When one of our website clients reached out about spam bot submissions in their contact forms, we were confused. Their website had strong anti-bot protections: both a captcha challenge as well as extra protections for non-US based IP addresses. As we only provided this client with website services, but not SEO or marketing, we were unsure of how the "bots" were finding their forms. We hopped on a call to investigate further.

What we found demonstrated the invaluable role of comprehensive first-party data in diagnosing and solving complex marketing challenges. In this case, the "spam" was actually a symptom of a costly ad account misconfiguration by the client.

Diving Into the Data Together

During our consultation call, we pulled up Arrows Up's first-party data platform and began investigating the most recent suspicious submission together. Our server side tracking had captured all the details of this submitter's visit. Our submitter:

  • Originated from a user in the Ivory Coast
  • Came directly from a Google Ads click
  • Showed clear signs of genuine human behavior: the user had called the business phone line before submitting the form
  • Demonstrated authentic interest through continued site exploration after form submission

The Real Issue: Location Targeting

As we dug deeper into the data, a lightbulb moment occurred. The issue wasn't spam at all – it was a subtle but crucial Google Ads targeting setting. When setting up location targeting in Google Ads, advertisers must choose between targeting people who are "regularly present or interested in" their location versus people "regularly present" their location.

Our client had inadvertently selected the "regularly present or interested in" option. In a tourist destination, this meant their local service ads were being shown to anyone worldwide who had shown interest in their area – including people like our visitor from the Ivory Coast who might be planning travel or seeking work opportunities.

The Power of Complete Data Access

This discovery was only possible because we had access to the full picture through our first-party data platform. By seeing the user's complete journey – from ad click to phone call to form submission to post-submission behavior – we could confidently determine this was a real person with genuine interest, not a bot.

The Resolution

Once we identified the root cause, the solution was straightforward. The client adjusted their Google Ads targeting to focus on users physically located in their service area. The result? Their lead quality immediately improved, focusing their marketing spend on reaching local customers who could actually use their services.

Key Takeaway

Having access to comprehensive first-party data is crucial in today's digital marketing landscape. Surface-level analytics would have lead us to fix the symptom – the "spam" – rather than the root cause - the misconfigured ad account.

When it comes to digital marketing, the devil is often in the details. Having the right data – and knowing how to interpret it – makes all the difference in turning problems into opportunities for optimization.