A Google Ads audit is a systematic review of every account element that affects performance. It is how you find the settings bleeding budget, the keywords wasting spend, the ad copy underperforming and the structural issues preventing the algorithm from working effectively. Most Google Ads accounts contain preventable budget waste, often in the range of 20-40% of total spend. If you have not audited your account in the last three months, there is almost certainly money being wasted.
At Gorilla Marketing, we audit Google Ads accounts during every new client onboarding. The patterns repeat: broken conversion tracking, overly broad keywords, bloated ad groups and bidding strategies running without enough data. This guide is the checklist we use, adapted for anyone managing a Google Ads account. Work through each step in order, because later steps depend on earlier ones being right.
Step 1: Verify Conversion Tracking
Everything else depends on accurate conversion data. If tracking is broken, every metric in the account is misleading. Smart Bidding strategies optimise toward the data they receive, so incorrect data means incorrect optimisation.
Are conversions firing? Use Google Tag Assistant or the Diagnostics tab to verify. Test each conversion action manually by completing the action yourself and checking that it registers.
Are you counting the right actions? Separate primary conversions (purchases, qualified leads, phone calls) from secondary conversions (page views, scroll depth, button clicks). Only primary conversions should feed bidding strategies. Including secondary actions inflates conversion counts and distorts automated bidding.
Is there double counting? Duplicate tags, redundant GA4 imports or overlapping tracking frequently cause conversion inflation. One form submission should count once. Check for both Google Ads native tags and GA4 imported goals firing for the same action.
Enhanced conversions. With cookie restrictions increasing, enhanced conversions send hashed first-party data (email, phone) to Google to maintain tracking accuracy. If you have not implemented enhanced conversions, your reported conversion data is likely understating actual performance, which means Smart Bidding is operating on incomplete data.
Does the data match reality? Compare Google Ads conversions against CRM data or backend analytics for the same period. Discrepancies above 10-15% indicate tracking problems that need resolving before the rest of the audit is meaningful.
Fix tracking before doing anything else. No other audit finding matters until measurement is accurate.
Step 2: Review Account Structure
Structure determines how effectively Google matches ads to searches. Poor structure forces generic ads for specific queries, which lowers Quality Score and wastes budget.
Campaign organisation. Campaigns should be segmented logically: brand vs non-brand, product categories, geographic regions, funnel stages. Search campaigns must be separated from Display and Performance Max. A dedicated brand campaign with its own budget prevents branded searches from consuming the non-brand budget.
Ad group structure. Each ad group should contain tightly themed keywords that share the same intent. “Plumber Manchester” and “boiler repair Leeds” cannot share an ad group because no single ad can address both. Aim for 5-15 keywords per ad group. Groups with over 20 keywords are almost certainly too broad.
| Campaign naming conventions. Clear, consistent naming (e.g., “Search | Non-Brand | Product Category | UK”) makes auditing and reporting far easier. If you are inheriting an account with inconsistent names, standardise them early. |
|---|
Step 3: Audit Keywords and Search Terms
This is where most budget waste lives.
Match types. Heavy broad match without Smart Bidding is a common waste source. Broad match without algorithmic guardrails matches irrelevant queries. Exact and phrase match should cover high-converting terms. Broad match works best paired with Smart Bidding and a well-managed negative keyword list.
Zero-conversion keywords. Sort keywords by cost descending. Anything with significant spend and zero conversions over a reasonable period (30-90 days depending on volume) is either targeting the wrong intent or sending traffic to the wrong landing page. Pause, rewrite the ad or change the landing page.
Quality Scores. Keywords below 5 pay a CPC premium. Check which component is weak: expected CTR, ad relevance or landing page experience. Prioritise fixing Quality Score on high-spend keywords where the impact on total cost is greatest.
Search terms report. Review the last 30-90 days. This is the single highest-ROI audit task in most accounts. Add irrelevant terms as negatives. Convert high-performing search terms that are not yet keywords into explicit keywords so you can control bids and ad copy for them.
Keyword cannibalisation. Check whether multiple ad groups or campaigns are bidding on the same or overlapping keywords. This forces your own ads to compete against each other, driving up CPCs.
Step 4: Evaluate Ad Copy and Extensions
Ads are the only account element that users actually see.
Ad copy. Every ad group should have at least one responsive search ad (RSA) with 10-15 unique headlines and 4 descriptions. Headlines must mirror the keyword theme: if the ad group targets “CRM software pricing,” the headline needs to address pricing specifically. Include a clear CTA in every ad (“Get a Quote,” “Start Free Trial,” “Book a Demo”). Read your ads next to competitors’ ads. If they are interchangeable, they are not working.
Ad extensions (assets). Missing extensions reduce your ad’s footprint in search results and can lower Ad Rank. These are fast wins.
Sitelinks: 4+ per campaign, linking to distinct pages
Callouts: 4+, highlighting unique selling points
Structured snippets: service types, product categories, features
Call extensions: if phone leads matter, ensure the number is active and tracked
Image extensions: visual differentiation in search results
Business name and logo: ensure they display correctly
Check for disapproved ads and extensions regularly. Disapprovals reduce impression share and often go unnoticed.
Step 5: Check Landing Pages
Post-click experience determines whether traffic converts. The best ads in the world cannot compensate for a poor landing page.
For each major ad group, check:
Message match. Does the landing page headline match the promise made in the ad? If the ad says “Free SEO Audit,” the landing page should lead with that offer, not a generic homepage.
Speed. Run PageSpeed Insights. LCP should be under 2.5 seconds. Slow pages kill conversion rates, particularly on mobile where most PPC traffic arrives.
