Google Ads audit: what it should include before you spend another dollar (+ examples)

A Google Ads audit is the part where we politely stop pretending the account is “probably fine” and actually look under the hood.

Because the last thing you want to do is be startled from your deep work trance on a Tuesday morning by a knock on your office door from your boss asking: “Why are we paying for searches that sound like someone fell asleep on their keyboard?”

If you’re running Google Ads, an audit helps you understand what’s working, what’s wasting money, what’s misaligned with your business goals, and what needs to change before you keep giving the account more budget like it’s a raccoon with a Venmo.

Go deeper: Landing page optimization strategies to increase conversions (a practical, data-driven guide)

Because that’s usually the problem. When performance starts drifting sideways, the instinct is to tweak the ads, raise the budget, panic-refresh the dashboard, or accept whatever Google’s recommendations tab is currently whispering into your ear.

Please don’t let the recommendations tab raise your children, let alone run your Google Ads strategy.

A good Google Ads audit should be much more than a quick glance at clicks and conversions. It should review the structure of your account, the quality of your traffic, the alignment between keywords and ads, the health of your landing pages, the accuracy of your conversion tracking, and whether the account is actually helping you make money.

Let’s walk through what a Google Ads audit should cover before you spend another dollar.

Start with the goal of the account

Before you start digging through campaigns, you need to know what the account is supposed to do. This sounds obvious, but trust me when I say that I’m not pointing this out because I don’t think you can do your job. 

Quite the contrary! But when you’re in the thick of things, what was once a clearly-focused Google Ads account can become murky over time as new campaigns, new ideas, and necessary “pivots” make their way into the frey without a ton of auditing.

So that’s why this is your first step: taking a step back and asking yourself why you’re here in the first place.

Some campaigns are meant to generate leads. Some are meant to drive ecommerce purchases. Some are meant to protect branded search. Some are meant to introduce new buyers to the business. Some are meant to get past customers to come back. Some are doing several of those things at once, which may be fine, or may be the reason everyone is confused.

Go deeper: Is there such a thing as too many keywords with Google Ads? (benchmarks + examples)

A Google Ads audit should start by asking whether the account is structured around the actual business goal (or goals) you have. So, if your main priority is recurring, sustainable ecommerce revenue, but the account is optimizing toward cheap traffic, that’s a problem. Or if you need qualified leads, but the account is celebrating every form fill like it’s a tiny parade (complete with a tiny confetti cannon), that’s also a problem.

At this step, your goal is to separate activity from progress, because a Google Ads account with lots of activity can look and feel like progress… but they aren’t always. Clicks are activity, as are impressions. Even conversions can be misleading if the wrong actions are counted as conversions.

The real question is whether the account is producing the kind of results your business actually needs.

Check conversion tracking before you trust anything else

Conversion tracking is the foundation of a Google Ads account. If it’s wrong, everything built on top of it gets weird.

And by weird, I mean expensive.

Your audit should review every conversion action in the account:

• What is being counted?
• What is included in the primary conversion column?
• Are phone calls, form fills, purchases, booked appointments, newsletter signups, page views, and other actions being treated the same way?
• Are duplicate conversions being counted?
• Are imported conversions from your CRM actually working?

This is where a lot of accounts get into trouble. They think they’re optimizing for sales or qualified leads, but Google is actually optimizing toward whatever conversion action is easiest to get.

Go deeper: 8 landing page best practices to increase conversions (+ video)

Sure that might be a purchase. But it also might be a contact form spam submission from someone named “Best Crypto Guest Post Opportunity.”

Blessings to the internet, but no.

A Google Ads audit should make sure conversion tracking reflects real business value. For ecommerce, that means checking purchase tracking, revenue, transaction data, and whether return on ad spend is being measured correctly. For lead generation, that means checking whether leads are being qualified after the form fill, not just counted the second someone hits submit.

Because Google can only optimize toward what you tell it matters. If you tell it everything matters, the algorithm will believe you. Enthusiastically. With your money.

Review campaign structure

Once tracking is clean, look at the way the account is organized.

A good campaign structure should make it easy to understand what each campaign is for, how budget is being allocated, and how performance should be evaluated. If the account is a junk drawer of campaigns named things like “Search 2,” “New Campaign Final,” and “PMax Test DO NOT TOUCH,” you’ve got another problem.

