As an agency, it’s not always easy to handle click fraud with clients. But mostly it’s a matter of communication. In this guide to click fraud protection for agencies, discover exactly how to approach the topic of invalid traffic with your clients to boost campaign performance, increase transparency, and solidify your relationship.

Key takeaways

• Invalid traffic is a problem for agencies, not just clients. If IVT runs riot, it inflates CPAs, fills client CRMs with junk leads, and erodes trust, putting your contract renewal at risk.
• Keeping quiet about IVT is a big risk for agencies, as clients often discover the problem elsewhere. Talking openly about IVT — and backing up your recommendations with data and a practical plan — builds trust and positions you as the solution.
• Traffic quality should feature across your client operation. Introduce traffic audits, add a standard traffic quality module to your QBRs, and update your retainer model to reflect your click fraud protection service.
• Agencies like Mabo, Modo25, Clickoo and Circus PPC use Lunio to protect client campaigns across their portfolios. Mabo saves $43,500 on average every month, while Clickoo has reduced IVT rates by 8% across multiple client campaigns. Plus, Lunio partners with agencies including Croud, Incubeta and Digitl to deliver transparent traffic validity data to their clients.

Introduction

When clients are spending millions of dollars on paid media ads, they want results. So it’s tough when the data doesn’t look good: traffic is going up, but conversions are completely flat. Clients know it, and they’re asking questions.

As an agency, you know what’s behind this dodgy data: invalid traffic. IVT is a major drain on ad spend, and it affects pretty much all PPC advertisers. But they’re paying you for results, not excuses — so it’s hard to admit that at least some of the budget has been spent on fake traffic and bots.

No advertiser is immune from IVT. But agencies that acknowledge and proactively tackle the problem are in a stronger position than those who don’t. Agencies should address the click fraud problem upfront, build traffic quality into retainers and reviews, benchmark IVT rates against industry data, and present results as part of a proactive performance plan, rather than an excuse or admission of guilt.

According to Lunio’s 2026 Global Invalid Traffic report, 8.51% of traffic across all search and social channels is invalid. So while many clients aren’t aware of the problem, it’s almost certain to be affecting their campaigns — and that makes it a problem for agencies, too.

Here, we reveal why IVT is an agency-side risk, and how to make traffic quality part of your sales package, rather than an uncomfortable side issue. Find out how to brief clients on findings, present traffic details in QBRs, negotiate your retainer based on IVT detection and position your agency as the best choice for traffic protection in your sales pitch.

Why click fraud is an agency problem, not just a client problem

It’s easy to write click fraud off as a client-side cost, especially if you favour a percentage-of-spend pricing model, where you’re paid more for higher traffic volumes (whether it’s valid or not). But there are three major reasons why agencies should care about click fraud, too:

• Invalid traffic hides good performance. IVT will inflate CPAs and deflate conversion rates. So even if your actual conversion rate is good, it could be hidden under a layer of invalid clicks — which might cost you the client.

• Your client will blame you for junk leads. Bots can fill CRMs with spam leads, wasting the sales team’s time. While bots may be to blame, the buck for low quality lead gen stops with the agency.
• Competitors could expose the invalid traffic you’ve ignored. When a new CMO or alternative agency uncovers IVT in an audit, questions will be asked about why your agency has never mentioned it before.

Because campaigns are increasingly automated, exposure to IVT doesn’t just affect current campaigns. Invalid signals train AI Max, smart bidding, and other automated campaign algorithms to seek out similar traffic, leading to a negative feedback loop that generates poor results and drives up the cost of invalid traffic.

The trust paradox: why agencies avoid the IVT conversation (and why this backfires)

All this said, it’s understandable that agencies aren’t thrilled about discussing IVT openly with clients. First, there’s the fear of self-incrimination. You don’t know exactly how clients are going to react when you tell them a certain percentage of their spend is pretty much guaranteed to be spent targeting bots and generating fake leads, but there’s a chance that they’ll blame you.

Secondly, if you charge on a percentage-of-spend retainer, you might be worried that eliminating invalid traffic will impact your own bottom line. If removing IVT results in the client spending less, you're effectively giving yourself a pay cut.

But it’s in the client’s interest to tackle the problem, rather than cut budgets or assign blame. So clients don’t expect you to be able to control the internet’s thriving bot population, but they do expect you to identify, investigate, and manage it.

Being upfront and proactive about click fraud mitigation makes you look diligent and prepared, building trust between you and your clients. And eliminating IVT doesn’t usually reduce a client’s ad budget. Instead, they reallocate the spend to traffic that converts, improving results — and increasing the likelihood of your contract renewal.

So now you know what’s in it for you, you can reframe your approach to IVT. From now on, IVT isn’t something that’s gone wrong — it’s something you’re actively protecting clients from.

How to brief clients on invalid traffic: a 5-step framework

This all sounds good in theory, so let’s put it into practice. Follow our 5-step framework to brief clients on invalid traffic without causing alarm or going on the defensive.

