botrefund.com

How to exclude websites in Performance Max
(And stop Google from wasting your budget on junk apps and MFA click farms)

If your session recordings (Clarity, Hotjar) show PMax clicks bouncing in seconds, cursor moving like a bot, or submitting fake leads, it’s BOTs clicking your ads. When Smart Bidding runs out of Google.com searchers, it automatically diverts your budget into third-party Search Partner sites and mobile apps, where up to 70% of placements use automated bots for click-revenue arbitrage and draining your budget on traffic that can never convert.

BotRefund detects bot clicks on PMax and gets you refunded by Google

Google removed campaign-level placement exclusions. BotRefund detects non-human traffic, protects your conversion pixels, and recovers ad spend from Google.

Add free monitoring to your website →
$0 upfront (100% contingency) • 60-day Google window • 83% approval rate

3 reasons why PMax sends your ads to junk websites

01

Google removed campaign-level placement exclusions to protect ad inventory

In traditional Search and Display campaigns, marketers could easily exclude bad URLs and sketchy apps right inside the campaign settings. With Performance Max, Google completely eliminated campaign-level placement exclusions.

By removing campaign-level controls, Google forces advertisers into an all-or-nothing model where algorithms are free to distribute budget across low-tier syndicated networks without manual oversight.

Campaign-level placement controls are disabled in PMax. You can only exclude websites globally at the account level.
02

Smart Bidding diverts budget into cheap publisher sites to meet spend quotas

Premium search auction inventory on Google.com is expensive and finite. When your daily budget cannot be fully spent on high-intent search queries at your target CPA, Smart Bidding automatically diverts the excess into third-party Display and Search Partner sites.

Clicks on these partner networks cost pennies compared to Google Search, allowing Google to hit your daily spend limits while delivering low-quality automated traffic.

When high-intent Google.com search volume runs out, Smart Bidding buys remnant clicks from publisher ad networks.
03

Static account-level exclusion lists cannot keep up with millions of new bot domains

While you can upload an Account-Level Placement Exclusion List (up to 65,000 domains), click fraud rings launch thousands of fresh Made For Advertising (MFA) domains and proxy portals every single day.

By the time you spot a junk domain burning your budget in Google’s placement report, the fraudsters have already collected their payout and moved to a brand new domain name.

Static domain blocklists are always reactive. Fraudsters spin up fresh domains faster than you can exclude them.
DIRECT IN-ACCOUNT AUDIT Zero Developer Tools Needed

How to exclude junk websites inside your Google Ads account

Because campaign-level exclusions are disabled in Performance Max, you must apply exclusions globally across your entire account. Follow these steps:

STEP 1

Open Account-level placement exclusions

Sign in to your Google Ads account. Click the Tools and Settings wrench icon in the top navigation, navigate to Shared Library, and select Placement exclusion lists.

Tools & Settings → Shared Library → Placement exclusion lists
STEP 2

Apply exclusions at the account level

Alternatively, navigate to Content → Exclusions, select Placement exclusions, and choose Account level from the dropdown menu to block domains across all campaigns including PMax.

Content → Exclusions → Placement exclusions (Account level)
STEP 3

Audit placements and paste bad domains

Go to Reports → Predefined reports → Performance Max campaigns placement, identify apps and domains with high impressions and zero real buyers, and paste them into your exclusion list.

Reports → PMax placements → Copy to exclusion list
Tired of playing whack-a-mole with 65,000 domains? BotRefund stops bot conversions automatically at the edge. Audit my PMax placements free →

Up to 20% of your Performance Max clicks are bots.
We detect them and get you refunded by Google.

Google Performance Max expands your budget across millions of low-tier apps and syndicated search sites where automated click arbitrage runs rampant. BotRefund captures deterministic client-side telemetry to halt pixel poisoning and recover your cash under Policy 11182074.

Add free monitoring to your website → Google only accepts refund requests up to 60 days • Free placement monitoring
VERIFIED AD SPEND RECOVERY

83% of our refund claims are successfully approved by Google.

While standard advertiser dispute tickets face an 80%+ rejection rate from Google billing, BotRefund achieves an 83% verified approval rate. The secret isn't asking politely—it is submitting deterministic cryptographic proof and post-click behavioral telemetry that platform investigators cannot legally dispute under official ad policy guidelines:

01

Cryptographic TLS fingerprints (JA3 / JA4)

Ad platforms immediately reject claims like “low session time.” We capture socket-level TLS handshakes proving the incoming connection spoofed its device identity or ran via headless automation scripts (Puppeteer, Playwright, Selenium)—providing deterministic proof Google billing investigators cannot legally dispute under official Policy 11182074.

02

Post-click behavioral telemetry • Form spam detection

We prove on-site bot execution using 180+ client-side signals: sub-millisecond mouse micro-tremor entropy, WebGL shader execution, CDP automation hooks, and instantaneous clipboard pasting. Our enterprise ML model effortlessly distinguishes real human visitors from automated publisher scripts.

