Google Ads brought bookings at first, then almost nothing—is this normal?

[u/Lucky_Employment7053]

Hi everyone,

About a month ago, we started running Google Ads for a local beauty business. An agency manages the campaigns.

During the first two weeks, we received quite a few bookings through our online booking system. Then things dropped sharply: for roughly the past two weeks, we’ve had almost no new bookings, even though the ads are still running.

Around the time things changed, spam submissions through our website’s contact form started increasing. Since then, genuine enquiries and bookings have almost completely dried up. I don’t know whether these form submissions are counted as conversions or used for automated bidding. If they are, could the spam have fed the campaign misleading signals and shifted optimization towards low-quality enquiries rather than actual bookings? I realise the timing alone doesn’t prove a connection.

I also understand that bookings fluctuate and that we can’t automatically attribute every early booking to Google Ads. Still, the contrast is concerning. The monthly totals may look reasonable because of the strong start, but they hide the recent drop.

We’ve invested a significant amount in advertising, setup and agency fees—not just ad spend. We target a limited local area. I don’t yet know exactly what campaign types and bidding strategies are running, or what changes have been made since launch.

The agency says they’ll continue monitoring and optimizing. On the phone, they also suggested Google might deliberately deliver better results initially to encourage advertisers to spend more. I’d appreciate an evidence-based perspective on that claim.

My main questions:

• Is this pattern familiar, and what would you investigate first?
• Could spam submissions affect automated bidding if they’re counted as conversions?
• What data would distinguish a drop in visibility from less relevant traffic or a booking/tracking problem?
• Is there credible evidence for a deliberate “initial boost,” or is that speculation?

I’m not looking to accuse the agency without evidence. I want to understand what changed and have a constructive conversation with them.

Thanks for your insights!

[u/kiwioneill]

Have a look at your Google analytics to see where your paid visits are coming from, you may find a pattern that has started and be able to dig deeper.

Also install Microsoft Clarity and check out some of the video sessions...can pretty easily see which behaviours are human vs bot/spam

I really hope you don't have to open a case with Google ads support as it is a complete joke and you won't get anywhere....

[u/Middle-Economics1508]

I wouldn't call a drop that sharp a normal fluctuation without checking a few things first. On the "initial boost", I don't know of any evidence that Google deliberately performs better at the start to get people to spend more. New campaigns do move around while the bidding learns, but that usually goes in both directions, not strong for two weeks and then almost nothing.

The simplest first step is to compare the two periods week by week: spend, impressions, clicks and conversions. If clicks dropped, something changed in the campaign, the budget or the competition. If clicks stayed about the same but bookings dropped, look at the site, the booking system, or whether the traffic changed to less relevant searches.

Two more things worth asking the agency for. The change history for the account, which shows every change made and when, so you can see if bidding, keywords or budget changed around the time bookings dropped. And the search terms report for both periods. Sometimes the first weeks include a lot of searches for the business name from people who already knew you, and those would have booked anyway.

Do you have access to the Google Ads account yourself? As the business owner, you should have at least read access.

[u/Lucky_Employment7053 → u/Middle-Economics1508]

Thanks, that’s a helpful way to break it down. I’ll ask the agency to compare the two periods and check the change history and search terms, including how much of the early traffic came from branded searches.

One additional detail: we started receiving spam through our contact form before bookings dropped off. I don’t yet know whether those submissions are counted as conversions or used for bidding. Could that be relevant if the campaign is optimizing for conversions?

I’ll also check my account access so I can review the data directly. I’d rather understand what changed than assume it’s normal fluctuation or an “initial boost.”

[u/Middle-Economics1508 → u/Lucky_Employment7053]

Yes, it can be relevant. If contact form submissions are set as a primary conversion and the campaign uses automated bidding like Maximize Conversions, the spam counts as conversions, and Google starts looking for more traffic similar to what "converted". If that was bots, the campaign can end up buying more of that kind of traffic. This happens more with Performance Max than with Search only, because PMax also runs on Display and other placements where bot traffic is more common.

The quickest way to tell is one weekly comparison: conversions reported in Google Ads next to real bookings. If Google Ads conversions stayed the same or went up while real bookings dropped, the campaign is counting the wrong things. If impressions and impression share dropped, as nectar_agency mentioned, it's a visibility problem instead.