1. Get client buy-in before you run an IVT audit

Goal: Get overt consent from the client to uncover how much invalid traffic is affecting their account.

What to do: Have a conversation with your client about conducting a PPC audit and get their consent to deploy an independent IVT detection platform on their ad account.

How to frame it: Position the audit as a routine process you perform regularly to keep IVT in check — there’s no cost or obligation to the client, and it won’t affect their campaign performance or settings. You’ll take care of deployment and analyzing results, which you’ll share at an agreed future point.

2. Establish a baseline

Goal: Find out how much IVT is affecting the client’s campaigns with no interventions, so you have a starting point to build from.

What to do: Run the audit using your preferred click fraud detection platform. If you don’t have a click fraud platform yet, Lunio offers a 14-day free traffic audit to establish a baseline IVT rate.

How to frame it: Establishing an IVT baseline means you can talk in specifics rather than hypotheticals. The client knows where they stand from the start, and any recommendations are viewed through this lens.

3. Benchmark the client’s IVT rate

Goal: Contextualize the client’s current IVT rate within their industry and channel selection, preventing panic or blame.

What to do: Check Lunio’s 2026 Global Invalid Traffic Report to see the average IVT rate for every major channel and industry. Compare these with your client’s IVT rate.

How to frame it: Present these findings to the client so they have a clear picture of their current performance in a broader context. Help them understand that IVT is a market-wide issue affecting every competing advertiser in their industry.

4. Quantify your findings in financial terms

Goal: Demonstrate the financial impact of your findings.

What to do: Translate the client’s IVT rate into campaign performance KPIs like wasted ad spend, inflated cost-per-action, and junk lead share.

How to frame it: Keep the maths simple, and only relay top-level metrics that mean something to the client. For example, show how IVT inflates CPAs by calculating ad spend ÷ genuine clicks, versus ad spend ÷ all clicks.

5. Set out a protective roadmap

Goal: Create a practical plan to reduce IVT and keep rates as low as possible.

What to do: Demonstrate to the client how you plan to manage invalid traffic to mitigate the impact on their performance: what gets blocked, what gets reallocated, and how these figures will be reported.

How to frame it: For clients who have been burnt by IVT previously, frame your response honestly and positively: while in-platform campaign management was sound, the traffic wasn’t, so here’s how we’re going to make sure you only pay for real visits from genuine customers.

Most clients will be satisfied with this response: a practical plan backed by real data. But discerning clients will want to know more about these invalid clicks. More specifically: how do you know the clicks you blocked weren’t real customers?

All good click fraud protection platforms measure their false positive rate: the number of users wrongly identified as invalid. A published false positive rate of under 1% is strong, and means very few users are being incorrectly flagged. Lunio even has an additional "suspicious" traffic category, which rechecks ambiguous sources before blocking or allowing the click.

Being able to answer this pushback question with ease instantly increases trust between you and your client.

Building IVT into your QBRs: the traffic quality module

Invalid traffic will never be tackled definitively (at least not until Google et al decide to start taking it seriously). So the best agencies don’t just perform a one-off audit — they make traffic quality a recurring theme at every QBR.

Here’s what your QBR traffic quality module should include for each client:

• Invalid traffic rate this quarter vs industry average (take this from Lunio’s 2026 Global Invalid Traffic Report)
• How much spend you protected and how much traffic you blocked in the last quarter
• How the saved budget was reallocated across other campaigns, and how this impacted results
• Lead quality trends (junk lead share and MQL rates this quarter vs previous quarters)
• What’s changed in the IVT landscape and how you’ve adapted to this (for example, flag if you’ve reduced junk ad placements, blocked traffic from unusual locations, or noticed quality drift in automated campaigns)

Inserting this short traffic quality module into your QBR adds huge value. Suddenly, you’re not just providing a background utility — you’re offering visible, reportable benefits.

Lunio is already helping agencies save money for themselves and their clients. Digital marketing agency Mabo saves £32,700 (approximately $43,500) on average every month, after increasing their traffic quality by 6.1%. Mabo MD, Lee Mableson, has commented on how Lunio helps them with client communications:

“Ad fraud is rife throughout most industries, which makes having Lunio in place a no-brainer. It’s great to have the protection as part of our arsenal to improve results for clients. We’re able to share the results with our clients, and they can see for themselves the difference.”

The retainer conversation: how to position (and charge for) traffic protection

Some agencies worry that tackling invalid traffic will affect their revenue, but this doesn’t usually happen. Most clients won’t cut their media budget just because it’s no longer being spent on bots; you’ll just be able to reallocate their investment to campaigns that convert. And by telling them this, you’ll avoid any suspicion that your recommendations are benefiting you financially. It becomes about performance, not payment.

Your agency will need to invest in a click fraud detection solution, which means integrating this expense into your commercial package. The three most common retainer models are:

• Bundling click fraud protection into your standard service as a key differentiator. You absorb the costs or build them into your retainer.
• Asking the client to pay for the tool separately from your fee, while you manage the software day-to-day. This gives them full transparency over the service and keeps your retainer separate.
• Offering click fraud protection and reporting as an add-on or higher service level, so you can monetize the upgrade.

