Running ads · Updated October 4, 2026
Why do I get calls for things I don't sell?
Updated October 4, 2026
Because your ad showed on searches for things you don't sell, and those searchers tapped your number. Broad match, the default for new keywords, matches related searches, and AI Max, search partners and auto-applied recommendations widen that further. Find the searches in the Search terms report, block them as negative keywords, and narrow general keywords.
If a caller wants a job you don't do, find the search that showed your ad
Treat the call as a clue to a search. Someone typed something, Google decided your ad fit it, and your number was in front of them. Find that search, block it, and the calls from it stop.
Work in this order, because each step names the next. The Call details report gives the keyword behind an ad call. The Search terms report shows what that keyword matched. The Match type column points to the setting that widened it. Then block the searches, and fix the ad and the conversion count so the wrong calls stop being rewarded.
Google's help page on unwanted calls names the cause: "your call-only ad or call asset is showing as a search result for a general keyword, and the lead was not sufficiently qualified." Its example is a home security company bidding on "security" that gets calls from people searching "social security".
The word that matched is usually one you share with another trade. "Generator" covers installs and rentals. "Drain" covers plumbing and gutters. A general keyword brings all of those searches to your ad, and a phone button turns them into calls.
For example
An electrician who installs standby generators runs the broad match keyword generator installation. In a month the ads bring 100 calls. The Search terms report shows the keyword also matched "portable generator rental" and "rent a generator for a party". If 20 of the 100 calls asked for rentals, that is up to 20 paid clicks a month from one family of searches, and three negative keywords, rent, rental and rentals, block most of it.
Check the call came from your ad, then note the keyword behind it
If call reporting is on, open the Call details report before you change a keyword. It lists the calls to the Google forwarding numbers in your ads, with the campaign, the ad group and the keyword.
- In Google Ads, click Campaigns, open Insights and reports, then click Report editor.
- Under Ads and assets, click Call details.
- Find the call by its start time and duration, or by the caller's number. Google shows the number for most calls longer than 15 seconds.
- Note the Campaign, Ad group and Search keyword. That keyword is the one to look up in the Search terms report next.
The report names the keyword, not what the caller typed. The details Google lists for each call include the search keyword and no search term. The Search terms report then shows the searches that keyword matched, rare ones left out, which is enough to find the family of searches behind the wrong calls, though not the one search behind a single call.
Some calls carry no keyword at all. Google counts calls that someone dialed by hand to the forwarding number for campaigns and ad groups, "but aren't available for keywords and ads."
A call that is not in the report did not come through the number in your ad. If it rang the number you list elsewhere, it came from your website, a listing, a directory or a call list, and no keyword change will stop it. If you run Performance Max, remove the Ad group column first, or its calls will not show.
What if call reporting is off?
Then your ads show your own number, and Google says turning call reporting off "prevents Google Ads from tracking calls." There is no per-call log in Google Ads: no start time, duration or caller number to match a wrong call against. Turn it on under Admin, Account settings, Call reporting.
What if a call tracking service handles your calls?
Check whether it supports call details forwarding. Google lists CallRail and CallTrackingMetrics among the providers, and says calls "can also be attributed back to the keyword and creative that drove the call." It needs call reporting on: the calls still pass through a Google forwarding number, and turning call reporting off turns forwarding off too.
With it on, the provider receives the campaign and ad group with each call, plus a click id for calls longer than 15 seconds. Set it under Call reporting: switch Send real-time information about my calls to On and pick your provider.
What about calls that start on your website?
Website call conversion tracking puts a Google forwarding number on your site in place of your own for visitors who came from an ad. Google says that lets you "assess which specific keywords, ads, ad groups, and campaigns are leading to call conversions."
Read the searches, then find what widened them
Open the Search terms report and mark every search you would never pay for
Open Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Set the date range to cover the wrong calls and read every search with clicks. The test for each one: would any customer you want type it? If none would, it is a negative keyword. If some would, as with "generator repair" for an installer who services the brands it sells, leave it and fix the ad instead.
Turn on the Keyword column first. It is off by default. Click the columns icon, select Attributes, check Keyword and click Apply. It shows which of your keywords matched each search, so you can start with the keyword from the Call details report.
Then read the Match type column, which tells you where to look next. Broad means the keyword's own match type, the next topic. AI Max means AI Max's search term matching. A keyword nobody remembers adding may have come from an applied recommendation, which the next topics cover. Odd, long or oddly formatted searches can come from search partners.
