Why Optimizing Towards Clicks in Programmatic Is a Bad Idea

It might seem like everyone knows optimizing for clicks is a bad idea…
But CPC bidding still lives in many DSPs — and a lot of buyers still use it.

Why? Because clicks are easy to see, easy to report, and easy to chase.
But that doesn’t mean they’re real signals of value.

❌ Why Clicks Don’t Work in Programmatic

• Clicks ≠ Engagement
  On the open web, most people don’t click display ads — and if they do, it’s often by accident. The real role of programmatic is to drive attention, familiarity, and outcomes post-view.

• Clicks Are Easy to Fake
  Bots love clicks. So do click farms and deceptive placements. Optimizing to CPC often sends your budget straight into low-quality, fraud-prone supply.

• Clicks Belong in Search — Not Display
  Search users are typing with intent. Programmatic users are reading, watching, and scrolling. Different mindset = different KPIs.

• Clicks Are Lazy Logic
  When you optimize for clicks, your DSP isn’t looking for value — it’s looking for volume. The cheapest clicks win, not the best users.

✅ What to Optimize Toward Instead

Start moving away from vanity clicks and toward actual quality and attention. Here’s what to use instead:

• High-quality supply signals
  Use tools like OpenSincera to filter for domains with low ads-to-content ratios, good identifier support, and lower refresh rates.

• Post-impression conversions
  Optimize to real business outcomes — not just front-end interactions.

• Avg. Time in View
  A better attention proxy than CTR. If users see your ad for longer, that impression has more value.

• Your own custom quality tiers
  Score domains using quality data, then build bid strategies that align with attention, not bots.

🛠️ Build a Quality Filter for Your Campaigns Using OpenSincera + Google Sheets

You can build a lightweight enrichment workflow in Google Sheets using OpenSincera’s free API — no dev team needed. This lets you evaluate supply quality after campaigns by pulling in metrics like ads-to-content ratio, page weight, and identifier coverage.

Here’s how to do it, step-by-step.

🔧 What You’ll Need

• A list of domains from your DSP (e.g., post-campaign report from TTD)

• An OpenSincera account (free with company email)

• Your API token (found under Profile after logging in)

• Access to Google Sheets + Apps Script

📐 Suggested Sheet Structure

Set up two tabs in your Google Sheet:

1. CampaignData (or whatever name works for you):
   Paste your post-campaign impression data here. Make sure there's a column with domains (e.g., forbes.com, buzzfeed.com, etc.).

2. SinceraData:
   This is where you’ll store enriched data from the OpenSincera API. Each row will represent a domain and its associated quality signals.

🔄 How It Works

You’ll write a simple Apps Script that does the following:

• Loops through the domains in your campaign data

• For each domain, calls the OpenSincera API and retrieves:

  • Ads-to-Content Ratio (A2CR)

  • Avg Ads in View

  • Ad Refresh Rate (in seconds)

  • Avg Page Weight (MB)

  • Identifier Absorption Rate

• Stores these results in the SinceraData tab (one row per domain)

• You can then use VLOOKUP to map those metrics back to your campaign data

💬 Example ChatGPT Prompt

Here’s a prompt to help generate the Apps Script if you don’t want to code it yourself:

🔁 After the Data is Pulled

Once your SinceraData tab is populated:

• Use VLOOKUP in your CampaignData tab to match each domain with its Sincera metrics.

• Sort or filter based on thresholds (e.g. flag domains with A2CR > 0.4, or Page Weight > 10MB).

• Build supply quality tiers, identify waste, and support blocklist recommendations with objective data.

TL;DR

• Clicks are misleading, gameable, and often toxic.

• Quality signals like A2CR, ad refresh rate, and page weight are better attention proxies.

• With OpenSincera + Google Sheets, you can operationalize that today — no devs needed.

💬 Want to sanity-check your own setup?

If this made you rethink your current bidding logic or you’re not sure whether your campaigns are optimizing for real outcomes (or just noise), let’s talk.

I offer consultations for programmatic marketers and ad buyers who want to get more signal, less fluff.
Just fill out this quick form - I’ll personally reach out.

🎁 Bonus: Get my guide "Do You Really Need Programmatic?" for free

Normally paid, but free to subscribers → Access it here

👋 Let’s connect

• LinkedIn: @chubakovnt

• All links & resources: vchubakov.carrd.co