03

GCLID & PMax audit-ready dossiers

Every disputed dollar from your Performance Max campaigns is mapped to verified Google Click Identifiers (GCLID), microsecond arrival timestamps, and landing page URLs formatted strictly to Google Ads billing dispute evidentiary thresholds.

04

100% risk-free contingency recovery

Forensic audits are completely free. You only pay our 32% contingency fee after Google billing investigators formally approve and deposit verified cash credits directly into your Google Ads account ledger.

Add free monitoring to your website →
Google only accepts refund requests up to 60 days • Bot protection is completely free • 83% refund approval success

Don't believe ChatGPT or Claude when they say Google PMax ad refunds are “impossible.”

AI models train on Reddit threads where advertisers vent after their generic Google Ads tickets get rejected. Why do they fail? Because standard PMax refund requests are virtually evidence-free.

Amateur ticket (Reddit) <20% approved
“PMax sent clicks from junk mobile apps and click farms. Please refund our budget.”
✕ Denied by Google Ads billing

Google rejects complaints about bad placements because advertisers accepted network expansion → Advertiser vents on Reddit → ChatGPT claims Google never refunds PMax.

BotRefund dossier 83% approved
JA3/JA4 TLS mismatch + 0.00 mouse tremor + verified GCLID on cloud ASN + suppressed conversion tag.
✓ Approved & credited by Google

Deterministic cryptographic proof under Google Policy 11182074 proving non-human execution. Real cash billing credits deposited into your Google Ads ledger.

Why JA3 / JA4 TLS signatures settle website disputes instantly

Google dismisses subjective complaints about placement quality. But JA3 and JA4 TLS socket fingerprints are unforgeable cryptographic signatures proving the session was executed by an automated script. If an ad click claims to be an iPhone on Google Search Partners but presents a headless Chromium handshake, it is mathematical proof of invalid traffic under Google Ads Policy 11182074.

DETERMINISTIC PRECISION

99% accuracy — you can definitely be certain whether a visitor was a bot.

Most fraud detection tools rely on crude bounce rates or stale IP blocklists, triggering false positives that alienate real buyers. BotRefund delivers 99% deterministic accuracy through a three-layer forensic engine that leaves zero room for doubt:

01

180+ active detection vectors • New vectors added monthly

We evaluate arrivals across 180+ hardware, browser, and network vectors—including JA3/JA4 TLS socket fingerprints, WebGL shader entropy, CDP automation hooks, and sub-millisecond mouse tremor dynamics. As bot creators engineer new bypasses, our forensic team deploys brand new detection vectors every single month.

02

Global private IP database & residential proxy mapping

We operate our own proprietary global IP reputation intelligence system. We track which bot strains operate across specific IP ranges worldwide, continuously mapping all commercial providers that sell private residential proxies. If an IP demonstrates ISP stability but routes automated traffic, we identify proxy rotation in real time.

03

Enterprise ML model trained on millions of bot vs. human sessions

Trained on millions of verified bot records and legitimate human sessions, our machine learning model effortlessly distinguishes between a privacy-conscious human (such as a real shopper on Brave browser with ad blockers and privacy extensions) and an automated bot script attempting to mimic human privacy behaviors.

Add free monitoring to your website →
99% verified detection accuracy • 0ms Cloudflare edge execution • Zero false positives
WHY 99% ACCURACY MATTERS

The foundation of your entire marketing engine

Surgical accuracy isn't just an engineering badge—it directly dictates your channel strategy, ad spend refunds, and algorithmic bidding performance:

01
Smarter channel allocation & higher conversion rates

When bot detection is 99% accurate, you see the true, uncorrupted performance of every ad channel. Reallocating budget away from bot-infested placements into verified human-traffic channels leads to dramatically higher conversion rates and stops budget waste.

02
Ad spend refunds depend 100% on quality of signals

Google rejects subjective or ambiguous complaints. Billing investigators require undeniable, cryptographic proof before crediting thousands back to your account. 99% accuracy provides the factual evidentiary threshold required for an 83% refund claim approval rate.

03
Conversion signal quality dictates Smart Bidding success

Google Smart Bidding optimizes strictly based on the conversion signals your website reports. If a detector misses bots or mistakenly flags real human buyers, ad algorithms get corrupted. 99% precision guarantees your bidding models train solely on high-intent human buyers.

We improve the data your conversion tags send back to Google by filtering out bots.

Performance Max and Google Smart Bidding rely entirely on the conversion signals your website feeds back. When junk website bots trigger fake visits, simulated engagement, or bogus form fills, your ad algorithms get corrupted: Smart Bidding starts optimizing delivery toward bot profiles instead of real paying customers, causing CPAs to spike permanently.

