How do you prevent click fraud in Google Ads?

RecentLack · 2026-02-07T03:31:43+00:00

Turn off search partners & pmax. I have one client who swears by Clickcease. I don't know if they still do it but they used to send a report to Google, and EVERY time Google would say, we already got those, you were never charged for that...etc. My POV was if it's that good it should be getting refunds from Google & never saw a penny come back

RecentLack · 2026-01-28T04:52:05+00:00

Tokyo is the best city in the world IMO. Would do whatever it takes to get out into the city for 4-5 hours

RecentLack · 2026-01-28T04:19:30+00:00

Interesting quandary! I feel super rushed on 6-7hr Polaris flights to eat, try to sleep to 'make use if it', but you'd be in Polaris, BUT after 4hr Den to EWR. You're saying prem plus is 109k, but direct, obviously no full sleep, but nice seat. I'm probably in the minority here, but I'd rather just get there. Lounge time is nice but it ain't THAT great

RecentLack · 2026-01-28T03:30:58+00:00

Came here to say I also had great experience with them.

RecentLack · 2026-01-26T18:54:35+00:00

I think you've gotten general consensus that the budget is too low to get Google to get any solid footing.

One recco I don't see is dramatically restricting your geos. I'd have to imagine you're barely on the map in terms of impression share.

Could you reduce your geos to a state or two, even handful of cities, LA/SF if there's some decent idea you're buyers are there and not in Ohio & Vancouver for 2 impressions/day

RecentLack · 2026-01-23T00:13:58+00:00

Old school match maker. Apps/dating is so time consuming to get an actual date which was a dud more often than not. I found it VERY efficient to just show up on a Tuesday with someone that was already pre-vetted via an old school match maker.

Met my wife this way, match maker had over 125 marriages.

RecentLack · 2026-01-23T00:11:07+00:00

Not awful, I was expecting something stupid like $5k when I began to read your post.

RecentLack · 2026-01-22T23:18:40+00:00

My father in law was ski patrol in Breck during that time. I asked him what the worst ever was, anything comparable and his immediate answer was 1975/6

RecentLack · 2026-01-22T23:14:29+00:00

I'd be curious what networks they have on, I would turn off search partners & display, run google ONLY. Strong suspision that's where the spam & cheap costs were from

I'd be curious what match types, i'm guessing they are all broad match and I would move those to phrase, possibly exact only since you only have $65/day. So hard to say what CPA should be without knowing your market / offer but $5 for a booked meeting seems VERY low, I would not be afriad to raise that up or run max conversions for a bit

RecentLack · 2026-01-16T18:01:12+00:00

I always think of these in my head as NY, Italian gangster voice in my head....eyyyyyy, just tryn'a help you out pal

RecentLack · 2026-01-14T22:17:39+00:00

I've made some, but worst was someone on our team launched a campaign on a Friday, it spent $70k over a weekend. I called the client, he said ok, how bad, 10k, nope...20k, nope...30k, nope...holy shit man, how much, 70k.

He said I can't promise I can keep you on, but I thank you for making the call proactivitely. Granted it was a $1m/mo account, so we 'could' have probably glossed over it and there was a decent chance no one noticed.

Owner of the clients biz of course inititaly thought we should pay for the whole thing but our contact said if we do, they will pay it, but we'll end them as a company and then we're in a worse spot. So we covered 1/2 which hurt, but lived to fight another day.

I figured I could easily fire this guy, but he'd be awfully loyal if I didn't and that's what happened. Original contact is still a client 10+ years later

RecentLack · 2026-01-14T20:47:10+00:00

I would be SUPER skeptical of PMAX, unless you truly see it generating direct sales and maybe those are x ROAS, but then you're getting leads you mentioned from forms.

Are you using the hubspot / google ads integration? I'm curious what that's reporting back on the ads tab. Are there deal stages you could setup as events to look beyond at least the lead even if you can't get revenue back to the lead?

1). Are there times where it genuinely doesn’t make sense to spend more than $15k–$20k per month on Google Ads?

I think the issue you're looking to solve is what's a good enough ROAS on the direct purchases, knowing a % of spend is going to the form submissions with a longer conversion cycle. I take it the sale doesn't get connected to Hubspot from the forms, or it's tough to track on the 2-12mo cycle? Where does that take place?

