Cite as: Real Problem AI problem “Why did most of the installs I paid Google Ads for come from bots?”. Opportunity score 7.6 out of 10 (severity 8, AI feasibility 7, market signal 9, competition gap 6). Category Marketing, Sales & CRM. Trend AI Infra. Source signal: Hacker News discussion of a post about paying for Google app ads and getting bot installs, 11 September 2026, 764 points, 434 comments.. Canonical URL: https://www.realproblem.ai/archive/why-did-most-of-the-installs-i-paid-google-ads-for-come-from-bots.
Why did most of the installs I paid Google Ads for come from bots?
Indie developers and small businesses spend a few hundred dollars on ads and get clicks and installs that never do anything, then find the ad platform will not explain or refund it.
Who has it: Indie app makers, solo founders and small businesses spending under a few thousand dollars a month on Google, Meta or Reddit ads.
Evidence
“Reading all the comments, it seems quite bleak to advertise. How do indies and SMBs reach audience these days then?”
Quoted word for word from the public post linked below. Nobody submitted it to Real Problem AI.
Hacker News discussion of a post about paying for Google app ads and getting bot installs, 11 September 2026, 764 points, 434 comments.Why it is archived
Trimmed to 100-cap (lowest opportunity_score)
Scoring breakdown
Existing players
- Google Ads IP exclusions · Manual blocking of data center ranges, which commenters say grows to thousands of entries.
- ClickCease (CHEQ) · Click fraud blocking for search ads, less help with app installs and in-app events.
- TrafficGuard · Ad fraud prevention built mainly for larger performance marketing budgets.
What they are missing
A small-budget ad audit that joins ad clicks with app and site events, scores each campaign for bot patterns (data center IPs, zero engagement, install bursts), turns the evidence into exclusion lists and a refund claim, and tells the founder plainly which channel is worth the next $100.
Stack hint
#OCT6 · Canonical URL: https://www.realproblem.ai/archive/why-did-most-of-the-installs-i-paid-google-ads-for-come-from-bots