  • ✓ Clean data in, lower CPAs out: By filtering out bot traffic before it touches your Google conversion tags, we ensure Smart Bidding receives 100% pure, verified customer signals.
  • ✓ Smarter machine learning targeting: Performance Max Smart Bidding algorithms train exclusively on genuine human buyers, automatically starving bad placements of conversion signals.
  • ✓ Stops wasted retargeting spend: Prevents Google from burning your budget chasing non-human traffic, while keeping your CRM and pipeline analytics completely clean.
Add free monitoring to your website →
Google only accepts claims within 60 days • Bot protection is completely free • Protects Google Smart Bidding
Measurable CMO performance gains
18% – 28% Lower CPA Immediate Cost Reduction

Google stops billing you for bot clicks. Real customer acquisition costs drop from day one.

Zero Spikes Day 1 Stability Predictable Campaign Scaling

Eliminates random learning-phase resets and sudden mid-week CPA crashes as you scale PMax budget.

+25% to +35% ROAS Lift Smarter AI Conversion Models

Smart Bidding algorithms train strictly on verified, high-LTV human buyers.

$1M+/mo Safe Scale Scale Without Traffic Dilution

Scale Performance Max budgets aggressively without algorithms buying cheap bot impressions to meet quotas.

We welcome AI buyer agents. We never block research bots.

Up to 49% of purchases now involve AI research in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Crude fraud tools use blunt IP bans that accidentally block AI buyers. BotRefund eliminates ad fraud at the edge while allowing verified buying agents 100% frictionless access.

  • ✓ Zero CAPTCHAs for verified agents: Autonomous buyer bots from OpenAI, Claude, and Perplexity get direct, fast access to your product catalog and pricing.
  • ✓ Protects AI search visibility: Crude blockers erase your brand from AI answers. We keep your products indexable and recommended.
  • ✓ 100% fraud defense, zero buyer friction: Stops malicious ad click fraud and junk website bots without ever interrupting high-intent autonomous shoppers.
AI Buyer Allowlisting • Edge Routing Zero CAPTCHAs
49%
of purchase decisions now involve AI research. Buyers using AI models convert at 60% higher rates.
Legacy Tools (CHEQ, ClickCease)

Blunt IP Bans

Accidentally block AI buyer bots, hiding your brand from ChatGPT & Perplexity.

BotRefund Surgical Edge

Surgical Allowlisting

Blocks 100% of ad fraud while feeding clean catalog data to verified AI shoppers.

Supported AI Buyer Ecosystem
OpenAI / Operator Anthropic / Claude Perplexity AI B2B Procurement Bots
National Accounting Practice Verified Placement Invalidation
Read more case studies →

How an accounting firm invalidated 1,400 junk domains and recovered $18,700 from Google

A national tax and accounting firm noticed their Performance Max budget was being exhausted every morning with zero qualified consultation requests. Placement audits revealed thousands of clicks originating from foreign MFA blogs and click arbitrage portals. BotRefund invalidated the traffic, suppressed fake conversion signals, and recovered $18,700 in Google Ads cash billing credits under Policy 11182074.

$18,700
Google Ads credits approved
1,400+
Junk domains invalidated
3.2x
Qualified consultation booking growth

“Google gave us no way to exclude bad placements at the campaign level. BotRefund suppressed the bot traffic in real time and helped us build the exact evidentiary dossier needed to get an $18,700 billing refund from Google.”

Marketing Director
David M. Head of Growth, National Accounting Practice
Run a free PMax audit on your website →
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Performance Max website exclusion questions

Direct answers to the most common questions marketers ask about excluding websites, placement exclusion lists, and Google Ads billing refunds.

No. Google removed individual campaign-level placement exclusions from Performance Max. To exclude websites, you must add domains to an Account-Level Placement Exclusion List under Tools & Settings, which applies exclusions across all campaigns in your Google Ads account.
Google Ads allows up to 65,000 domains per account-level placement exclusion list. However, because thousands of new Made For Advertising (MFA) and scraper domains are created daily, static lists quickly become outdated.
When search volume on Google.com is saturated, Smart Bidding automatically diverts budget into third-party Display and Search Partner websites where clicks are cheap and abundant, fulfilling Google's spending quotas even if the traffic is automated.
When a bot clicks an ad from a junk domain and reaches your site, BotRefund detects the automated session in under 50ms and blocks the conversion tag. Deprived of conversion signals, Google AI automatically deprioritizes and exits that placement.
In Google Ads, click Reports in the top navigation, choose Predefined reports (Dimensions), navigate down to Other, and select Performance Max campaigns placement. You can view impressions across external websites and mobile apps.
Yes. Under Google Ads Policy 11182074, advertisers can dispute invalid traffic charges. When BotRefund submits cryptographic TLS JA4 handshakes, automated Chrome DevTools hooks, and verified GCLID microsecond logs proving non-human execution, Google billing investigators approve credits directly into your Google Ads account ledger.
THE 60-DAY DISPUTE CLOCK IS TICKING

Stop paying Google for junk website clicks.
Protect your pixels & recover your ad budget.

Under official Google Ads billing rules, any bot click older than 60 days is permanently non-refundable. Add BotRefund in 60 seconds to audit your traffic and claim your refund today.

Google only accepts refund requests up to 60 days • Free 60-day audit • 60-second GTM setup