How to Do a Google Ads Audit: Step-by-Step Checklist

Most Google Ads accounts drift over time. Budgets get reallocated, campaigns get duplicated, negative keyword lists stop being updated, and bidding strategies that made sense six months ago no longer match the account's current conversion volume. The result is an account quietly leaking money in ways that don't show up in top-line metrics until performance drops significantly.

A structured audit catches these issues before they compound. Done properly, most audits surface at least 3–5 actionable improvements — and frequently uncover one or two significant budget leaks that pay for the time invested many times over.

This checklist is structured in priority order: the sections at the top have the highest impact on cost efficiency. Work through them in sequence.

Step 1: Conversion Tracking Audit

Every other metric in a Google Ads account is meaningless without accurate conversion tracking. This is always the first thing to verify.

• At least one primary conversion action is set up
• Conversion tracking status shows "Recording conversions" — not "Unverified" or "No recent conversions"
• Primary conversion actions are set to "Primary" — not "Secondary"
• No duplicate conversion actions being counted (a common issue after adding Google Analytics imports alongside a direct tag)
• Conversion window makes sense for your sales cycle (30 days for most, 90 days for longer cycles)
• View-through conversions not inflating results (disable unless you're running Display specifically for awareness)
• Offline conversion imports set up if relevant (for phone-to-close sales processes)

Red flag: If your conversion count seems high relative to actual leads or sales, check for duplicate tracking or accidental counting of thank-you page reloads.

Step 2: Account Structure Audit

A poorly structured account makes everything harder — budgeting, reporting, optimisation, and Quality Score management all suffer when campaigns aren't logically organised.

• Campaigns are organised by product line, service type, or targeting strategy — not randomly named
• Each campaign has a clear, single purpose (brand vs non-brand, Search vs Shopping, prospecting vs remarketing)
• Ad groups contain tightly themed keyword sets (not 50 loosely related keywords in one ad group)
• No single ad group mixing different match types for the same keyword (e.g. broad + exact of the same term)
• Branded keywords are in their own campaign with a separate budget
• Remarketing campaigns are separate from prospecting campaigns
• Campaign naming convention is consistent and descriptive

Step 3: Budget and Bidding Audit

• Budget is not perpetually limited ("Limited by budget" status means you're consistently underfunding campaigns)
• Bidding strategy matches the account's conversion data volume
• No campaigns on Target CPA or Target ROAS with fewer than 30 conversions/month
• tCPA targets are set at realistic levels (within 20% of actual recent CPA) — not aspirational targets below current performance
• Impression Share checked — if below 60% on brand campaigns, budget is too low
• Budget allocation reviewed — highest-performing campaigns getting sufficient budget share
• Dayparting bid adjustments set if your conversion data shows strong time-of-day patterns
• Device bid adjustments reviewed — if mobile converts at 50% the rate of desktop, consider a negative bid adjustment

Step 4: Keyword Audit

• Search Terms Report reviewed in the last 30 days
• Irrelevant search terms added as negative keywords
• Broad match keywords reviewed — are they triggering relevant searches or bleeding into unrelated terms?
• Duplicate keywords across ad groups identified and resolved (can cause internal auction competition)
• Low-impression keywords (under 50 impressions in 90 days) reviewed — pause or improve ad relevance
• Keyword-level Quality Scores checked — any keywords below 5 need attention
• Single keywords or very short keywords (1–2 words) reviewed for match type — broad single words often trigger highly irrelevant searches
• Negative keyword list reviewed for conflicts — negative keywords that are accidentally blocking good traffic

Step 5: Ad Copy Audit

• Every ad group has at least one active Responsive Search Ad
• No "Poor" Ad Strength ratings left unaddressed
• Each RSA has at least 10 headlines (ideally all 15 used)
• All 4 descriptions used per RSA
• Asset performance report reviewed — "Low" rated assets paused and replaced
• Headline 1 in each ad group includes the primary keyword
• CTAs are specific and action-oriented (not "Click here" or "Learn more")
• Display URL paths include the keyword
• Ads have been refreshed within the last 6 months (stale copy loses relevance signals)
• Ad copy compliant with Google policies (no superlatives without substantiation, no misleading claims)

Step 6: Extensions (Assets) Audit

Extensions are free and improve CTR — not using them fully is leaving money on the table.

