'won a puzzle'. This new goal requires a higher level of interaction, making it more difficult and costly for bots to simulate genuine engagement, thereby aiming to filter out fraudulent installs and ensure ad spend reaches real users.
✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →
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Reporting from
A developer running a Google Ads campaign for a puzzle app discovered that 60% of reported installs were from bots, not real users. These bots exploited Google's conversion tracking by installing an old app version from outside the Play Store after viewing ads, creating a feedback loop that directed more ad spend to bot activity. This highlights a vulnerability in Google's ad optimization for app installs, leading to wasted marketing budgets for developers.