Why am I getting spam leads from Google Ads?

Most spam leads from Google Ads come from four places: search partner sites and Display placements your campaign is allowed to show on, a lead form set up for volume, bots that post straight into the form on your website, and robocalls to the number in your ad. Find out which one you have before you change anything, because each one has a different fix and some of the popular fixes (like adding a captcha) only deal with one of them. The other thing to fix quickly is your conversion tracking: if every form fill counts as a conversion, Google’s bidding treats spam as success and goes looking for more of it.

This page is for owners of trade and local service businesses who are getting junk enquiries from their ads: gibberish names, numbers that don’t connect, emails that bounce, calls that are a recording. Type “google ads spam” into Google and it suggests “spam leads”, “spam calls” and “spam calls reddit”, and r/PPC and r/googleads have threads titled “Spam leads are killing my campaign learning” and “Help! All I’m getting are SPAM leads”. The questions below are the ones those owners ask.

Where are my Google Ads spam leads coming from?

Look at which campaign, network and conversion action the spam arrives through, because the source decides the fix. Most accounts have one main leak, and the checks in this table usually find it.

If you’re seeing more than one row, start with the conversion tracking change in the next section, then work down this table.

Why do spam leads get worse the longer the campaign runs?

Because if spam counts as a conversion, automated bidding learns to find more of it. Google says primary conversion actions are “used for bidding”, while secondary actions are for observation only (About primary and secondary conversion actions). So when “form submitted” is a primary conversion and half the submissions are junk, Maximize conversions or Target CPA is being paid to repeat whatever produced the junk.

Here’s how that plays out, with example figures. A cleaning company’s Search campaign reports 40 conversions in a month at a cost per conversion that looks fine. The owner goes through the enquiries: 26 are fake names, dead numbers or the same message pasted from somewhere. That’s 14 real enquiries, so the true cost per enquiry is nearly three times what the account shows, and bidding has spent the month treating the 26 as wins. Next month it pushes harder toward the placements and searches that produced them.

The fix has two parts:

1. Stop rewarding raw form fills. In Google Ads, go to Goals, then Summary, find the goal that holds your form conversion and click Edit goal. Under “Conversion action optimization”, set the raw form fill to Secondary (observe only) and Save (Google’s steps). Only do this once something better is set as primary, or bidding has nothing to aim at.
2. Tell Google which leads were real. Enhanced conversions for leads lets you send back the leads you qualified, matched by the hashed email or phone number from the form, and Google recommends measuring with “qualified or converted lead goals” (Configure the Google tag for enhanced conversions for leads). Google’s Performance Max guidance says the same thing in plainer terms: pick the conversion goal “closest to a sale or closed deal” and bid toward one stage of the funnel (Performance Max best practices for lead generation).

For a small business without a CRM, the simplest version is a phone call or job booked as the primary conversion, with form fills kept as secondary until you can upload which ones turned into real customers.

Should I turn off search partners and the Display Network?

For most local service Search campaigns getting spam, yes, turn both off and watch what happens to lead quality over the next few weeks. Search partners are switched on by default, and Google itself says partner clicks “may not always reflect highly targeted traffic” (About the Google Search Network).

To change it, open Campaigns, hover over the campaign, click the gear icon beside its name, open Networks, and untick “Include Google search partners”. Leave only Google Search Network selected if you want your ads on Google Search alone. In the same Networks section, check whether “Include Google Display Network” is ticked; that’s Display Expansion, which sends a Search campaign onto Display Network sites and apps (About Display Expansion on Search campaigns). These are per campaign settings, so repeat them for each Search campaign.

The trade-off is volume. You’ll get fewer clicks, and in a small market that can make the campaign feel slow. Judge it on real enquiries and booked jobs, never on clicks or reported conversions.

How do I stop spam leads from Performance Max?

