Can I trust the conversion numbers in my junk removal Google Ads account?
Only if your account counts real calls and form submissions and nothing else. In 6 of 21 established accounts we looked at (6+ months of steady Search spend), conversions were mostly phone-link taps, directions or page loads, or almost no real leads were tracked, and in some of them Google reported several times the real number of leads.
By Justin Hubbard, who runs Adimize and has owned and operated a junk removal and dumpster rental company for over 12 years
Based on 21 established Google Ads accounts, Oct 2025 - Sep 2026
What should and shouldn't count
| Counts as a lead | Doesn't count as a lead |
|---|---|
| Tracked phone calls (from the ad or the website) | Taps on a phone number link |
| Submitted quote or contact forms | Requests for directions |
| Online orders or bookings | Page views and button clicks |
| – | Form starts |
How far off it gets
Even among the 15 accounts with usable tracking, Google's count matched real leads in most but not all (median ratio 1.00, middle half 0.99-1.09); in 3 of them, soft actions pushed Google's count 49%-73% above the real leads. In the accounts without usable tracking, the reported number ran from almost none to several times the real leads.
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