• Sitelink extensions active with at least 4 links
• Callout extensions active with at least 4 phrases
• Structured snippets added
• Call extension added (if calls are a conversion goal)
• Image extensions added (if eligible)
• Extension performance reviewed — underperforming extensions updated or replaced
• Lead form extensions considered for mobile campaigns

Step 7: Audience Audit

• Remarketing lists added to Search campaigns as observation audiences
• Customer match lists uploaded (if you have a customer email list)
• Similar audiences reviewed (if applicable)
• Audience bid adjustments set for high-value audiences (past converters, high-intent site visitors)
• Exclusion audiences applied — past converters excluded from prospecting campaigns

Step 8: Network and Targeting Settings Audit

These settings are often misconfigured at launch and never revisited.

• Search Network: Search Partners checked — review Search Partner performance separately and exclude if CTR/conversion rate significantly lower than Google Search
• Display Network: confirmed OFF for all Search campaigns (unless intentionally running DSAs)
• Location targeting confirmed correct
• Location targeting method set to "Presence" only — not "Presence or interest"
• Language targeting matches your audience
• Ad scheduling reviewed — if you have data showing clear peak conversion windows, bid adjustments should reflect this

Step 9: Landing Page Audit

Traffic quality means nothing if the landing page fails to convert. Check each destination URL in your account.

• All destination URLs returning 200 OK (no 404s or redirect chains)
• Landing page message matches the ad promise
• Landing page loads in under 3 seconds on mobile (test at pagespeed.web.dev)
• Mobile experience is functional and fast
• CTA is visible above the fold on mobile
• Thank-you page exists and conversion tag fires correctly upon form submission

Step 10: Performance Trends Audit

Finally, review the account-level performance trends to identify patterns that need investigation.

• CPC trend over last 90 days — increasing CPC without increasing conversion rate is a warning sign
• Impression share trend — declining impression share may mean more competition or budget constraints
• Quality Score average across keywords — declining QS typically precedes CPC increases
• Conversion rate trend — sudden drops often indicate landing page issues, not ad issues
• Click-through rate trend — declining CTR suggests ad fatigue or relevance issues

Audit Findings: What to Fix First

After working through the checklist, prioritise fixes in this order:

1. Conversion tracking issues — everything else is unreliable until tracking is accurate
2. Campaigns on wrong bidding strategy — Smart Bidding on low-conversion campaigns actively causes overspending
3. Budget allocation — move budget from low-performing to high-performing campaigns
4. Irrelevant search terms — add negatives from the Search Terms Report
5. Low Quality Score keywords — improve ad relevance and landing page match
6. Missing extensions — free uplift, easy to add
7. Ad copy refresh — replace low-performing assets

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I audit my Google Ads account? A full audit every quarter is a good baseline. High-spend accounts ($5,000+/month) benefit from a lighter monthly review covering conversion tracking, budget pacing, and search terms. Annual deep audits should include competitive analysis and keyword expansion.

How long does a Google Ads audit take? A thorough audit of a medium-complexity account (5–15 campaigns) typically takes 3–5 hours. Larger accounts with 50+ campaigns may take a full day. Using this checklist helps you focus time on the highest-impact areas first.

Should I use a Google Ads audit tool or do it manually? Tools like Optmyzr, Adalysis, and SEMrush's PPC toolkit can surface issues faster, especially for large accounts. But manual review catches nuances that automated tools miss — particularly around message match between ads and landing pages. Use tools to identify issues, manual review to understand them.

What is a good Quality Score benchmark? Branded keywords: 8–10. Non-branded commercial keywords: 6–8. Generic informational keywords: 5–7. Any keyword consistently below 5 is worth investigating — it's costing you a CPC premium on every click.

Can I audit my own Google Ads account objectively? You can, but it helps to use a structured checklist (like this one) to avoid skipping uncomfortable findings. Fresh eyes catch things familiarity misses — if budget allows, a periodic external review is worth it.

Related reading: Google Ads Quality Score Guide | Smart Bidding vs Manual CPC | Google Ads Negative Keywords | Google Ads Conversion Tracking | Build a Google Ads Campaign