The Client Says the Calls Are Spam. Some of Them Are

When a local SEO client says the new calls are fake or spam, they are often partly right. A Business Profile that becomes more visible draws more sales calls, robocalls and wrong numbers along with real customers, and the profile's call count includes every one of them. As of September 2026 the way out is not to argue over the dashboard. Sort the actual call log together. On 14 August 2026 a practitioner told r/localseo they had spent three months on a junk removal client's profile, landing page, citations and content. Search Console, profile calls and ranking data all went up. Then the client said the calls were "fake or spam".

  ONE MONTH OF "CALLS" — sort the log before anyone argues
  ┌──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┐
  │ bucket                       │ counts toward ROI?           │
  ├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
  │ new customer enquiry         │ yes                          │
  │ existing customer / repeat   │ no, not new business         │
  │ vendor or sales pitch        │ no                           │
  │ robocall / "voice search"    │ no                           │
  │ wrong number / wrong service │ no, but tells you something  │
  │ missed, no voicemail         │ unknown, the client's gap    │
  └──────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘
  the profile's call count adds all six together

The Dashboard Counts Every Call as a Call

The practitioner had three kinds of evidence: Search Console comparisons, profile call data and ranking data. All three are real, and none of them can tell a customer from a cold caller. The profile's calls metric counts taps on the call button, whoever is tapping. A report built on that number alone invites exactly this dispute.

It also sets up the wrong conversation. The practitioner arrived with charts, and the client arrived with a phone that rings with people selling things. Both are describing the same month from different ends. Neither can win the argument from their own evidence, because the agency's charts don't show who called and the client's phone doesn't show where the caller came from. The call log is the one record both sides can check line by line.

Visibility Brings the Wrong Callers Too

Business owners describe the other side of this in their own rooms. In July 2026 an owner on r/GoogleMyBusiness reported about 15 of these calls a day across two lines. They were sales calls about registering for "voice search", from a new number each time. Another owner, in December 2025, described the same "voice search" robocalls and a way to waste the callers' time. A small business owner three months in said, in August 2026, that they got calls "daily saying someone built a website for me".

I get about 15 of these calls on two lines everyday.

r/GoogleMyBusiness, July 2026

A profile that has just become visible gets found by these callers as well as by customers. So when a client sees their phone ringing more and their jobs flat, "the calls are fake" is a reasonable first guess. The job is to find out how much of it is true.

The Question Is How Many, Not Whether

Some of the calls are almost certainly junk. The useful question is what share of them are. A month with 40 profile calls could be 10 real enquiries and 30 junk calls, or the other way round. Both clients would say they're getting spam, and only one of them is describing a failed campaign.

The source post also listed "100 basic backlinks" among the work. That is worth noting, but it doesn't explain the calls. Links affect who finds the business, not who picks up the phone to sell it something.

Settle It With the Call Log

  2 WEEKS · client's phone log  →  one line per call  →  6 buckets above
         →  new enquiries ÷ all calls  =  the real share
         →  compare with the same 2 weeks before the work began

Two weeks is usually enough to tell 10 good calls from 30. If the client's phone system records the caller's number and time, match those against the profile's call report for the same days. A website tracking number can add recordings for web calls. Keep the profile number itself unchanged.

What to Do When the Client Says the Leads Are Fake

1. Agree with the part that's true. More visibility brings more junk calls. Say so first.
2. Sort two weeks of the call log into the six groups above, together, on a call.
3. Report new enquiries, not total calls, from then on. See local SEO ROI is booked jobs, not rankings or traffic.
4. Fix the missed calls with the client. Unanswered real enquiries look like "no leads" from the client's side. See ranked #1 but the phone is not ringing.
5. Check wrong-service calls against the profile. If many callers want a service the client doesn't offer, the categories or services are pulling in the wrong searches. See three local audits, one problem.