Hacker News: nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=nickabeHacker News RSShttps://hnrss.org/hnrss v2.1.1Sat, 12 Sep 2026 05:26:02 +0000<![CDATA[New comment by nickabe in "I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots"]]>Yeah sorry - adding it to Europe probably next week though.

]]>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:20:15 +0000https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667227nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667227https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667227<![CDATA[New comment by nickabe in "I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots"]]>Thanks very much - really means a lot that you enjoyed it, we put a lot of effort into making it.

]]>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:18:15 +0000https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667206nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667206https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667206<![CDATA[New comment by nickabe in "I spent $220 on Google app ads. 60% of the installs were robots"]]>Yeah if there's a DB that would be helpful - I'm not currently capturing the IP, but I'll see if I can add it in a future release.

]]>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 21:01:35 +0000https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665333nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665333https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665333<![CDATA[New comment by nickabe in "I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots"]]>Surprisingly, no. 29 of the 30 zero-time installs had no click at all; Google credited them to someone watching the video. The install isn't what gets the farm paid. It's what makes Google's bidding think that placement is working, so it sends it more of your ads.

]]>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 21:00:54 +0000https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665323nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665323https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665323<![CDATA[New comment by nickabe in "I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots"]]>I guess that's the nice thing about not having a VC... there's no advantage to spinning to anything other than fraud lol.

]]>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 20:59:22 +0000https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665304nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665304https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665304<![CDATA[New comment by nickabe in "I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots"]]>Thanks, and agreed. The in-app goal was the lesson, and I'd rather have learned it at $220 than at a trial-run budget. The part I found interesting is that Google's count wasn't wrong: there really were 21 installs. You only saw the problem by looking at which version of the app they installed. The YC advice is roughly where I've ended up too. And fair point on the refund, I'm not holding my breath, but I'll report back either way.

]]>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 20:49:47 +0000https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665165nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665165https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49665165<![CDATA[I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots]]>Article URL: https://dayzlegame.com/blog/google-ads-bot-farm/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49662990

Points: 410

# Comments: 210

]]>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:24:55 +0000https://dayzlegame.com/blog/google-ads-bot-farm/nickabehttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49662990https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49662990