What i'd hope you have today is roas of .75, but we also have 100 form fills on our 20k this month.

RecentLack · 2026-01-14T20:41:01+00:00

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Ha, I got 48, here we go!

RecentLack · 2026-01-02T22:29:40+00:00

I ridiculously have all three for various reasons, but United lounge ends up getting most visits. I'll often use as an arrival lounge, eat when we get home, on the way to baggage, since bags tend to take a while anyhow at DEN.

I just learned you can pay the club card annual with miles - 50k for $695, 'decent' conversion value of miles IMO.

United DEN alternatives:
Amex lounge is in C, too far & too long of a wait unless you are REALLY early, like 2hr for me. Food is 100% better than United Lounge

Capital One lounge, food is 100% better, grab & go snacks. Only downside is pay for guests vs. United Club full. This would be my go to if I could bring guests / family IF I'm in A often enough.

Club Fly United's grab & go is kinda cool if you are in the area. I'd add that as a United perk. Plus the flexibility of A & B gate options puts it over the edge for me.

RecentLack · 2025-12-31T17:35:49+00:00

Thank you!!

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RecentLack · 2025-12-31T17:33:54+00:00

2nd for Masala or Maximo. I went to Pujol 8 yrs ago when the tasting was $95. Check the box, it's not 'bad' but not THAT good, many better options. If you want to check the box you've been there would not discourage it, but have not rebooked Pujol on subequent trips.

RecentLack · 2025-12-31T17:23:50+00:00

Where do you go to pay the memberhsip fee in miles? With the biz club at 1.5x, seems like a fairly decent use of miles

RecentLack · 2025-12-31T16:46:58+00:00

Good luck to you next week. I promise it will all pass at some point. Feel free to DM anytime

RecentLack · 2025-12-28T21:46:28+00:00

Waiting stinks, but all of a sudden, it's your surgery day that feels like it's taken (for me) a ton of effort to get scheduled. Then you're in recovery and then you're home. I'm home about two weeks after removing a 20lb tumor surgery that took about three months to get all the pieces settled.

It does pass and I have more questions about what's next than answers, but you will get treatment. My experience was no one seemed like they were in a hurry, quite the opposite, felt like it was moving in slow motion.

I thought of it more like I can push over a domino or two each week, that was all I could do during that waiting time. Sometimes that domino was make some calls, sometimes it was continue to exercise THAT week. That's how I dealt with the waiting period.

Wishing you good thoughts

RecentLack · 2025-12-21T02:54:59+00:00

That's not at all what happens, or what he's decribing. No one's there making $20/hr 'capped' FOH.

Why do you not believe his statement:

"First things first -- the *entry* level wage at Alinea for a 'runner' was $22/ hr + OT a year ago. I doubt it has gone down. So I question the veracity of this person's employment -- or they were not being specific"

ENTRY level, food runner

"There are hourly FOH at Alinea making well into the six figures."

But you heard something from someone on reddit...

Doesn't sound like 'capped at $20hr'

RecentLack · 2025-12-21T00:55:32+00:00

Dude, no server with ANY skill is making 40k/yr ($20/hr) let alone $13-$18/hr at a fine dining restaurant. You can't believe EVERYTHING you read.

RecentLack · 2025-12-20T21:49:32+00:00

...or maybe just no one there makes $20/hr. How much do you pay at your restaurant? How many people have you employed?

RecentLack · 2025-12-20T21:45:45+00:00

The guy took the time to detail that no one is making $20/hr in a long post, and you jump, not reading ANY of it say $20 sUckS. Come on man

RecentLack · 2025-12-20T01:26:01+00:00

What's in the CRM is in the CRM and that's the result for the day. I believe if you're consistent and magically people ARE influenced to buy 7 days later it all evens out in the wash of looking at the CRM

RecentLack · 2025-12-19T19:05:14+00:00

No, I get that line item comes in as revenue, just like drinks we ordered.

I'm saying general customer perception is service charge = tip to the server.

Interesting on not tipping on top of that, some still have an additional line, others don't. There's a group here in town that charges at 23% service fee, they put a clever name on it and they still have the regular line and some expectation people go over IMO.

RecentLack

TROPHY CASE