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How we’re using AI in new ways to fight invalid traffic

By Per Bjorke·Aug 12, 2025·2 min read

Summary

Invalid traffic (IVT) is ad activity from non-genuine sources that wastes budgets and erodes trust. Google's Ad Traffic Quality team, with Google Research and DeepMind, introduced LLM-based defenses to improve content review, reducing IVT from deceptive practices by 40%. This helps advertisers reach real audiences and blocks policy violators.

Continued automated and manual checks ensure advertisers aren't charged for IVT, reflecting two decades of innovation to protect the ad ecosystem.

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