You can’t untick networks in Performance Max the way you can in Search, so the fixes sit at account level and in your conversion setup. Google says Performance Max placement exclusions are managed at the account level, and since March 2024 those account level exclusions also cover the Search Partner Network for Performance Max, Search and Smart campaigns (Exclude placements at the account level).

1. Review where the ads ran. Google’s lead generation guidance says to check placement reports regularly for sites and apps that are “irrelevant or not a good fit” (Performance Max best practices for lead generation).
2. Exclude the bad ones account wide: Tools, then Content suitability, then Advanced settings, and add the URLs under “Excluded placements” (Google’s steps).
3. Add qualifying questions to any lead form, and reCAPTCHA plus server side validation on your website form, both of which Google recommends in the same Performance Max guidance.
4. Bid on qualified leads only, as in the conversion section above. This one matters most for Performance Max, because it has the widest choice of places to find “conversions”.

If Performance Max keeps producing junk after all four, a plain Search campaign is often the better tool for a local trade. Our guide to Search campaigns vs Performance Max for lead generation walks through that choice.

Why is my Google Ads lead form getting fake leads?

Usually because the form was set up to maximise the number of leads, which makes it quick to submit for anyone, including people who tapped by accident. When you use lead forms in a campaign, Google offers two lead types: “More volume” uses fewer steps and, in Google’s words, may include people who are less interested, while “More qualified” uses a form with more steps and usually brings fewer, more interested leads (Use lead forms in campaigns).

Three settings on the lead form asset cut junk further (Create lead form assets):

• Qualifying questions. Turn a multiple choice question into a qualifying question and choose which answers mark a strong prospect, for example “When do you need the work done?” with “This week” and “This month” as qualifying answers. Google tags matching submissions as qualified leads.
• OTP verification. This adds a one-time code sent by SMS that the person has to enter. Google says it helps by “filtering out invalid numbers, automated spam, and bots”. It currently works for Search campaigns only.
• Getting leads out fast. Google keeps lead form leads for 60 days and the CSV download only covers the last 30 (About lead form assets). Connect a webhook or Zapier to your CRM so you can call real leads quickly and mark the junk.

Will reCAPTCHA stop spam leads from Google Ads?

It stops bots posting to your website form, which is one source out of several. It does nothing about junk from partner sites where a real person fills in the form, from Google’s own lead form on the ad, or from robocalls. That’s why owners in r/googleads report spam continuing “despite captcha and honeypot being active”.

Still, add it. reCAPTCHA v3 runs without showing the visitor a puzzle and gives each submission a score from 0.0 (very likely a bot) to 1.0 (very likely a good interaction), with 0.5 as Google’s suggested starting threshold (reCAPTCHA v3). Google’s Performance Max guidance pairs it with server side validation (source), which means the server rejects submissions with an impossible phone number, a disposable email or a blank required field even when a bot skips the page and posts straight to the form.

Two more checks that help in practice: a hidden “honeypot” field that real visitors never see, so anything that fills it is a bot, and capturing the GCLID (Google’s click ID) in a hidden field. A lead with no GCLID didn’t come from an ad click, so pausing the ads won’t stop it; that’s form spam to fix on the website.

Why am I getting spam calls from my Google Ads?

Because the phone number in your ad is public, robocallers and sales callers dial it like any other listed number, and a call from your ad counts as a conversion once it lasts the minimum length you set. Google’s call conversion setup counts “every call that lasts at least” that long (About phone call conversion tracking). If your minimum is short, every robocall becomes a conversion.

To see what’s happening, open Campaigns, expand “Insights and reports”, choose Report editor, and under “Ads and assets” pick Call details. It shows start time, duration, caller area code and whether the call was missed, plus the caller’s number for most calls longer than 15 seconds outside India and Japan (View details of each call). If the junk calls cluster at a few seconds long or come from area codes outside your service area, raise the minimum call length on the call conversion action to a length a real enquiry would pass, and check your location targeting.

Do I get a refund for spam leads?

