How can I stop getting spam leads from my Google Ads?

By: Jyll Saskin Gales, Google Ads Coach

Are you tired of spending a ton of money on your Google Ads, only to get a bunch of spam leads? Many businesses struggle with this issue, especially those in competitive industries. But don't worry, there are solutions.

Spam leads can occur when your ads attract the wrong kind of attention. For example, if you're a renovation company, you might get leads from marketers trying to sell you their services instead of potential customers looking for renovations. This can be frustrating and costly, but there are ways to address it.

Let's discuss six effective tools for fighting spam leads and ensuring that your Google Ads campaigns are delivering high-quality leads that are more likely to convert into paying customers.

1. Implement Offline Conversion Tracking (OCT)

Offline conversion tracking is a powerful tool that allows you to connect your Google Ads data with your customer relationship management (CRM) system. By tracking which leads convert into actual customers, you can provide Google Ads with valuable feedback. This helps the algorithm optimize your campaigns to attract more qualified leads and filter out spam.

If you don't have a CRM, or yours doesn't connect to Google Ads, I recommend trying out CallRail [affiliate link].

2. Use Audience Targeting

Refine your targeting by adding relevant audiences to your Search campaigns in Targeting mode. This limits your ad reach to users who are more likely to be interested in your products or services. For example, if you're a renovation company, you could target only homeowners, or users who have shown interest in home improvement projects. This can significantly reduce the number of irrelevant leads you receive.

New to audiences? You might enjoy my bestselling book, Inside Google Ads: Everything you need to know about Audience Targeting.

3. Disable Automatically Created Assets

Automatically created assets can sometimes lead to unintended consequences, such as attracting job seekers instead of potential customers. To avoid this, disable this feature in your account settings. This will give you more control over your ad messaging and ensure that it aligns with your business goals.

4. Add Negative Keywords

Regularly review the search terms that trigger your ads and add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant queries. Things like "career" or "job" or "cheap" or "free" can be helpful negatives to improve your traffic quality.

5. Use a Qualification Question

Ask specific questions in your lead form to filter out unqualified leads. These can be questions about budget or timeline, or something as simple as "leave this box unchecked" (bots can't read, so they'll check the box and you'll know it's spam).

6. Set up a Spam Filter, like ReCaptcha

Use a spam filter to automatically block users that behave suspiciously like bots, like ReCaptcha, and/or a spam filter that flags suspicious email addresses or phone numbers.

By implementing these tactics, you can significantly reduce the number of spam leads you receive and ensure that your Google Ads campaigns are delivering the results you want.