Why the report does not list every click
Google leaves out search terms that "don't have enough query activity" to protect privacy. Rare searches drop out, so the report shows patterns, not every call. Block the patterns: the shared word, not every wording of it.
For a Performance Max campaign, open the same report and choose Search terms and landing pages for Performance Max from the drop-down.
Why is my ad showing for searches I never picked?
If the Match type column says broad, narrow that keyword or block the search, because broad match is working as designed. It is the default for every new keyword, and Google says ads "may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that don't contain the direct meaning of your keywords."
To decide what is related, Google says broad match may also take into account the person's recent searches, the content of your landing pages and assets, and the other keywords in the ad group.
- Broad match
- Typed plain: generator installation. Matches searches related to the keyword, even ones without its direct meaning.
- The widest net. Most searches you never picked arrive this way.
- Phrase match
- Typed in quotes: "generator installation". Google says phrase match means "only showing your ads on the searches that include your product or service."
- The meaning has to be in the search, though it can be implied or more specific.
- Exact match
- Typed in square brackets: [generator installation]. Matches searches with the same meaning or same intent.
- The most steering over who sees the ad, Google says, and the fewest searches.
Google's default
Narrower
Narrowest
Google's advice is to use broad match with Smart Bidding, which sets a bid for each search from signals at auction time. That is Google's position. For a keyword built on a word other trades share, narrowing it is a judgment call worth making: phrase or exact match stops the matches you can see coming, while broad match on that word keeps paying for them until a negative keyword catches up.
Close variants match too, at every match type. Google lists singular and plural forms, abbreviations, stem words such as floor and flooring, and variants with the same meaning. Exact match does not mean the exact words.
If AI Max is on, read its matches and turn off what brings wrong calls
Check for AI Max first: Google turns it on by default in new Search campaigns. Its search term matching uses "broad match and keywordless technology" to find searches beyond your keywords, learning from your keywords, ads and landing pages.
Find its matches. In the Search terms report, AI Max matches show AI Max in the Match type column, and a source column says whether they came from broad match expansion or keywordless matching.
Turn off search term matching where it brings wrong calls, and only there. That is a judgment, not Google's advice, which is to keep it on: if AI Max matches in one ad group book jobs and in another bring rental calls, switch it off in the second. Open Ad groups, select the ad group, then Search term matching, and toggle it off.
Turn AI Max off for a whole campaign. Open the Campaigns menu, select the Settings tab, check the campaign, select AI Max, toggle it off and click Save.
It can also write the ad. AI Max's text customization creates ad text from your landing pages, existing ads and assets. If a page on your site still describes a service you dropped, keep it out of your ads with text guidelines, which allow term exclusions "such as restricted words or phrases", or take the page down.
If auto-apply is on, see what Google added for you
Open Recommendations and read the History tab for what was applied recently, and the Manage tab for what you are opted into. If auto-apply is on, Google applies the recommendations you chose regularly, without asking each time.
Four recommendations on Google's auto-apply list can bring in searches you never picked: "Add broad match keywords", "Add keywords", "Expand your reach with Google search partners" and "Use Display expansion". If any of them shows in History around the time the wrong calls began, that is your likely cause.
If search partners or the Display Network are ticked, untick them where the wrong calls start
Check each Search campaign's Networks setting. Google includes search partners by default in every new Search campaign, and Display expansion can add websites and apps.
Search partners are other sites, and YouTube, showing Google's search ads. Google does not tell you which partner site showed your ad, except in Performance Max, and says some partner clicks "may not always reflect highly targeted traffic." Display expansion shows ads Google builds from your Search ads on websites and apps.
A judgment for local service businesses: start each Search campaign on Google Search alone. Google does not show which partner sites ran your ads, so you cannot tell which ones to exclude.
- Open Campaigns in the Campaigns menu, hover over the campaign and click the gear icon beside its name.
- Open the Networks drop-down, clicking View network settings if it appears. Uncheck Include Google search partners, and under Display Network, uncheck Include Google Display Network if it is ticked.
- Click Save. The campaign now shows only on Google Search.
To test before switching, segment the Search terms report by Network and compare the searches and conversions each brings. Add a network back only if its leads turn into booked jobs at a cost per job you would pay.
Block the searches, then fix the ad
Add the wrong searches as negative keywords, one word wide
In the Search terms report, check the boxes next to the wrong searches, click Add as negative keyword, choose the campaign or a negative keyword list, and click Save.
