When advertisers talk about bad leads they usually mean spam. In one published study, spam was a small share, and the biggest share was customers asking for work the business doesn't do. Google no longer credits those. This lesson gives you an audit to fix mismatches before the phone rings.
- In 99 Calls' analysis of 3,473 rated leads (Oct 2025–May 2026), 44.7% of negatively rated leads were job-type mismatches, 7.0% service-area mismatches and 4.2% spam (99 Calls). *One agency's data; your mix will differ.
- Google: credits are no longer available for job-type or geography mismatches (Google).
- The fix is in your setup: job types, service area and categories.
The audit
- Pull 30–60 days of leads.Include the job type Google assigned and your note on what the customer actually wanted.
- Tag every mismatch.Job type we don't do, area we don't serve, or other.
- Find the repeat offenders.Which job types and ZIP codes produce most of the mismatches?
- Turn off those job types.If you don't do it, don't advertise it.
- Tighten the service area.Remove areas that keep producing leads you won't take.
- Repeat monthly.Mismatch patterns change with seasons and category updates.
- Rating mismatches and expecting credits. Google no longer credits them; fix the setup instead.
- Treating every bad lead as spam.
How CallRadius handles this
The CallRadius LSA AI management system classifies every lead and flags likely invalid ones to the manager at 85% confidence or higher, and surfaces recurring service and geographic patterns. An experienced manager decides what to change, and a person makes every change to the live Google account.
Frequently asked questions
Does Google credit leads for services I don't offer?
No. Google no longer provides credits for job-type or geography mismatches.
What's the fastest way to reduce bad LSA leads?
Turn off job types you don't perform and tighten your service area to where you actually work.