Google Ads' Max Conversions bid strategy is an amazing tool designed to help service-based businesses generate more conversions while automating bidding processes.
However, there are times when this strategy backfires, leading to an influx of spammy leads.
These low-quality leads can quickly drain ad budgets and skew campaign performance, creating what many advertisers refer to as the "spammy lead loop."
If you're facing this frustrating issue, you may feel stuck and unsure how to regain control of your campaigns. This article offers a step-by-step guide on how to address the problem, prevent it from recurring, and optimize your campaigns for higher-quality leads.
Following this approach will help you fix the spammy lead loop and improve your ad performance over time.
Table of Contents
How to Fix the Spammy Lead Loop in Google Ads
Step 1: Switch to Max Clicks or Manual CPC
Step 2: Optimize Keywords and Ad Copy for Conversions
Step 3: Exclude Bad Conversions from Data
Step 4: Gather Quality Data
Step 5: Return to Max Conversions with a Fresh Reset
Key Metrics to Monitor for Success
1. Introduction to Max Conversions Bid Strategy
The Max Conversions bid strategy in Google Ads is designed to automatically adjust your bids to maximize conversions based on your specified campaign goals. It relies on Google's machine learning algorithms, which take into account factors like user behavior, device types, and bidding history to predict when a conversion is likely to happen. While this automation is generally effective, it can sometimes cause a surge in low-quality or spammy leads, especially if the algorithm misinterprets your target audience or if you've been collecting inaccurate data.
2. Understanding the Spammy Lead Loop
The spammy lead loop happens when your Google Ads campaign, optimized for maximizing conversions, starts attracting a flood of low-quality or fake leads. These leads don't result in actual sales or meaningful business interactions but continue to be registered as "conversions." This not only wastes your budget but also misleads the algorithm into thinking it's successfully achieving your conversion goals, creating a vicious cycle.
3. Why Max Conversions Sometimes Fails
The Max Conversions strategy can sometimes struggle with spammy leads due to a few factors:
Low Conversion Value Thresholds: If the algorithm detects easier, low-value conversions, it may prioritize quantity over quality.
Misleading Data: When spammy leads are treated as conversions, Google's algorithm uses this data to shape future bid strategies, exacerbating the issue.
Inadequate Filters: Without robust exclusion rules or clear targeting parameters, the algorithm may mistakenly target irrelevant or low-quality audiences.
4. Signs You're in the Spammy Lead Loop
You can identify if your campaign has entered the spammy lead loop through several key indicators:
A sharp increase in conversion volume without a corresponding increase in revenue.
A high volume of irrelevant or low-quality leads filling your pipeline.
A decrease in the average value of conversions.
Ad budgets being depleted faster than expected without achieving real business results.
5. How to Fix the Spammy Lead Loop in Google Ads
Step 1: Switch to Max Clicks or Manual CPC
The first step to breaking the spammy lead loop is to move away from the Max Conversions strategy and switch to Max Clicks or Manual CPC bidding. This change allows you to regain control over your campaign's bidding, focusing more on driving traffic rather than letting the algorithm optimize based on flawed data.
Max Clicks focuses on driving the most clicks within your budget, while Manual CPC lets you set your own bid amounts for each click. Both strategies give you the power to influence which ads are getting attention without relying on the algorithm’s data, which is skewed by spammy leads.
Step 2: Optimize Keywords and Ad Copy for Conversions
Even though you've switched to Max Clicks or Manual CPC, you should continue optimizing your keywords and ad copy for conversions. This means:
Reviewing your search terms report to identify keywords that are driving quality clicks.
Adjusting your ad copy to better attract high-quality leads by refining your value propositions and call-to-action messaging.
By focusing on the elements that are within your control (keywords and ad copy), you ensure that you're still attracting relevant traffic.
Step 3: Exclude Bad Conversions from Data
Next, you'll want to exclude the bad leads that caused the problem in the first place. To do this:
Navigate to your campaign settings and go to the Conversions Exclusions section.
Set exclusions for the timeframe when spammy leads were rampant.
Remove these low-quality conversions from your data set so that they no longer influence your campaign's future optimizations.
This helps the algorithm relearn what constitutes a valuable lead.
