Why Are You Getting Spam Calls From Google Ads? [Here’s Why]

Are spam phone calls eating up your Google Ads budget?

If you are tired of getting irrelevant phone calls, there might be specific reasons why it’s happening.

In this article, I’ll break down why you can get spam phone calls in Google Ads and how to reduce them while attracting real and high-quality phone calls.

So, let’s get started.

What Spam Phone Calls Look Like in Google Ads?

So why Are You Getting Spam Calls From Google Ads? If you’re getting spam phone calls, there are some things you might be doing which might bring you spam phone calls—because I’ve done those mistakes in the past, and I’m going to list the potential reasons why you are getting spam phone calls and why you should avoid them.

There can be different types of spam phone calls.

The spam phone calls can be people who just call your business and hang up immediately.

So the duration of that phone call might be 0 seconds or up to 5 seconds.

And there can be another type of phone call where they just call your business, and the duration of the phone call can be like 15–20 seconds.

I’m going to show you how a real, working campaign should bring phone calls.

And if you’re going to go to the phone calls of this account, I’m going to see the call details, and you can see what kind of phone calls we’re getting.

So, we can see the last 30 days, and as you can see, the duration of the calls is, let’s say, more than 3 minutes, more than 3 minutes, close to 1 minute, around 2 minutes.

And this is not a real call—it is a missed call, by the way. As you can see, that might be a real phone call, but it is a missed call. So the business didn’t pick up the phone.

You can see that as well—whenever they answer the phone, the phone is most likely high quality. If it’s 7 seconds, that’s not a high-quality phone call. But as you can see, most of them are high quality.

So, if you’re going to filter the duration—let’s say more than 20 seconds—out of 175, 154 phone calls are real, which is more than 20 seconds.

That’s how a real campaign should look. But if you’re getting spam phone calls, most of the phone calls you’re getting—let’s say 80% or close to 90%—should be the opposite.

Most of the phone calls you’re getting would be less than 20 seconds, and you shouldn’t be getting phone calls like this.

So, what is the solution? What kind of mistakes are you making that are bringing in spam phone calls?

Let’s go through them.

Mistake #1: Using the Wrong Match Types

Firstly, you might be using the wrong match types.

There are three match types: broad match, phrase match, and exact match.

Whenever somebody creates a campaign or if they have just created their Google Ads account, Google Ads may automatically use the default option, and you may not know that you’re using broad match types.

Broad match types can bring you lots of irrelevant clicks. People might be searching for one term that is completely or slightly irrelevant to your service, and that doesn’t mean they’re interested in your service.

Broad match types can also attract lots of competitor terms, which means people are searching for your competitors, and your ads can appear. Then they call your business.

For example, if somebody picks up the phone and answers, “This is [Your Company],” they may just hang up because they realize it’s a different company. It’s a real person hanging up.

But there can also be scenarios where those are bots or malicious clicks. We’re going to talk about them as well.

For new campaigns and businesses with smaller budgets, they should not be using broad match types at all.

But if you have a big budget, you can consider broad match as a test. If you have a medium or small budget, you shouldn’t use broad match. Instead, try to use phrase or exact match types.

Mistake #2: Using Call Extensions Without Caution

The second mistake you might be making is using call extensions.

If you’re using call extensions, we can just go there and click on Assets and then Call.

These are the call extensions we are using.

When using call extensions, for example, people may search for something and not have enough time to read your headlines and descriptions. They will just call directly from your ad because that’s the easiest thing to do.

They’ll search on Google, click the call button, and that search term might not match the services you offer. So, call extensions can also attract irrelevant calls.

Most likely, they’re looking for your competitors. They may not have time to read your headlines and descriptions or even know your business name. This can happen mostly in combination with broad match types.

People may use irrelevant terms, see a call button on any ad, and just click it. Sometimes it can happen with phrase match keywords as well, because phrase match keywords can also attract competitor terms.

It may not happen all the time in every industry, but in some competitive industries, it can. Phrase match types used with call extensions can also attract competitor terms.

So, you should be really careful when using call extensions.

They can sometimes bring irrelevant terms. You should analyze your phone calls—whether they’re coming directly from your ads or your landing pages—and evaluate their quality.

Mistake #3: Not Using Enough Negative Keywords

The next issue is not using negative keywords.

If you go to the Campaigns section, then Audience, Keywords, and Content, click on Keywords, you’ll see the list of keywords you’re targeting. From there, you’ll see the list of negative keywords.

You should have lots of negative keywords added here. This can exclude irrelevant terms or terms that might be searched in the future, saving you a lot of money.

So, if possible, add lots of irrelevant terms here. You should add them from the beginning.

Go to Tools, under Planning, use the Keyword Planner, and add your target keyword. Find types of keywords that aren’t relevant to your business and add them as negative keywords—preferably as exact match or phrase match.

Be careful about adding negative keywords as broad match. Once you’ve added them, it can improve the quality of the clicks you’re getting.

If the quality of the clicks is high, it can help you attract the right kind of users—high-intent users who are more likely to call your business.

Negative keywords can first save you a ton of money, and second, help you attract high-quality customers by focusing on high-quality keywords.

What About Click Fraud and Competitor Clicks?

Another potential reason could be you’re getting clicks from your competitors. Some of your competitors might be clicking your ad and not answering the call. But these types of calls are rare.

Even if it happens, Google Ads has its own filtering system. I’ve done a lot of research on this topic. I’ve used click fraud software, and I would not recommend it to anyone. It can negatively affect your campaigns.

It can do more harm than good. These tools try to block IP addresses, but if someone clicks from one IP, they can just use another.

There are thousands of IPs, and blocking them can reduce your search volume. It happened with my own campaigns—I stopped using the software, recreated my campaigns, and the results improved.

I wouldn’t recommend using click fraud software or worrying too much about competitors wasting your budget. Google Ads has a filtering system that can remove suspicious clicks after several days—typically within two weeks.

I ran an experiment: we got 8 clicks from one competitor in one day. When I checked that search term after several months, the click had turned into an impression, and Google removed the charge for it.

So again, don’t block IPs—just add competitor names as negative keywords. Blocking IPs can do more harm than good.

Mistake #4: Avoid Display and Performance Max for Call Campaigns

Another big reason you’re getting spam phone calls is if you’re running display campaigns. Display campaigns are known to attract bots and spam phone calls.

I’ve run many display campaigns in the past. I recommend stopping display ads if you’re seeing lots of low-quality phone calls.

A related reason is if you’re running Performance Max campaigns.

These can also bring in spam phone calls just like display campaigns. Performance Max campaigns run on various networks, including Display and YouTube.

So, if you only want real phone calls, don’t expect that from Performance Max.

The Best Approach: Stick to Google Search Ads

What’s the solution?

If you want real phone calls and want to avoid these mistakes, then run only Google Search Ads.

Google Search Ads can attract high-quality phone calls. When run correctly, people actively searching for your services will see your ad, and they may either call directly from the ad or visit your website and call from your landing page.

If you follow all of these tips, the quality of your phone calls should be much higher than before, and spam phone calls should drop to under 10%—ideally under 5%.

That’s how you can avoid getting spam phone calls with Google Ads.

So guys, if you want help with your Google Ads and want to get more phone calls, let me know.

Thank you for reading this article, and see you in the next one.