How to Audit a Google Ads Account: The Complete Checklist

Why Most Google Ads Accounts Are Wasting Money

I’ve audited over 50 Google Ads accounts, and every single one — every single one — was wasting money on something avoidable. Not because the businesses were careless. Because Google Ads is complex, and without regular scrutiny, problems accumulate quietly.

The typical account leaks 20–30% of its budget. That’s not a rounding error — it’s real spend going to the wrong keywords, broken tracking, or campaigns running on the wrong settings. A structured audit finds and fixes all of it.

This checklist covers seven categories. Work through them in order — the sequence matters, because fixing conversion tracking first means everything else you measure will be reliable.

The 7-Category Google Ads Audit Framework

1. Conversion TrackingVerify that what you’re measuring actually matches business outcomes.
2. Campaign StructureCheck that campaigns are organised logically and settings are correct.
3. Keywords & Match TypesReview search terms, negative keywords, and match type balance.
4. Quality Score & Ad RelevanceIdentify underperforming keywords that are inflating your CPCs.
5. Ad Copy & ExtensionsEnsure every ad is working as hard as it can.
6. Bidding Strategy & BudgetMatch your bidding approach to your actual data and goals.
7. Reporting & AttributionVerify the numbers you’re reporting reflect real business outcomes.

1. Conversion Tracking

• Check conversion counts against CRM or GA4 — they should match within 10%. A bigger gap usually means duplicate tracking or missed events.
• Verify you’re tracking the right outcomes — phone calls, form submissions, purchases. Not page views or session starts.
• Implement enhanced conversions — hashed first-party data improves accuracy, particularly since iOS privacy changes affected third-party cookies.
• Use a consistent attribution model — switching mid-flight distorts your historical data. Pick one and stick with it.
• Check for duplicate conversion actions — a common cause of inflated counts that flatters performance reports and skews bidding decisions.

2. Campaign Structure

• Separate Search and Display campaigns — never run them together. They have different audiences, intent levels, and bidding requirements.
• Use consistent naming conventions — makes bulk management and reporting far easier at scale.
• Set location targeting to ‘Presence only’ — the default setting includes ‘Presence or interest’, which sends traffic from users outside your target area.
• Allocate budget based on actual performance — not campaign age or gut feel. Follow the data, not habit.

3. Keywords & Match Types

• Review search terms reports monthly — find irrelevant queries and add them as negatives before they drain budget.
• Balance match types sensibly — a reasonable starting point is 60% Phrase, 30% Exact, 10% Broad. Adjust based on what your search terms report shows.
• Keep ad groups tight — aim for under 20 keywords per ad group. Stuffed ad groups make it difficult to write genuinely relevant ad copy.
• Maintain a strong negative keyword list — target roughly 3–5 positive keywords per negative. An outdated negative list is one of the most common and consistent sources of wasted budget.
• Check for keyword cannibalisation — multiple campaigns bidding on the same terms drives up your own CPCs and confuses Google’s bidding algorithms.

4. Quality Score & Ad Relevance

• Pause or improve any keyword scoring below 5 — low Quality Scores directly inflate your CPCs.
• Understand the cost of a low QS — a keyword with Quality Score 3 costs 67% more per click than one at QS 7, for the same ad position.
• Monitor the three QS components separately — Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience each point to a different type of fix.
• Align landing pages with keyword intent — Google’s landing page score often reveals a disconnect between what the ad promises and what the page actually delivers.

5. Ad Copy & Extensions

• Aim for ‘Excellent’ RSA strength — Google gives you 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Use them all, with genuine variation rather than repetition.
• Include primary keywords in at least two headlines — this directly improves Ad Relevance scores and CTR.
• Use all available assets — callout, sitelink, and structured snippet assets are free; not using them means missing impressions for no reason.
• Benchmark your CTRs by campaign type — Branded Search: 15–25%. Non-branded Search: 4–8%. Shopping: 0.8–1.5%. Display: 0.4–0.6%. Consistently below these numbers warrants a copy review.

6. Bidding Strategy & Budget

• Match strategy to your data volume — Google recommends at least 30 conversions in the past 30 days for Maximise Conversions and Target CPA to perform reliably. Below that threshold, use manual CPC or Maximise Clicks.
• Set target CPAs from historical data — not aspirational figures. If your historical CPA is £80, a target of £30 will cause Google to under-bid and starve the campaign of impressions.
• Watch Performance Max placements carefully — PMax distributes budget across all Google inventory. Without proper asset group segmentation and audience exclusions, it can waste significant spend on low-intent placements.
• Review budget allocation across campaigns — money sitting in limited-budget campaigns that are delivering ROI should be shifted away from those that aren’t.

7. Reporting & Attribution

• Track actual ROAS against revenue in your own system — Google’s reported ROAS can differ meaningfully from real business revenue. Cross-reference with your CRM or payment processor.
• Know your ROAS floor for ecommerce — healthy ecommerce ROAS typically exceeds 400%. Below 200%, the account is likely losing money once margins are factored in.
• Benchmark conversion rates by campaign type — Search: 3–5%. Shopping: 1.5–2.5%. Display: 0.5–1%. Falling consistently short points to a landing page or audience problem rather than a bidding one.
• Connect Google Ads data to your CRM — this lets you verify lead quality, not just lead volume. Cheap leads that never close are not a win.

What to Fix First: The Prioritisation Order

1. Fix conversion trackingEverything else depends on accurate data. If your tracking is broken or duplicating, no other fix means anything.
2. Address high-spend keywords with poor Quality ScoresThese are the biggest immediate budget leaks. Pause or rewrite before anything else.
3. Reallocate budget toward proven performersMove spend from campaigns that can’t demonstrate ROI to those that already are.
4. Expand and clean negative keyword listsOngoing hygiene that prevents wasted spend from creeping back month after month.
5. Optimise ad copyRun structured tests on headlines. Document what works and apply those learnings across the account.
6. Improve campaign structureOnce tracking, bidding, and copy are solid, restructuring campaigns compounds those gains further over the following 60–90 days.

What to Do After the Audit

An audit without action is just a list. Once you’ve worked through all seven categories, you should have a prioritised set of fixes grouped by impact.

For most accounts, fixing conversion tracking and pausing low-QS keywords makes a material difference within the first billing cycle. Structural improvements — campaign consolidation, Performance Max segmentation — tend to compound over the following 60–90 days.

If you’re running the audit yourself, set a calendar reminder to repeat it quarterly. If you’d like a specialist to run it for you, I offer independent Google Ads audits as part of my management service, starting from £300/month.