Whichever model you choose, it’s important to name invalid traffic protection in the scope of the offer. Without this, there’s no acknowledgement of the steps you’ve taken to protect their campaigns from IVT.

Lunio supports all these retainer models. To talk pricing and how it works with your clients, book your free 14-day traffic audit — our sales team will be happy to talk you through your options.

Winning new business with traffic audits

When you’re looking to win new business, offering a no-obligation traffic audit as part of your sales pitch can give you an edge over other competitors — and the incumbent agency, if there is one. It gives you proof of a problem that’s never been mentioned before, as well as a practical way to boost results from the very start.

Many clients only find out they have an IVT problem thanks to a competitive pitch, and it can paint the incumbent agency in a pretty poor light. You don’t want to be caught out in the same way by other agencies, which is why it’s essential to brief your own clients first.

But badmouthing other agencies doesn’t make you look great either, so be careful about how you frame the results. Rather than making it about previous failings, focus on positioning your agency as the solution.

How Lunio supports agencies

Lunio’s click fraud prevention software works for agencies who want to eliminate IVT for multiple clients. We offer 100% real-time traffic monitoring, a false positive rate of less than 1%, and granular insights for easy QBR traffic reporting. Lunio deploys across multiple client accounts with no IT friction or cookies, so it fits seamlessly into any ad stack. It’s why we’re trusted by agencies like Mabo, Modo25, Circus PPC, and Clickoo.

Clickoo saved £16,000 (around $21,300) in a single quarter by using Lunio, with 8% of clicks identified as invalid. After seeing huge success with Lunio — and having the data to back up their pitch — Clickoo now offers Lunio protection to all their clients.

Sign up for a free 14-day traffic audit to discover how much IVT is currently affecting your clients’ campaigns. Plus, discover all the benefits available when your agency upgrades to become a Lunio partner. Lunio’s partnership program helps agencies onboard every new client with ease, offering:

• Portfolio management functionality, so you can switch seamlessly between clients
• White-label reporting, so you can present Lunio data as your own
• A seamless Lunio onboarding experience for new clients, supported by a dedicated client-facing customer success executive
• A PPC specialist account manager to help you get the most from Lunio
• Deeper data analysis to understand what’s driving IVT for your clients

Find out more about becoming a Lunio agency partner and join global agencies like Croud, Digitl, and Incubeta.

FAQ

Learn more about using click fraud detection software as a digital advertising agency in these frequently asked questions.

How should an agency tell a client about click fraud in their campaigns?

It’s often nerve-racking to tell a client when you discover click fraud in their campaigns, but how you frame it will likely make a difference in how they react. Address the issue honestly but positively — now you know how much IVT is affecting their campaigns, you can start to tackle it.

Should agencies include invalid traffic data in client reporting?

Yes. Sharing traffic quality data helps clients understand what click fraud is, how it affects their campaign performance, and how you can solve it. It means no other agency can swoop in and pitch for your client based on new IVT information; you’re already supplying all the support they need.

Who should pay for click fraud protection — the agency or the client?

It depends on which retainer model you choose, but most of the time the client will pay at least partly for click fraud protection. They may pay for the software directly, or via your retainer fee (i.e. as an optional upgrade or price increase).

Will blocking invalid traffic reduce my client's ad spend — and my agency fee?

In most cases, no. Blocking invalid traffic doesn’t affect the client’s budget. It just allows you to allocate the full budget to campaigns and audiences that are likely to yield the best results. So unless the client actively decides to reduce their advertising budget for any reason, your fee shouldn’t be affected by exposing invalid traffic.

Does invalid traffic make an agency look bad?

Invalid traffic by itself won’t make an agency look bad. It’s a problem that affects every digital advertiser worldwide, regardless of size, spend, or industry. So it shouldn’t surprise clients when they see IVT in their results.

But brushing the problem under the rug can make you look bad, especially if another agency comes along and exposes the problem. That’s why we always recommend an upfront, honest approach.

How much of a typical client's ad spend is lost to invalid traffic?

The amount a client could lose to invalid traffic varies depending on their industry, budget, and the channels they’re using. Some channels — like TikTok ads — have much higher IVT rates than others.

Let’s say your client spends $2M a year on paid media. They spend 20% of their budget on TikTok ads and the remaining 80% on Meta ads. TikTok has an average IVT rate of 24.2% (the highest of all major channels) and Meta has an average IVT rate of 8.2%, so assuming these rates, your client could be spending $228,000 on invalid clicks every year — 11.4% of their overall spend.

Can agencies manage click fraud protection across multiple client accounts?

Yes — if you have the right click fraud protection software. As a Lunio partner, you’ll get access to multi-account functionality, allowing you to manage your entire portfolio with ease. Plus, your dedicated customer success representative will help onboard new clients seamlessly, helping you build IVT detection into your agency’s service.