Not a moral failing or a sign you suck at this — just a problem. 

Your audit should look at campaign types, naming conventions, budget allocation, bidding strategy, location settings, language settings, networks, and how campaigns are segmented. Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Display, Demand Gen, and remarketing campaigns all behave differently. They should not be judged by one messy blended average.

Go deeper: How to find negative keywords for Google Ads campaigns (+ examples)

The audit should also look for overlap:

• Are campaigns competing with each other?
• Are branded and non-branded terms mixed together?
• Are prospecting and remarketing audiences tangled up?
• Are high-intent campaigns being starved while low-intent campaigns spend freely?

Structure matters because it affects control. If everything is lumped together, you can’t see what’s actually driving results, so you’re stuck scanning the numbers hoping one of them means something.

Audit your keywords and search terms

Keywords are what you choose to target, whereas search terms are what people actually typed before your ad showed up. “But Liz, aren’t those the same thing?” Sometimes yes, sometimes no — and the delta between those two are where your sweet, sweet Google Ads dollars go to die. 

A Google Ads audit should review which keywords are driving spend, clicks, conversions, and revenue. It should also look at match types. Broad match can work in the right account with the right data and controls, but it can also open the door to a lot of questionable traffic if no one is paying attention.

Then you need to review the search terms report.

Go deeper: Branded keywords vs. non-branded keywords, and what each tells you about growth (+ examples)

This is where you find out whether your ads are showing up for relevant, high-intent searches or for things that technically contain a word you bid on but spiritually have nothing to do with your business.

Your audit should identify irrelevant terms, low-quality searches, negative keyword opportunities, and places where the account is paying for curiosity instead of intent. It should also separate branded from non-branded performance, because branded search often makes an account look healthier than it really is.

Branded search is valuable. It is also not the same thing as convincing a new buyer to choose you.

Look at ad copy like a buyer would

Your ads do not need to be poetry. In fact, please do not make them poetry. Your Google Ads copy should be clear, relevant, specific, and aligned with what the buyer is searching for.

A Google Ads audit should review whether your ad copy matches the intent behind the keywords and search terms:

• If someone is searching for pricing, does the ad acknowledge pricing?
• If they’re searching for a specific product category, does the ad speak to that category?
• If they’re comparing options, does the ad give them a reason to click yours?

This is also where you look for vague copy: “seamless,” “powerful,” “innovative,” and “best-in-class” often sound nice inside a marketing meeting. But they’re used by everyone, and they communicate absolutely nothing that is unique to you.

People clicking search ads are usually trying to solve a problem, compare options, buy something, book something, or figure out who can help them. Your ad copy should make the next step obvious.

Go deeper: How to do a PPC audit the right way (process + examples)

But hold onto your butts! The copy auditing doesn’t stop there.

You should also check headlines, descriptions, assets, calls-to-action, and whether the ads are actually using the space available. You should also look for message match between keyword, ad, and landing page.

Because if the keyword says “emergency plumber,” the ad says “trusted home services,” and the landing page opens with a brand manifesto, everyone needs to take a lap.

Review landing page experience

All of your ads should be pointing to relevant landing pages, so you’re also going to need to kick the tires on those, too. 

So a comprehensive Google Ads audit should review where ads are sending people and whether those pages match the intent of the search:

• Are you sending people to a specific product, category, service page, or landing page that answers what they came for?
• Or are you dumping everyone on the homepage and hoping they develop the patience of a Victorian lighthouse keeper?

The landing page should be relevant, fast, mobile-friendly, easy to understand, and clear about the next step. It should answer the buyer’s obvious questions. What is this? Is it for me? What does it cost? Why should I trust you? What happens if I click?

Go deeper: How much are Google Ads for ecommerce? (budget + pricing guide)

For ecommerce, the audit should look at product pages, collection pages, pricing, shipping information, reviews, return policies, and checkout friction. For lead generation, it should look at the offer, form length, proof points, page speed, and whether the page gives someone enough confidence to convert.

A good ad can bring the right person to the page, but it can’t make an already confusing page suddenly persuasive.

Check bidding and budget allocation

Google Ads loves automation. Automation can be great, but it can also become a very confident toddler with access to your credit card if you’re not paying close enough attention.

