A Google Ads audit does not need to take hours. With a structured checklist and clear priorities, you can review the most impactful areas of any account in 30 minutes and identify the changes that will make the biggest difference to performance.
This is the same framework I use when auditing accounts for new clients. It covers the areas where I most commonly find wasted spend, missed opportunities, and configuration errors — in order of impact.
Before You Start: What You Need
Access to the Google Ads account (Manager or Standard access). Access to Google Analytics (GA4 preferred). Access to the website backend or landing pages. A 90-day date range for performance review.
Set your date range to the last 90 days for all analysis below. This gives you enough data for meaningful conclusions without being skewed by seasonal anomalies.
Part 1: Conversion Tracking (5 Minutes)
Start here because everything else depends on accurate data.
Check conversion actions. Go to Goals > Conversions > Summary. List all active conversion actions. For each one, verify: Is it receiving data? Is the counting method correct (one per click for leads, every for purchases)? Is the conversion window appropriate for your sales cycle? Are conversion values set correctly?
Look for problems. Conversion actions with “No recent conversions” status. Multiple conversion actions tracking the same event (double-counting). Page view or session-based events marked as primary conversions. Missing high-value conversion types (phone calls, offline conversions).
Quick fix impact: Fixing conversion tracking errors immediately improves every optimization decision the algorithm makes. This is the highest-leverage 5 minutes you can spend.
Part 2: Campaign Structure and Budget (5 Minutes)
Review campaign list. How many active campaigns exist? Are branded and non-branded search separated? Are campaigns segmented by intent level or product/service line?
Check budget distribution. Which campaigns get the most budget? Does budget allocation match performance? Are any campaigns limited by budget (check the “Limited by budget” status)? A campaign generating strong results but limited by budget is leaving money on the table.
Identify structural issues. Campaigns with fewer than 15 conversions per month (insufficient data for smart bidding). Ad groups with 20+ keywords (too broad for relevant ad matching). Single campaign mixing branded and non-branded traffic. Multiple campaigns competing for the same keywords (internal competition).
Quick fix impact: Reallocating budget from underperforming to top-performing campaigns can improve overall ROAS by 15 to 25 percent with zero additional spend.
Part 3: Search Terms Analysis (5 Minutes)
Go to Insights and Reports > Search terms. Sort by cost (highest first).
Scan for waste. Look for search terms that are clearly irrelevant to your business: job searches, informational queries, competitor names (if you do not target them intentionally), geographic irrelevance. Flag these for negative keyword addition.
Scan for opportunities. Look for search terms with strong conversion rates that are not being targeted with dedicated keywords or ad groups. These are terms Google matched through broad or phrase match that deserve explicit targeting.
Check the ratio. What percentage of your top 50 search terms by spend are genuinely relevant to your business? In a healthy account, this should be above 80 percent. In accounts I audit, it is often 50 to 60 percent — meaning 40 to 50 percent of spend goes to irrelevant queries.
Quick fix impact: Adding negative keywords from this review typically recovers 10 to 20 percent of wasted spend immediately.
Part 4: Ad Copy Review (5 Minutes)
Review the top-performing and bottom-performing ads in your main campaigns.
Check RSA setup. Does each ad group have at least one Responsive Search Ad? Are there 10 to 15 unique headlines and 4 descriptions? Check ad strength — “Poor” and “Average” ads need attention.
Evaluate message match. Do the ads promise what the landing page delivers? If the ad says “Free Audit” does the landing page feature a free audit prominently? Message mismatch between ad and landing page is one of the most common causes of low conversion rates.
Check extensions. Are sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, and call extensions active? Are they current and relevant? Missing extensions reduce your ad’s visual footprint and CTR.
Check Quality Scores. Pull the Quality Score column for your top 20 keywords by spend. Anything below 5 needs investigation. Low Quality Scores mean you are paying more per click than necessary.
