Google Ads audit checklist
Google Ads Audit Checklist: What to Check Before You Spend More
If a Google Ads account is underperforming, do not start by changing bids. Start by checking whether the account is measuring the right thing, buying the right search terms, and sending clicks to a page that can convert.
Fast rule: a useful audit ends with a prioritized fix list. If the output is only a score, a color-coded PDF, or a generic warning list, it is not enough to guide the next week of work.
The checklist
| Area | What to check |
|---|---|
| Tracking | Primary conversions, duplicate tags, phone calls, form submissions, purchases, imported CRM events, and enhanced conversions. |
| Search terms | Queries that spent money without lead quality, job searches, DIY searches, free searches, competitor terms, and irrelevant locations. |
| Negative keywords | Account-level negatives, campaign-specific negatives, phrase vs exact negatives, and shared list hygiene. |
| Campaign structure | Brand vs non-brand, service splits, local splits, budget priority, match type grouping, and asset group overlap. |
| Bidding | Whether target CPA, target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, or manual CPC fits the amount and quality of conversion data. |
| Landing pages | Message match, form friction, phone visibility, local proof, offer clarity, speed, and mobile usability. |
| Budget | Campaigns limited by budget, impression share lost to rank, impression share lost to budget, and spend stuck in low-quality pockets. |
| Next actions | A short fix list ranked by likely impact, difficulty, and risk. |
1. Start with conversion tracking
Before touching keywords, check whether the account is optimizing toward real business outcomes. A campaign can look profitable if it counts page views, button clicks, duplicate form events, or low-quality calls as primary conversions.
For service businesses, split raw leads from qualified leads when possible. A booked inspection, qualified phone call, or quoted job is more useful than a generic form submit. For ecommerce, check purchase value, tax and shipping treatment, duplicate purchase events, and whether returns are considered in reporting.
2. Read the search terms, not just the keywords
Keywords are what you ask Google to target. Search terms are what you actually paid for. In small accounts, this is often where the money leak is easiest to find.
- Add negatives for job seekers, DIY searches, parts-only searches, free queries, and irrelevant locations.
- Separate strong search terms into their own ad groups or campaigns when they deserve budget control.
- Look for queries that imply the wrong customer, even if the keyword looks relevant at first glance.
3. Audit negative keyword logic
Negative keywords behave differently from positive keywords. Google notes that broad, phrase, and exact negative match types do not work the same way as their positive equivalents, so you should add close variants like singular and plural versions when you truly need to block them.
Use account-level negative lists for terms that are always bad for the business. Use campaign-level negatives when a query is bad in one campaign but useful somewhere else.
4. Check whether the account structure matches the business
A good structure makes budget decisions easy. A bad structure hides good and bad traffic together. For local service businesses, campaigns often need splits by service, location, urgency, and profitability. For ecommerce, brand, non-brand, Shopping, Performance Max, and remarketing need separate judgment.
5. Compare bidding to the amount of data
Smart Bidding needs reliable conversion data. If the account has poor tracking or too few real conversions, automated bidding may optimize toward noise. If the account has enough clean conversions, manual bidding may hold back scale.
6. Inspect the page after the click
Many Google Ads audits stop inside Google Ads. That is a mistake. A good ad cannot save a landing page that hides the phone number, buries the form, loads slowly, or fails to explain why the visitor should trust the business.
Turn the audit into a fix list
At the end, rank fixes by impact and difficulty. Do not change everything at once. A practical first week might be: fix conversion tracking, add the top 30 negatives, pause one wasteful campaign, rewrite two ads, and send traffic to the better landing page.
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