Duplicate clicks are repeat clicks by a user on the same instance of an ad. We remove these clicks from all reporting views, except the Duplicate Click report, as they cannot be prevented nor do they provide meaningful insight into your traffic quality.
It is important to note that duplicate clicks are included in Google Ads’ data and, as such, a discrepancy may exist in total click counts between TrafficGuard and Google Ads across reports.
What are duplicate clicks?
This threat is identified in TrafficGuard reporting as Rate duplicate click GCLID.
Duplicate clicks result when a Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) user clicks 2 or more times on the same instance of an ad multiple times within a set time period defined by Google. The same ad is identified using the Google Click ID (GCLID).
These duplicate clicks are generally, although not always, identified by Google and you will not be charged for them. They typically occur when the user right-clicks on the ad, double-clicks the ad, or uses the browser's back button after clicking the ad. They can also sometimes occur when a bot or automated tool periodically crawls the same impression link.
These clicks provide no additional value to advertisers. They cannot be prevented nor do they provide insight into your traffic quality.
Note, Duplicate clicks are similar in nature to Repeat clicks, read more.
Why do we remove duplicate clicks across TrafficGuard search product reports?
Duplicate clicks cannot be prevented and do not provide any insight into your traffic quality. If TrafficGuard were to include these clicks in your invalid traffic data, it could skew your traffic quality metrics making any meaningful insights difficult to gain.
For example if 10,000 clicks were found to be invalid by TrafficGuard you are able to draw insights into this traffic quality and make decisions based on this data, such as reducing spend on specific keywords, modifying campaign targeting, or setting click frequency limits. But if half of these were actually duplicate clicks that can't be prevented, it is difficult to draw insights and actions that can be taken on campaigns and the potential impact of any changes to overall traffic quality.
To make our data as actionable as possible we've therefore removed these clicks from all reports and instead display them separately with the Duplicate click report for reporting completeness.