Is Google ads cheating?

M

mojovski

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Hi
I am running Google ads campaign and observe this:
My landing page has a redirect after 1 second .
But only 40% of all visitors get to the target page of the redirection

Does it mean 60% are bots and don't even wait for the page to load for a second?
 
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Easier to assume that your redirect doesn't work for all users.
Did you check it on mobile? iOS specifically.
 
roydan said:
Easier to assume that your redirect doesn't work for all users.
Did you check it on mobile? iOS specifically.
Click to expand...
I agree.
Looks more like a technical issue.

Also, it might take little longer for some people to load and they click back.
Even if it's just 1-3 seconds.
 
Here’s a good approach: switch to a server-side redirect so it happens right away instead of waiting on a delayed JavaScript redirect—that way, more users actually get to the right page. Also, keep an eye on your traffic quality because some of it might be low-quality or even automated bots. And definitely don’t skip checking your iOS mobile traffic {since iOS blocks trackers and can interfere with redirects} looking into it will help you tell the difference between real users and tracking glitches.

mojovski said:
Hi
I am running Google ads campaign and observe this:
My landing page has a redirect after 1 second .
But only 40% of all visitors get to the target page of the redirection

Does it mean 60% are bots and don't even wait for the page to load for a second?
Click to expand...
 
mojovski said:
Hi
I am running Google ads campaign and observe this:
My landing page has a redirect after 1 second .
But only 40% of all visitors get to the target page of the redirection

Does it mean 60% are bots and don't even wait for the page to load for a second?
Click to expand...

ChatGPT said:​

Yes, likely — about 60% are bots or automated clicks that don’t wait for the redirect. Only real users typically reach the target page.
 
Awesome! Thank you for the hints!
 
Competitor click your ads and out your ads at top google search rank
 
Likely a mix of bots and real users leaving before the redirect.
  • Use server-side (301/302) redirect instead of JS delay.
  • Filter bots in GA4.
  • Check page speed and ad relevance — slow or mismatched pages lose real visitors fast.
 
Another thing I thought might be the original page. I can't imagine waiting for an entire second on a blank page.

Do you have anything there? Something to let the users know that something is about to happen (and no, a "you are being redirected" message doesn't count lol
 
It’s very likely yes many of them are bots or automated crawlers that don’t wait for redirects I had a similar case and fixing it by adding a short loading delay and better filtering helped confirm how much real traffic was actually staying
 
mojovski said:
Hi
I am running Google ads campaign and observe this:
My landing page has a redirect after 1 second .
But only 40% of all visitors get to the target page of the redirection

Does it mean 60% are bots and don't even wait for the page to load for a second?
Click to expand...
Although some of the 60% that is missing might be bots, it's also possible that actual users are leaving because of the redirect delay. My recommendation is to link your Google ad straight to the last landing page and remove the one-second redirect. This will decrease bounce loss and give you a more realistic view of actual traffic.
 
It doesn't automatically mean they're bots. Many real visitors just don't wait for a 1 sec redirect. Slow devices poor connection or accidental clicks can all cause the drop.
 
I noticed that the quality of traffic from google ads started to deteriorate from the beginning of 2025, maybe they are testing adding fake traffic to the ads.
 
This could be due to slow loading, visitors leaving quickly, low quality clicks, or bots being filtered out. It doesn’t automatically mean that 60% are bots.
 
mojovski said:
Hi
I am running Google ads campaign and observe this:
My landing page has a redirect after 1 second .
But only 40% of all visitors get to the target page of the redirection

Does it mean 60% are bots and don't even wait for the page to load for a second?
Click to expand...
It’s not necessary that 60% of the visitors are bots Traffic on Google Ads is a mix some real users are impatient and leave the page before the redirect happens while some could be automated crawlers or bots Just seeing that only 40% of people reach the target page doesn’t mean that the rest are all bots
 
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