Step 4: Gather Quality Data
Before switching back to Max Conversions, you'll want to accumulate at least 20–30 high-quality conversions. Use Max Clicks or Manual CPC to gather this fresh data, ensuring that the leads you're generating are valuable to your business. It's important to allow time for this step, as the new data will give the algorithm a clean slate to work with.
Step 5: Return to Max Conversions with a Fresh Reset
Once you've collected enough good-quality leads, you can safely switch back to the Max Conversions strategy. With the bad data excluded and a new set of high-value conversions in place, the algorithm will have the correct signals to optimize your bids more effectively this time around.
6. Best Practices to Avoid Spammy Leads in the Future
To prevent the spammy lead loop from happening again, you should:
Implement stricter targeting settings, such as geographic targeting or demographic filters.
Regularly update your negative keywords list to exclude irrelevant traffic.
Use conversion tracking filters to focus on leads that have specific qualities (e.g., leads from verified business domains or certain actions completed on-site).
7. Understanding Conversion Tracking for Better Results
Ensuring that your conversion tracking is set up correctly is crucial to preventing low-quality leads from being mistaken for high-value conversions. Use tools like Google Tag Manager to track meaningful conversions, such as purchase completions, form submissions, or event sign-ups. Ensure that your tracking is aligned with your true business goals.
8. When Should You Use Max Conversions Again?
You should only return to using Max Conversions once you’ve gathered enough clean, reliable data (20–30 good conversions). Additionally, ensure that you've excluded all spammy leads from your tracking, and your negative keyword list is updated.
9. How to Continuously Monitor Campaign Quality
Monitoring is an ongoing process. Regularly check your campaign’s conversion quality and evaluate your cost per conversion to ensure that you're hitting your targets. Reviewing lead quality will help you catch any potential spammy lead loops early on, so you can adjust your strategy before it becomes a larger problem.
10. The Role of Negative Keywords in Reducing Spam
Negative keywords play a crucial role in reducing irrelevant clicks and spammy leads. By regularly updating your negative keyword list, you can block search queries that are driving low-quality traffic, helping to keep your leads more relevant and valuable.
11. Exploring Other Bidding Strategies
While Max Conversions is a popular choice, it's not the only option available. Consider experimenting with Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) or Enhanced CPC to strike a better balance between automation and manual control, particularly if you’re prone to spammy leads.
12. Key Metrics to Monitor for Success
Conversion rate: Track the ratio of high-quality conversions to overall leads.
Cost per conversion: Ensure that you're not overspending for low-quality leads.
Return on ad spend (ROAS): Keep an eye on how much revenue you're generating per dollar spent.
To wrap it up...
While the Max Conversions bid strategy can be a highly effective tool for driving results, it’s not immune to challenges, especially when it starts generating spammy leads. By switching to manual bidding strategies, excluding bad conversions, and re-optimizing your campaign, you can regain control and drive high-quality leads again.
Ultimately, it's about managing your campaign with a balance of automation and manual oversight, while continuously refining your approach to avoid falling back into the spammy lead loop.
Check out the Podcast
Save The Scalable Service Business Podcast and never miss an episode.
Claim Your FREE Custom Google Ads Plan
Book a Discovery Call with us via the calendar below.
We'll create a custom Google Ads plan for your business.
You can hire us to implement the plan or do it yourself. No pressure either way.
We help services businesses implement ad campaigns that generate more leads at a better cost. We're a lead generation PPC advertising agency specializing in Google Ads, which means we fill pipelines with highly qualified leads, lower your cost per acquisition, and drive real business growth.
FAQs
Why does the Max Conversions strategy sometimes result in spammy leads?
It happens when Google's algorithm starts prioritizing low-value conversions to hit quantity targets, often due to misleading data.
How long should I stay on Max Clicks or Manual CPC before switching back to Max Conversions?
It’s recommended to gather 20-30 quality leads before switching back to Max Conversions.
Can I use negative keywords to reduce spammy leads?
Absolutely. Negative keywords can help block irrelevant traffic that leads to low-quality conversions.
What should I do if bad conversions still appear after exclusions?
Double-check your conversion tracking and exclusion settings, and continue refining your targeting and keyword lists.
Is Max Conversions still a viable strategy after a spammy lead loop?
Yes, but only after you’ve cleaned up your data and gathered enough quality leads.
Can adjusting ad copy help reduce spammy leads?
Yes, by refining your messaging and focusing on clear, targeted value propositions, you can attract higher-quality traffic.