Running ads · Updated October 22, 2026
Why is Google Ads sending me spam or fake leads?
Updated October 22, 2026
Google Ads sends you spam leads because Google filters invalid clicks but cannot stop everything that reaches your form or phone. Bots fill forms, low quality placements send junk traffic, and bidding chases whatever you count as a lead. Add a check to the form, cut the placements the junk comes from, and count only qualified leads.
If junk leads arrive from your ads, fix the form, the traffic and the counting, in that order
If your ads bring in form fills with fake names, made-up emails or sales pitches, treat it as three problems with three fixes: what the form accepts, where the clicks come from, and what you tell Google counts as a lead. Fixing only one usually moves the junk around rather than stopping it.
Google's own help page says it plainly: its "automated protections filter out invalid traffic, but they can't prevent all invalid leads." Google can refuse to charge you for a bot's click. It cannot see your website's form, so a bot or a person who reaches the page can still send whatever they like.
Sort the junk first: bots, real people who will never buy, and spam calls
If you have a week of bad leads, read them before changing anything. The kind of junk tells you which fix comes first.
- Bot form fills. Random letters in the name field, emails that bounce, the same message pasted many times, or a burst of submissions within seconds of each other. The form is the fix.
- Real people who will never buy. Job seekers, vendors pitching services, people wanting a job you do not do. The searches and placements that showed the ad are the fix.
- Spam and robocalls. Recorded messages, silent calls and wrong numbers on the number in your ad. Call qualification is the fix.
- Thin lead form submissions. A lead form inside the ad with a real looking name and a phone number that is not answered. The form's own settings are the fix.
For example
A business gets 30 form leads from its ads in a month. Twelve have names like "asdf" and emails that bounce, all sent overnight. Six are people asking about jobs. Twelve are real. The overnight twelve are bots and the form check comes first; the job seekers point to searches that need negative keywords.
Stop bots at the form
Add a check that scores each submission before it reaches you
If bots are filling your website form, add a check that runs on the server, not just in the browser. Google suggests the same mix on its lead quality pages: "Consider tools like ReCAPTCHA, double opt-in, or server-side validation to ensure lead authenticity."
reCAPTCHA v3 does not ask visitors to click anything. It returns a score for each submission, where 1.0 is very likely a person and 0.0 is very likely a bot, and Google's developer page says "By default, you can use a threshold of 0.5." Google adds that it "will never interrupt your users," so it costs no real leads to run.
- Check on the server. Reject a submission whose email domain does not exist, whose phone number has the wrong number of digits, or whose score is under your threshold.
- Add a hidden field. A field people never see and bots fill in anyway. A submission with it filled is dropped.
- Hold, do not delete. Send low scores to a review folder for the first few weeks, so a real customer caught by the check can still be called back.
On lead forms inside the ad, choose More qualified
If the junk comes from a Google lead form asset rather than your website, change the form's optimization. Google describes the default, More volume, as a design "with fewer steps to submit" that may bring leads from "people who are less interested in your product or service." More qualified "contains more steps" and "may result in fewer leads, but those leads generally have a greater interest in your business."
On Search campaigns you can also add qualifying responses, questions a person answers before the form sends. Google says they are "available for Search campaigns only." Google's lead form page also lists phone verification with a one time code as a way to reach qualified prospects.
Cut the traffic that brings it
See how much Google already filtered, then find where the rest came from
If you want to know whether Google is catching anything, open Campaigns, select the Columns icon above the table, search for Invalid clicks and apply it. Google says this column shows traffic it "filters before you were billed," so you are not charged for those clicks.
Then look at where the junk lands. Segment the campaign by network. Google says clicks from search partner sites "may not always reflect highly targeted traffic," and you can clear Include Google search partners under the campaign's Networks setting. Match the dates of the junk leads against each network's clicks, and the network that rises with the junk is the one to cut first.
Exclude bad placements for Performance Max at the account level
If you run Performance Max, its placement exclusions do not live in the campaign. Google says: "For Performance Max campaigns, placement exclusions are managed at the account level."
- Open the Tools menu and select Content suitability.
- Select Advanced settings.
- In Excluded placements, enter the sites, apps or channels to block, without "www".
- Select Save. Google says new exclusions typically take effect within 12 hours.
Google's Performance Max guidance for lead generation also suggests negative keywords "to filter out unwanted traffic and improve lead quality," and qualifying questions on forms "to improve lead quality and reduce spam."
For spam calls, turn on call recording so Google can qualify each call
If robocalls and misdials are counting as conversions, turn on call recording. Google's AI-qualified call leads read the recording and aim to "remove non-qualified interactions such as robocalls, spam calls, and misdials," which until then counted if they lasted long enough. Recording works only when both phone numbers are in the US or Canada, and healthcare and financial services start with it off.
Stop bidding for junk
Bid on qualified leads, not on every form fill
If every submission counts as a conversion, Smart Bidding learns to find more people who submit forms, bots included. Point the bidding at a later step instead: a lead you qualified, or a job you booked. Google says lead goals such as a qualified lead "automatically trigger invalid traffic protections, built specifically for lead generation campaigns," and recommends "target cost-per-acquisition bidding for qualified or converted leads" when leads have no distinct values.
That means sending the outcome back: mark each lead in your records, then import the qualified ones to Google Ads. Keep the raw form fill as a Secondary action so you can still watch it without bidding on it.
Retract the junk Google already counted
If a fake lead already counted as a conversion, retract it. Google says retracting "removes a conversion completely from your reports," that adjustments can be made within 54 days, and that you have up to 7 days after a conversion is first recorded for bidding to take the change into account.
Bidding reads a retraction for
7 days
After a conversion is first recorded. Google accepts adjustments for 54 days.
Retractions need an order ID on the original conversion, so add a transaction ID to your conversion tag now if it has none. Google also notes that website conversions "cannot be added back to reports after removal," so retract only leads you are sure were junk.
Refunds and what Google will credit
Expect credits for invalid clicks, not for each fake lead
If you want money back for spam, know what Google covers. Its invalid clicks page says "You won't be charged for invalid clicks or impressions," and when invalid clicks are found after billing, "you receive a credit on your next invoice where appropriate and possible." Google also says it removes some invalid conversions that came from invalid traffic, which can look like conversions dropping slightly over time.
A fake form fill that followed a click Google judged valid is not something Google refunds on its own. Keep a record of the junk leads with their dates and times; it is what you need for a conversation with Google support and for the retractions above.