r/GoogleAdwords

Google is sending bot traffic, and the traffic quality is different every day.

I have this problem: I run a website selling branded electronics, cameras, and similar products. I also run Google Ads search campaigns — around 30 campaigns for different products. CPC is about $1, and the daily budget is $300. Everything seems to be set up properly, the campaigns have been running for a month and they do bring conversions.

But there are days like today where I changed absolutely nothing in the ads, yet the traffic quality is terrible:

no add-to-carts,
no purchases,
no engagement.

Then the next day everything is great again. After that maybe another good day, and then suddenly another dead day with no conversions or only 1–3 conversions instead of the usual 10+ when the traffic is clearly high quality and add-to-carts happen every 30 minutes.

Today it feels like pure bots. Same keywords, same audience, same settings — but completely different results.

ChatGPT told me that when Google sends low-quality traffic:

CTR can still look good,
CPC can still look normal,
but:
sessions last only 5–10 seconds,
users do not scroll,
there are no add-to-carts,
geo/device mix looks strange.

So the issue is the auction traffic quality itself.

My question is:
Should I just wait and tolerate these bad days, or are there actual ways to stop Google from sending low-quality traffic on days like this?

genuine question and I'll try to be honest about it.

I think I'm overcorrecting.

got burned by an SEO agency last year. real money, no results, the whole story. and now every time I'm close to committing to something for Astra I find a reason to hesitate. another question to ask. another thing to verify. another week of "just doing a bit more research."

my head is telling me that's due diligence. but I think part of it is just fear.

here's where I'm at. Astra is a finance brand. 8% citation share in AI responses. want to be at 30% by Q3. been doing this myself for 3 months and I genuinely cannot get there alone — the gap that's left requires publisher relationships and domain authority I can't build fast enough without help.

that's not a healthy way to make a business decision.

so here's what I actually want to know. not "are these agencies good." but how do you rebuild trust in a vendor relationship after getting badly burned. how do you get back to making decisions from clarity instead of fear.

and if you've worked with any of those three and had a genuinely good experience, tell me what made it feel different from the start. what did they do that made you think okay this one's real.

Client has a really neat product… for anonymity- let’s say it is the best hairbrush in the world. This hairbrush will change your life, your hair will be so smooth, never need conditioner, etc.. it’s truly a remarkable product, and it’s $80.

Client says they want to sell 1,000 units in the first month- e-commerce only in first 30 days of paid media.

No precedence.

Website hasn’t launched.

No social media (IG, Meta, etc.)

Not a single credible source on the web justifying what client truly believes is the most amazing product (and it is) in the world. All the switches turn on, day one.

Can they achieve a 3-4x ROAS within 90 days?