How to Set Up Protect Ads and Connect Your Google Ads Account

A step-by-step walkthrough for installing Protect Ads, securely connecting your Google Ads account via the official API, adding the tracking code to your landing pages, and activating campaign protection.

Getting started with Protect Ads is straightforward and takes only a few minutes. This guide walks you through every step — from creating your account to activating real-time click fraud protection on your Google Ads campaigns.

Protect Ads protection

Step 1: Create your Protect Ads account

Sign up at Protect Ads and log in to your dashboard. The dashboard is where you manage everything: account connections, domain settings, protection rules, and reporting. No credit card is required to get started, and you can explore the interface before connecting your first campaign.

Step 2: Connect your Google Ads account

In the dashboard, navigate to the Connect Ad Account section.
Click Connect Google Ads and follow the official Google sign-in flow. Protect Ads is authorized by Google to use their API, so the connection is fully secure, OAuth-based, and follows Google's data policies.
Select the Google Ads account (or MCC if you manage multiple accounts) you want to protect.
Grant the permissions Protect Ads requires: reading campaign data (to understand which campaigns to protect) and managing IP exclusion lists (to push blocked addresses to Google).

The connection is a one-time setup. You can add or remove accounts later from the dashboard without re-authorizing.

Step 3: Install the tracking code on your landing pages

In your Protect Ads dashboard, open Domain Settings or Install Tracking Code.
Copy the lightweight JavaScript snippet provided.
Paste it into the <head> section of every landing page that receives paid traffic — or deploy it globally via Google Tag Manager. The code is asynchronous and does not affect page-load speed.
The tracking code is what enables Protect Ads to analyze each visit, evaluate behavioral and technical signals, and trigger real-time blocking when fraud is detected.

Protect Ads detection

Step 4: Select campaigns and domains to protect

In the dashboard, choose which Google Ads campaigns or domains you want Protect Ads to monitor and protect. You can protect everything at once or start with your highest-spend campaigns.
Confirm that protection status shows Active. The dashboard will display the number of protected campaigns and start tracking blocked traffic immediately.

Step 5: Configure protection settings (optional but recommended)

Threat level: Set how aggressive the blocking is. "High threat only" catches confirmed bots and fraud with minimal false positives. A broader setting catches more borderline traffic — useful in highly competitive industries.
Whitelisted IPs: Add your office IP, agency IPs, testing tools, and partner addresses so they are never blocked. This is especially important for B2B advertisers and teams that click their own ads during QA.
Custom rules: Depending on your plan, you can create industry-specific rules (e.g., limit clicks per IP per hour, block specific user-agent strings, or target known bad ASN ranges).

Once the tracking code is live and Google Ads is connected, Protect Ads runs continuously in the background — detecting, blocking, and syncing in real time. Check your dashboard regularly to monitor blocked traffic, review savings, and fine-tune settings for optimal protection.