Part 5: Landing Page Check (5 Minutes)
Visit the top 3 landing pages by ad spend.
Speed test. Run each page through Google PageSpeed Insights. Mobile scores below 50 are costing you conversions. Pages loading in more than 3 seconds on mobile need optimization.
Conversion path. Can you find and complete the primary conversion action (form, phone call, purchase) within 10 seconds? Is the CTA above the fold on mobile? Is the form asking for too many fields?
Trust signals. Are there testimonials, case studies, certifications, or client logos visible? Pages without social proof convert significantly worse than pages with it.
Quick fix impact: Landing page improvements typically increase conversion rates by 20 to 50 percent, which directly improves ROAS without any changes to the ad account.
Part 6: Bidding and Targeting Settings (5 Minutes)
Bidding strategy audit. What bid strategy is each campaign using? Is it appropriate for the campaign’s conversion volume? Are targets (CPA or ROAS) realistic based on historical data?
Geographic targeting. Check location settings. Is targeting set to “Presence” (people in your location) or “Presence or interest” (people interested in your location)? For most businesses, “Presence” is correct. “Interest” targeting can waste budget on users in other countries.
Device performance. Compare conversion rates across desktop, mobile, and tablet. If mobile converts at half the rate of desktop but gets equal budget, consider bid adjustments.
Audience layering. Are remarketing lists, customer match lists, or in-market audiences applied as observation or targeting? Audience data can significantly improve bid optimization.
After the Audit: Prioritize by Impact
You should now have a list of issues. Prioritize them:
Do today: Fix conversion tracking errors. Add negative keywords. Adjust geographic targeting.
Do this week: Reallocate budgets. Update ad copy. Fix landing page speed issues.
Do this month: Restructure campaigns. Implement offline conversion tracking. Build new landing pages.
For a professional audit that goes deeper than this 30-minute checklist, I offer a free PPC health check covering all the areas above plus competitive analysis and opportunity identification.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I audit my Google Ads account?
Run a comprehensive audit at least once per quarter. If you are actively scaling spend or launching new campaigns, a monthly check is better. The 30-minute audit format works well as a monthly health check, while deeper audits covering account structure, landing pages, and conversion tracking should happen quarterly. If performance suddenly drops, run an immediate audit to identify the issue before it compounds.
What is the most common issue found in a Google Ads audit?
Poor search term hygiene is the most common issue. Many accounts bleed budget on irrelevant search queries because negative keyword lists are outdated or missing entirely. The second most common issue is conversion tracking errors: either tracking the wrong actions (like page views counted as conversions), double-counting conversions, or missing conversions entirely. Both problems lead to misleading performance data and wasted spend.
Can I audit a Google Ads account I did not set up?
Yes. An outside perspective often catches issues that the original manager has become blind to. When auditing someone else’s account, start with the change history to understand recent modifications, then check conversion tracking accuracy, search term reports, and campaign structure. The most valuable thing an external auditor brings is fresh eyes and a willingness to question assumptions that have been baked into the account for months or years.
What tools do I need to audit a Google Ads account?
Google Ads itself provides everything you need for a solid audit. The key reports are: Search Terms report (query relevance), Auction Insights (competitive position), Change History (recent modifications), and the Recommendations tab (with critical judgment about which suggestions to follow). Google Tag Assistant helps verify conversion tracking. GA4 provides a cross-channel view of performance. No third-party tools are required, though platforms like Optmyzr or Adalysis can speed up larger audits.
What should I do after completing a Google Ads audit?
Prioritize findings by impact and effort. Start with quick wins: adding negative keywords, fixing conversion tracking, and pausing underperforming campaigns or ad groups. These changes often recover wasted spend within days. Then move to structural improvements like campaign reorganization, landing page tests, and bidding strategy changes. Document your findings and create a follow-up schedule to re-check each issue after your changes have had time to take effect.
Related: 7 audit mistakes that cost advertisers money
