Welcome to our 7 Deadly Sins of PPC Lead Gen Marketing series, where we expose the most common pitfalls in PPC lead generation and show you exactly how to fix them.
Today we’re examining the effects of Feeding the Algorithm Bad Data. If your ad platform is being fed the wrong data signals, surprise surprise, it’ll optimise for the wrong outcomes, leading to wasted budget and poor performance. Let’s explore how to clean up your campaign data to drive better results.
What is it?
This occurs when businesses provide their PPC platforms (Google Ads, Meta Ads, etc.) with poor-quality or misleading data, making it impossible for the algorithm to effectively optimise their campaigns.
Why is it a problem?
In 2025, PPC success depends on machine learning algorithms that analyse past conversion data to make future bidding and targeting decisions. If the data is inaccurate, incomplete, or irrelevant, your campaigns will suffer from:
- Inefficient optimisation – The algorithm will prioritise actions that don’t drive actual revenue.
- Unpredictable campaign performance – Bad data creates inconsistency, making it difficult to scale campaigns effectively.
- Wasted ad spend – Poor data means the algorithm focuses on the wrong signals, leading to unnecessary costs.
- High volatility in results – Inconsistent data leads to erratic campaign performance, making it difficult to forecast or adjust budgets effectively.
Why does it happen?
There are several reasons why bad data plagues PPC campaigns:
- Tracking only basic conversions – Many advertisers track total lead submissions without distinguishing between high-quality and low-quality leads.
- Long conversion cycles – If a lead takes weeks or months to convert, short-term PPC optimisations may misfire.
- Low conversion volume – If a business generates only a handful of conversions per month, the algorithm doesn’t have enough data to learn effectively.
- Extreme variance in conversion values – If one deal is worth £500 and another is worth £50,000, the algorithm struggles to determine an optimal bidding strategy.
- Failure to exclude low-quality interactions – Clicks from bots, spam leads, or irrelevant searches skew performance data.
How does this manifest?
Some common symptoms of feeding the algorithm bad data include:
- PPC campaigns optimising for the wrong actions (e.g., clicks instead of actual conversions).
- Bidding strategies failing due to inconsistent conversion values.
- Low conversion volume causing campaigns to remain in the ‘learning phase’ indefinitely.
- Frequent fluctuations in cost per conversion without clear reasoning./li>
How to fix it
Cleaning up your PPC data requires strategic adjustments to how conversions are tracked, valued, and fed back into the ad platform. Here’s how:
Map Out the Full Customer Journey
- Identify the key touchpoints that lead to revenue-generating conversions.
- Ensure all interactions are tracked, including offline conversions, phone calls, and CRM updates.
Refine Conversion Tracking to Focus on High-Quality Leads
- Stop tracking all form submissions as conversions – instead, track qualified leads only.
- Implement lead scoring to differentiate between high and low-quality leads.
- Use multi-step forms that collect additional qualifying information before tracking a conversion.
Pass Revenue Data Back into Ad Platforms
- Use offline conversion tracking to link PPC leads to actual sales recorded in the CRM.
- Assign conversion values based on deal size or probability of closing.
- Implement enhanced conversion tracking in Google Ads to improve attribution accuracy.
Optimise Data for PPC Algorithms
- Remove outliers that distort performance metrics (e.g., spam submissions, bot traffic, low-intent leads).
- Adjust bidding strategies to prioritise profit-generating conversions rather than generic leads.
- Regularly audit conversion tracking to ensure that PPC algorithms are learning from accurate, high-value data.
Monitor & Improve Data Integrity
- Run regular data audits to identify anomalies in conversion tracking.
- Set up custom reporting dashboards to ensure campaign optimisation aligns with business objectives.
- Work with a PPC specialist to continually refine and improve data quality.
Final thoughts
If you put low quality data into a PPC algorithm, you’ll get low quality results. Ensuring that ad platforms receive high-quality, relevant, revenue-driven data is an essential step for running profitable campaigns.
This is the fifth of the 7 PPC Deadly Sins that could be sabotaging your lead generation efforts. In the next instalment, we’ll discuss Wasted Spend on Irrelevant Targeting – How to Stop Burning Budget on the Wrong Audience, and how to ensure every pound spent is delivering maximum value.
