{"rewrite":{"id":"r_474ec139c82e9cd07ecb0b2c","clusterId":"c_93c669e67aeac84a1f703f06","slug":"developer-reports-60-of-google-ads-app-installs-came-from-suspected-bots","model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"Developer Reports 60% Of Google Ads App Installs Came From Suspected Bots","summary":"Nick Abe, who runs the puzzle app Dayzle, spent about $220 on Google app ads and found that roughly 60% of the installs Google Ads counted as results behaved like bots. Google Ads recorded 56 installs over two weeks; 33 ran an old app version, opened the app once, and spent 0 seconds on each screen. Abe has asked Google to investigate a refund.","whyItMatters":"One developer's server logs show install campaigns can bill for conversions that never reached his app through Google Play, which puts the number Google Ads reports and the number an advertiser can actually use at odds.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eAbe started with a 40 Canadian dollar daily budget and a 1.50 Canadian dollar target cost per install for the Android version of Dayzle. The budget barely moved for several days, so he removed the target as a test. Google Ads then spent 80 Canadian dollars in a day and logged 21 installs, while Dayzle\u0026#39;s admin panel showed only one.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 20 devices missing from his panel were running an app version that had not been distributed for several days, had opened the app once, and had spent 0 seconds on each screen. Abe suspects a bot farm generating view-through conversions from a saved app file.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"A developer spent about $220 on Google app ads. Google Ads counted 56 installs over two weeks; 33 ran an old app version, opened once, and logged 0 seconds per screen. He has asked Google to investigate a refund.","twitterPost":"A developer spent about $220 on Google app ads. Of 56 installs Google Ads counted over two weeks, 33 ran an outdated app version, opened once, and logged 0 seconds per screen. He suspects a bot farm and has asked Google to investigate.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"Nick Abe, who runs the puzzle app Dayzle, reports that about 60% of the installs Google Ads counted as results showed behavior unlikely to come from human use. Google Ads recorded 56 installs over two weeks, and 33 ran an app version that had not been distributed for days. He has asked Google to investigate a refund.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"GIGAZINE\",\"url\":\"https://gigazine.net/news/20260914-google-ads-bot-farm/\",\"title\":\"Report: About 60% of app installs were bots after spending about 30,000 yen on Google Ads\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4667,"outputTokens":586,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1789359270,"createdAt":"2026-09-14T04:09:35.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-09-14T04:13:23.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-14T04:13:23.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_93c669e67aeac84a1f703f06","canonicalTitle":"Google広告に約3万円使ったらアプリのインストールの約60％がボットだったという報告","representativeArticleId":"a_af32f80003147fecfc93df7b","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"Dayzle\"],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[\"Nick Abe\"],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"games\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-09-14T03:10:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-09-14T03:10:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-14T04:13:21.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"GIGAZINE","url":"https://gigazine.net/news/20260914-google-ads-bot-farm/","title":"Google広告に約3万円使ったらアプリのインストールの約60％がボットだったという報告"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["Dayzle"],"studios":[],"people":["Nick Abe"],"type":"news","domain":"games","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}