Then widen each one. Google adds negative keywords from the report as exact match by default, which blocks only that exact search. To block every search with the word in it, enter the shared word on its own, rental rather than portable generator rental. Typed plain, a negative keyword is broad match, and Google says the ad will not show if the search contains all its words, in any order.
Add plurals and synonyms yourself. Negative keywords "won't match to close variants or other expansions." A negative for rental does not block rentals.
Two cautions from Google. A negative keyword that overlaps one of your own keywords can stop your ad from showing on the searches you want, and too many negative keywords can mean "your ads might reach fewer customers." Block the job you do not do, never a word your real customers use.
Where to put negative keywords so every campaign gets them
Account level. In Account settings, open Negative keywords. They apply to all Search and Shopping inventory in the account, Performance Max included, up to 1,000 of them. Use it for jobs you will never do anywhere.
Negative keyword lists. A list can be applied to many campaigns at once, and a word added to it later applies to all of them. Google allows 20 lists of up to 5,000 negative keywords each. Open Tools, then Shared library, then Exclusion lists, and go to the Negative keyword lists tab.
One Performance Max campaign. Open Keywords in the Campaigns menu, select the Negative keywords tab, click the plus button and select the campaign. These block Search and Shopping inventory only.
If one general keyword brings most of the wrong calls, replace it
If the Keyword column traces most wrong searches to one short keyword, pause it and add the specific services in its place. Google's advice on unwanted calls is the same: "Try removing general keywords that may cause your ads to appear in unrelated searches."
Generator becomes "standby generator installation" and "whole house generator". Drain becomes "drain cleaning" and "clogged drain". Each new keyword says the job, so fewer searches for someone else's job can match it.
If the ad or its phone button invites the wrong caller, change what it says
Read your ads as a stranger would. A headline that promises every job in the trade invites calls about every job in the trade. Name the jobs you take, and if one is commonly confused with yours, say so plainly: installs only, no rentals.
The call button skips the website. On a phone, a call asset puts a button under your ad, and someone can call without reading a single page. Google says a call asset can even show in a button format similar to a call ad when the campaign uses responsive search ads, has a call asset that can show, bids toward call conversions and uses Smart Bidding such as Maximize conversions or Target CPA. Changing any one of those turns it off.
Schedule the number. Under Advanced options on the call asset, you can set the days and hours it shows, so it appears only when someone can answer.
Watch dynamic keyword insertion. If your ads insert the search into the headline, Google warns that "the search terms not included as negative keywords could appear in your ad text." An ad that repeats a wrong search back to the searcher is asking for that call.
Still running call-only ads?
Google removed the options to create new call ads in February 2026, and existing ones stop receiving impressions in February 2027. Without a final URL there is no headline to tap, so the only thing to do with one is call.
Google recommends moving the number to a call asset on a responsive search ad now.
If wrong calls count as conversions, stop your bidding from learning them
Check what your call conversion counts. With call reporting on, Google adds a "Calls from ads" conversion action and includes it in your Conversions column automatically. It counts calls that last longer than a length you set, or that Google's AI judges a good lead from the recording.
A caller who spends two minutes asking about a rental you do not offer can pass a length rule. If the campaign uses Smart Bidding, Google notes that counting call conversions "might affect your bids", so the bidding can learn to find more callers like that one.
If call recording is on, Google's AI scores each call from the recording and the call length is only a fallback, used when a call cannot be recorded. If the action counts by length, set one that a real booking call passes and a wrong-number call does not. Either way, judge the campaign on booked jobs from the call log, not on the conversion count.
Judge the fix on the next month of calls
After adding negative keywords and narrowing match types, compare the Call details report and the Search terms report for the weeks after the change with the weeks before. The wrong searches should be gone, and the wrong calls with them. If a new family of searches appears, block it too.
When the search is not the cause
If the caller wants the right job in the wrong town, fix the location setting
If the job is one you do and the place is not one you serve, the search was right and the location was wrong. That cause has its own answer in this FAQ: "Why is Google showing my ads outside my service area?" That page covers the setting behind it and the fix.
If the caller is a recording or a sales pitch, keywords will not stop it
A robocall or cold pitch did not come from a search, so keyword changes will not touch it. Check the Call details report: if the call is not there, it did not come through your ad's number.
If it is there and was dialed by hand, you did not pay for it. Google says it "doesn't charge advertisers for users who manually dial a Google forwarding number", only when the number shown in the ad is clicked.