No refund is given for a lead as such; Google’s protections work on clicks. Google says you aren’t charged for invalid clicks, which include automated traffic from bots, and that clicks found invalid after you’ve paid may be credited on a later invoice (Invalid clicks: definition). A real person on a partner site who fills your form with nonsense isn’t an invalid click, so that spend is gone.

If you think a pattern of clicks is fraudulent, our post on whether competitors are clicking your Google Ads covers how to collect the evidence and ask Google to investigate, and whether click fraud software is worth paying for.

Spam lead checklist

• Raw form fills set to Secondary, with a call, booking or qualified lead as Primary
• Search partners and Display Expansion off on every Search campaign, unless the numbers prove they bring real jobs
• Performance Max placement report reviewed and bad sites excluded at account level
• Lead form asset on “More qualified”, with a qualifying question, and OTP verification on Search
• reCAPTCHA, server side validation and a honeypot on your website form
• GCLID captured in a hidden field, so you can tell ad leads from form spam
• Minimum call length set above what a robocall lasts, checked against the Call details report
• Someone marking each lead real or junk every week, so you can see whether the changes worked

Common mistakes when fixing spam leads

• Adding a captcha and calling it done. It only fixes bot submissions. Check the source table first.
• Making form fills secondary with nothing primary. Smart bidding then has no target. Put calls or qualified leads in as primary first.
• Judging the fix by reported conversions. Reported conversions should drop when spam stops counting. Track real enquiries and booked jobs instead.
• Deleting junk leads without recording them. Note the date, campaign and what was wrong with each one. That record is how you spot which campaign or setting is producing the spam.
• Blaming Google Ads for spam that has no ad click. If the junk has no GCLID and keeps arriving with ads paused, it’s a website form problem.

If you’d rather someone else sorted it, our Google Ads management team sets up tracking that counts calls and booked jobs instead of junk form fills, cleans up network and placement settings, and builds campaigns around the searches your customers actually make. We manage your first two months free; you fund your own ad budget. If your ads get clicks but no real calls at all, start with why your Google Ads are getting clicks but no calls. For every stage from impression to answered call, see why your Google Ads aren’t getting calls, and for searches to block, our negative keywords list for trades.

FAQ

Are Google lead form leads worse than website form leads?

They can be when the form is set to “More volume”, because it takes very little effort to submit. Google says “More qualified” uses more steps and brings fewer but more interested leads, and you can add qualifying questions or SMS verification on Search campaigns.

Should I add click fraud software to stop spam leads?

Fix your network settings, conversion tracking and form protection first, since they cost nothing and deal with most spam. Software that blocks suspicious IPs works on clicks, so it won’t stop a real person filling in your form with junk or a robocaller dialling your number.

Will turning off search partners hurt my results?

You’ll usually lose some clicks and some reported conversions. Judge it on real enquiries and booked jobs over the following weeks, and turn partners back on for a campaign only if the numbers show they brought real customers.

How do I tell a spam lead from a real one that went cold?

Spam usually has details that can’t be real: a phone number that doesn’t connect, a name made of random letters, the same message pasted across fields, or no GCLID behind it. A real lead that went cold has working details and a believable request. Mark them separately, because only the first points to a setup problem.

Sources: 1. About primary and secondary conversion actions (Google Ads Help). 2. Configure the Google tag for enhanced conversions for leads (Google Ads Help). 3. Performance Max best practices for lead generation (Google Ads Help). 4. About the Google Search Network (Google Ads Help). 5. About Display Expansion on Search campaigns (Google Ads Help). 6. Exclude placements at the account level (Google Ads Help). 7. Use lead forms in campaigns (Google Ads Help). 8. Create lead form assets (Google Ads Help). 9. About lead form assets (Google Ads Help). 10. reCAPTCHA v3 (Google for Developers). 11. About phone call conversion tracking (Google Ads Help). 12. View details of each call (Google Ads Help). 13. Invalid clicks: definition (Google Ads Help).