A Google Ads audit should review your bidding strategies and whether they make sense for your goals, budget, and available data. Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Target CPA, Target ROAS, manual bidding, portfolio bidding, and other strategies all have their place. The question is whether the account has enough reliable conversion data for the chosen strategy to work well.

If tracking is messy, automated bidding can optimize toward messy outcomes. If budgets are too limited, campaigns may never get enough data. If targets are unrealistic, the account may stall. If targets are too loose, the account may spend aggressively without producing the return you need.

Case study: How The Foot Doc achieved lead gen goals through strategic campaign optimization

Budget allocation matters too. Your audit should show where spend is going and whether that lines up with performance. Sometimes the best campaigns are underfunded while weaker campaigns keep spending because no one has revisited the budget split in six months.

Don’t use “habit” as the basis for your Google Ads budget decisions.

Look for waste, but don’t only look for waste

A lot of people think a Google Ads audit is just about finding wasted spend.

That’s definitely part of it. But you should know where money is leaking through irrelevant search terms, poor targeting, weak landing pages, bad tracking, low-performing assets, or campaigns that no longer match your goals.

But an audit should also find opportunities:

• Where is there strong intent but limited budget?
• Which campaigns are close to working but need better landing pages?
• Which search terms should become exact match keywords?
• Which products or services are getting traction?
• Which audiences are worth testing further?
• Which campaigns are being held back by structure instead of demand?

Go deeper: Landing page optimization strategies to increase conversions (a practical, data-driven guide)

If an audit only tells you what’s broken, it’s incomplete. You also need to know what to do next.

That’s the difference between a report and a strategy.

Don’t ignore account settings

Some of the most expensive Google Ads problems are hiding in the boring places. Location settings. Network settings. Auto-applied recommendations. Ad schedule. Device performance. Exclusions. Brand exclusions. Audience settings. Final URL expansion. Asset automation. Conversion windows. Attribution settings.

These are teeny, tiny toggles that can have some seriously big consequences if you don’t keep an eye on them.

Your audit should review the account settings that affect where ads show, who sees them, what Google is allowed to automate, and how performance is measured. This is not the sexiest part of the process, but it is where a lot of “wait, why are we spending money there?” moments come from.

Go deeper: Landing page optimization strategies to increase conversions (a practical, data-driven guide)

If you have never reviewed these settings, please do not assume they are fine because nobody touched them.

Google touched them. Google is always touching things. Someone should talk to Google about that.

Turn the audit into a prioritized action plan

The final deliverable of a Google Ads audit should not be a 47-tab spreadsheet that makes everyone quietly question their life choices. No one reads those things. They’re terrifying and often completely impractical to implement unless you want to stop making money for a solid two to seven months.

You need a prioritized action plan:

• What needs to be fixed immediately?
• What should be tested next?
• What should be paused?
• What needs more data?
• What is a tracking issue, a campaign issue, a keyword issue, a landing page issue, or a business strategy issue?

A good audit should make the next steps clear. It should separate urgent fixes from longer-term improvements, while also explaining why each change matters — because “optimize campaign structure” is not a plan. 

The more specific and strategic you can be, the better.

A Google Ads audit should give you clarity, not just criticism

The goal of a Google Ads audit is not to make everyone feel bad about the account. Google Ads accounts are subject to the rules of entropy just like the rest of the universe. 

Most Google Ads accounts get messy over time. Campaigns get added. Budgets shift. Priorities change. Tracking breaks. New products launch. Landing pages get updated. Someone tests Performance Max and then leaves the company to live in a forest.

Go deeper: How to do a PPC audit the right way (process + examples)

It happens.

To all of us. 

The point of a Google Ads audit is to remove the guesswork of what is and isn’t working. A strong Google Ads audit shows you what’s wasting money, what needs to be fixed, and where the next best opportunities are. It also helps you make better decisions before you spend more.

And if you’re looking at your account right now thinking, “I am pretty sure something is off, but I don’t know where to start,” that is exactly what an audit is for.

The Solutions 8 team can help you review your Google Ads account, find the leaks, and identify the changes most likely to improve performance. Connect with us if you want a second set of eyes before you spend another dollar.