Mobile experience. Load the page on a phone. Complete the conversion action. Is the form usable? Are buttons large enough? Does the page render correctly?
Focus. One goal per page. No competing navigation, sidebar distractions or multiple CTAs pulling in different directions.
Trust signals. Reviews, testimonials, accreditations and social proof matter especially for cold PPC traffic that has no prior relationship with the brand.
Step 6: Audit Performance Max Campaigns
Performance Max is now central to most Google Ads accounts, but it operates with less transparency than standard campaigns. Auditing it requires a different approach.
Asset group quality. Review each asset group for strong, varied creative. PMax uses images, videos, headlines and descriptions across multiple placements. Weak assets produce weak performance across all channels the campaign touches.
Audience signals. PMax should have audience signals configured for your most valuable customer segments. Without signals, the algorithm starts from scratch. Upload customer lists, add in-market and affinity audiences relevant to your offering.
Search term visibility. PMax does not show a standard search terms report, but the Insights tab shows search categories. Check whether PMax is cannibalising your branded search campaigns. If brand terms are driving most PMax conversions, the campaign may be taking credit for traffic you would have got anyway.
Exclusions. Add brand keyword exclusions to PMax if you have a separate brand campaign. Exclude existing customers from acquisition-focused PMax campaigns using customer match lists.
Step 7: Review Bidding and Budget
Wrong bidding strategy for your data maturity wastes budget. Wrong budget allocation leaves revenue on the table.
Bidding strategy fit. Smart Bidding (Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximise Conversions) needs sufficient data: typically 15-30+ conversions per campaign per month. Below that threshold, the algorithm lacks the data to optimise effectively. Manual CPC or Maximise Clicks builds data faster in low-volume situations.
Target realism. A Target CPA set below the actual CPA forces Google to restrict traffic aggressively, often cutting volume without improving efficiency. Set targets based on actual historical performance and adjust gradually.
Bid adjustments. Device, location, time and audience bid adjustments should be data-driven, not arbitrary. Check whether adjustments reflect actual conversion data or were set once and never revisited.
Budget allocation. High-performing campaigns losing impression share to budget constraints? That is revenue being left on the table. Underperforming campaigns with surplus budget? Reallocate to what is delivering returns.
Impression share analysis. Check Search Impression Share, Lost IS (Budget) and Lost IS (Rank) for each campaign. Lost IS to budget means more spend would drive more results. Lost IS to rank means Quality Score or bid improvements are needed.
Step 8: Assess Quality Score
Quality Score is a diagnostic tool that reveals the relationship between your keywords, ads and landing pages.
Filter keywords with Quality Score below 5. They are paying a CPC premium that is eating into ROAS. Check which of the three components is weakest: expected CTR, ad relevance or landing page experience. Each has a different fix.
Low expected CTR: ad copy does not compel clicks. Rewrite headlines.
Low ad relevance: keyword and ad copy are misaligned. Tighten ad groups.
Low landing page experience: the destination page does not satisfy the query. Improve content, speed or relevance.
Prioritise by spend. Fixing Quality Score on a keyword with £500/month spend matters far more than one with £10/month.
Step 9: Review Audience Targeting
Audiences add precision that most accounts underuse.
Observation mode. Add in-market, affinity and custom audiences in observation mode to gather data at no cost. See which segments convert best, then adjust bids accordingly.
RLSA (remarketing lists for search ads). Bid higher on previous website visitors. They convert at significantly higher rates than cold traffic. If you are not running RLSA, you are paying the same for a warm prospect as a stranger.
Customer match. Upload customer lists to exclude existing customers from acquisition campaigns or create lookalike audiences. This prevents paying to re-acquire customers you already have.
Exclusions. Are converters excluded from prospecting campaigns? Without this exclusion, you pay twice for the same customer.
Step 10: Check Account Settings
Small settings drain budget silently.
Auto-applied recommendations. Google automatically applies certain recommendations. Check what has been auto-applied. Opt out of anything misaligned with your strategy. Google’s recommendations optimise for Google’s revenue, which does not always align with your goals.
Network settings. Search campaigns opted into Display Network or Search Partners? Evaluate performance on each network separately. In most accounts, Search Partners and Display extension on search campaigns deliver lower-quality traffic.
Location targeting. “People in or regularly in” (correct for most businesses) vs “People in or interested in” (often incorrect, targets people searching about a location rather than in it). This single setting change can eliminate significant waste for location-dependent businesses.
Ad schedule. If your business has clear peak and off-peak hours, ad scheduling prevents budget waste during times when conversions are unlikely. Check whether an existing schedule still reflects current performance patterns.
After the Audit: Prioritising Fixes
Not every finding is equally urgent. Use the ICE framework to prioritise.
Impact: How much will this fix improve performance?
Confidence: How sure are you that it will work?
Ease: How quickly can it be implemented?
High impact, quick fix (do first):
Add negative keywords from search terms
Fix broken conversion tracking
Add missing extensions
Correct location targeting settings
Exclude converters from prospecting
High impact, more effort:
Restructure bloated ad groups
Rewrite underperforming ads
Improve landing page speed and message match
Implement enhanced conversions
Configure Performance Max audience signals
Lower priority (but still worth doing):
Add observation audiences
Test new bidding strategies
Build customer match audiences
Standardise campaign naming
Set a regular cadence: monthly for active accounts, quarterly for stable accounts. Even healthy accounts drift over time. Unreviewed accounts accumulate waste.
If you want a professional audit, Gorilla Marketing offers account and competitor audits that pinpoint where budget is being wasted and what to fix first. Get in touch to request an audit.
