Why did my Google Ads lead quality suddenly get worse?

Sudden drops in lead quality almost always trace back to a targeting or matching change, not to the market. The usual suspects are broad match creeping onto new terms, a Performance Max campaign expanding its reach, location settings reverting to presence or interest, or automated bidding chasing a conversion action that is too easy to trigger.

Start with the search terms report for the two weeks before and after the shift, then check for new campaigns, budget changes, and whether a form thank-you page is being counted alongside phone calls. Also check the mundane causes: a broken form, a call tracking number that stopped forwarding, or bots hitting your quote page.

Leads getting worse? Book a free audit and we will find why →