Every advertiser assumes some of their budget is wasted. Few can say how much, or where.
About 8.5 percent of paid ad clicks are invalid, meaning they come from bots, click farms or automated activity rather than a person who could become a customer. That’s the finding of Lunio’s 2026 Global Invalid Traffic Report, which analysed more than 2.7 billion paid clicks. For a small business spending €1,500 a month on ads, that’s around €128 a month lost before the targeting, the ad or the landing page even come into it.
Key takeaways
- 8.51 percent of paid ad traffic was invalid across 2.7 billion clicks (Lunio, August 2024 to August 2025).
- Google Search came in at 5.21 percent, lower than any social platform. TikTok was highest at 24.2 percent.
- Lead generation campaigns saw 32 percent more invalid traffic than eCommerce campaigns, which matters for trades, clinics and other service businesses.
- Broad keywords and audiences also waste budget on real people who were never going to buy, and that cost doesn’t show up as a line in any standard report.
- The search terms report in Google Ads and the placement breakdown in Meta show where your own account is losing money.
How much ad spend is wasted on invalid traffic?
Lunio analysed more than 2.7 billion paid ad clicks across Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, X and Microsoft Bing, from August 2024 to August 2025. It found that 8.51 percent of all paid traffic was invalid, worth an estimated 63 billion dollars in wasted ad spend worldwide in a single year.
That’s almost 1 in every 12 paid clicks coming from something that was never a prospective customer.
The rate was 7.97 percent in the UK and 8.44 percent in the US. The public coverage of the report doesn’t give a separate figure for Ireland.
Which ad platforms have the most invalid traffic?
| Platform or channel | Invalid traffic rate |
|---|---|
| TikTok | 24.2% |
| Google Video (YouTube) | 20.62% |
| 19.88% | |
| X | 12.79% |
| Google Display | 12.02% |
| Microsoft Bing | 10.32% |
| Meta | 8.20% |
| Google Ads (all channels) | 7.57% |
| Google Search | 5.21% |
Source, Lunio 2026 Global Invalid Traffic Report.
Google Search had the lowest rate in the table at 5.21 percent. A search ad only shows when someone types a query, while a social or display ad shows to whoever happens to be scrolling, which leaves less room for automated traffic on Search.
Meta was the lowest of the social platforms at 8.20 percent. Within Google, where your ads run makes a big difference. Display at 12.02 percent and Video at 20.62 percent both had more than double the invalid rate of Search. New Google Search campaigns include the Display Network by default, so a campaign that was never meant to run on Display can still be spending part of its budget there.
Why lead generation businesses should pay closer attention
Lunio found that lead generation campaigns had 32 percent higher invalid traffic rates than eCommerce. Trades, clinics, solicitors and most local service businesses run lead generation campaigns, because the goal is a form fill or a phone call rather than a checkout. A bot that submits a form also looks like a lead in your reports until someone tries to call it back.
What wasted ad spend costs a small business
Take a business spending €1,500 a month on ads, a realistic figure for a local trades or clinic business running a first campaign. At the 8.51 percent average, roughly €128 a month never had a chance of becoming a customer, however good the ad, the offer or the landing page. Over a year that’s more than €1,500, a full extra month of budget, gone before the campaign had a fair test.
If the same budget ran on Google Search only, at 5.21 percent, the loss would be closer to €78 a month.
Where else does small business ad spend get wasted?
Bots, click farms and other automated activity are only part of it. The second category is human clicks that were never going to convert because the keyword, audience or placement was too broad. A broad match keyword with no negative keyword list, or an Advantage+ audience with no exclusions, pays for real people who aren’t in the market for what you sell.
In the new accounts we audit, it’s common for a quarter or more of spend to go nowhere in the first few months, until someone tightens the targeting based on real results. <!– CONFIRM, see section 6 item 1 –>
How do I find wasted ad spend in my own account?
Both of these checks take an afternoon.
First, find out whether click fraud protection is switched on. Google Ads filters some invalid clicks automatically and doesn’t charge for the ones it catches, but it doesn’t catch everything, and third-party invalid traffic tools exist to catch what the platform misses. While you’re in the campaign settings, check whether the Display Network is switched on inside your Search campaigns.
Second, and more useful for most small budgets, pull the search terms report in Google Ads or the placement and audience breakdown in Meta. A handful of keywords, placements or audiences usually take a big share of spend and deliver none of the conversions. That’s the fastest waste to cut, and you don’t need any tool beyond what’s already in the account. For a fuller list of what to look at, use our Google Ads account audit checklist.
FAQ
What is invalid traffic in Google Ads? Invalid traffic is any click or impression that doesn’t come from a real person with genuine interest, including bots, click farms and automated scripts. Google filters some of it automatically and doesn’t charge for the clicks it catches. Lunio’s 2026 report found 7.57 percent of Google Ads traffic was still invalid, ranging from 5.21 percent on Search to 20.62 percent on Video.
Which ad platform has the most invalid traffic? In Lunio’s 2026 data, TikTok had the highest invalid traffic rate at 24.2 percent, followed by LinkedIn at 19.88 percent and X at 12.79 percent. Meta was lowest of the social platforms at 8.20 percent.
Is Google Ads or Meta better for avoiding invalid traffic? Google Search had a lower invalid traffic rate than Meta in Lunio’s 2026 data, at 5.21 percent against 8.20 percent. Google Display and Video were both higher than Meta, so the answer depends on where your Google campaigns actually run.
How do I check if my own account is wasting budget? Pull the search terms report in Google Ads or the placement breakdown in Meta Ads Manager and sort by spend with zero or near-zero conversions. Anything with meaningful spend and nothing to show for it is the first place to cut.
Does turning on automated bidding fix wasted spend? Only partly, and only once conversion tracking is accurate. Automated bidding optimises toward whatever it’s told counts as a conversion. If tracking is wrong or missing, automation will happily keep spending on the wrong signal at scale.
Sources
- Lunio, 2026 Global Invalid Traffic Report, January 2026
- ANA, Report, Ad Spending Wasted on Invalid Traffic Reaches $63 Billion, 21 January 2026
- Advanced Television, Report, $63bn lost to IVT across digital advertising in 2025, 21 January 2026
Want to know where your own account is leaking spend? Get a free ad audit. We’ll show you in writing, no call required.
Glitch Ads runs Google and Meta advertising for small and growing businesses across Ireland, the UK and the US.
If you’re an SME or a consultant who needs an experienced AdOps team to run your Ad campaigns, get in touch. Glitch is now officially an AI native agency, helping businesses with their websites, fixing conversion tracking, building out strategy, and launching campaigns that are set up for success from day one.