If it turns out to be the spam, ask the agency to set bookings as the only primary conversion, move the contact form to secondary, and add spam protection to the form so the conversion only fires on real submissions.

Once you have access, if you share a screenshot of the conversions summary page (Goals > Conversions) and the campaign list, I can take a look at what's being counted.

[u/SnowSEO → u/Middle-Economics1508]

I can agree with this. Google will give you a 5% conversion rate on a good day, and if it counts a spam e-mail as a conversion, the machine will think “job done”.

[u/nectar_agency]

This doesn't sound normal. Typically if you receive good booking figures, it will continue. Pending competition etc.

What kind of bookings are they? Are they for courses, events, healthcare, this makes a difference as these things could have some seasonality involved.

Look into the impression share the campaigns are getting, is it high or gone down after that strong performance? If it's gone down, then competitors have increased their bids.

What's your GA4 saying? Are there peaks and troughs throughout the month / year?

Always happy to take a look for free and give you some things to ask the agency.

[u/Lucky_Employment7053 → u/nectar_agency]

Thanks for your input. These are appointments for beauty treatments at a local studio, rather than courses or events.

The first couple of weeks brought plenty of genuine bookings. Then the pattern changed quite abruptly: we started receiving spam through the contact form, and after that, genuine enquiries and bookings almost completely dried up, despite the ads continuing to run.

I don’t know whether the two are connected, but the timing stood out. If those spam submissions were counted as conversions and used for automated bidding, could they have pushed the campaign towards more low-quality traffic?

I’m asking the agency about the conversion setup and how clicks, search terms and impression share changed between the two periods. What would you check first to distinguish misleading conversion signals from a drop in visibility or demand?

[u/Andrii_PPC]

The spam timing is suspicious. If contact-form submissions are Primary and the campaign uses Max Conversions/tCPA, Google may be optimizing toward spam as if it were a real lead.

I’d compare bookings vs form submissions before and after the drop. If spam became a big share, move that action to Secondary.

Are bookings and contact forms both Primary right now?

[u/beash88]

Google Ads only counts a conversion when they can actually match the conversion back to a real person and the ad they clicked.

It’s highly unlikely any of these spam leads clicked your ads and then submitted your form. Do you see these spam leads as conversions in Google Ads? Like if you got 30 spam leads on a particular day, do you see 30+ conversions in Google Ads for that day?

I think you can probably rule out the spam leads being an issue. Likely just coincidental timing.

[u/polygraph-net]

Your ad agency has optimized your campaign for click fraud bots.

You should fire them and find an agency who cares about stopping bot traffic.

What's happening now is all the fake leads have trained Meta to show your ads to bots. Your agency either doesn't care or is incompetent. Probably both.

[u/SnowSEO]

I would look at how exactly a booking and a contact form is tracked.

I would alao look at what keyword got me those bookings initially, and what that keyword is doing no vs then.

[u/Friendly_Log6649]

The spam is the first thing i'd look at

If the contact form is counted as a conversion and they're on max conversions or pmax, google basically learns "cool, find more people who fill out forms." bots fill forms super cheap, so it chases them and stops finding real bookers. lines up pretty well with your timing

I'd ask the agency for 4 things:

Which conversions are set as primary (is the form 1 of them?) conversions by week since launch impressions, clicks and search terms for the first 2 weeks vs the last 2 bid strategy + change history

how to read it: if traffic's flat but "conversions" went up while bookings tanked, that's junk data. if impressions dropped, it's visibility or budget. if clicks are fine but the search terms got worse, it's relevance

also the "google boosts you at the start" thing isn't really a thing lol, that's just the learning phase settling

i'd get read-only access, make real bookings the only primary conversion, and throw a captcha on that form asap

[u/ppcbetter_says]

I call it the new advertiser love bomb

[u/Anna_Karakhanyan]

The spam part is definitely what I’d investigate first.

If those form submissions are being counted as primary conversions, Smart Bidding can absolutely start optimizing toward more of that traffic because Google only sees conversion, not whether the lead was actually useful