A Google Ads audit checklist provides a structured way to review your account and identify where campaigns may be losing efficiency. It covers areas such as campaign structure, conversion tracking, keywords, ads and landing pages, helping you spot wasted spend, measurement issues, targeting problems and gaps between your campaigns and business goals.
What Does a Google Ads Audit Checklist Cover?
A Google Ads audit checklist should cover the main factors that affect account performance, from campaign settings and keyword targeting to conversion tracking, ad relevance and landing page experience.
A thorough audit can help you identify:
- Campaigns or ad groups with unclear or inefficient structures
- Keywords that are generating irrelevant traffic
- Missing or inaccurate conversion tracking
- Underperforming ads and assets
- Landing pages that do not match search intent
- Overlapping campaigns or keywords competing for similar searches
- Budgets and bidding strategies that do not reflect performance
- Opportunities to improve account efficiency and return on ad spend
The aim is not simply to find problems. It is to understand what is happening in the account and prioritise changes based on business goals and available data.
Start With Account Structure and Campaign Settings
Before reviewing individual keywords or ads, look at how the account is structured.
Check whether campaigns are separated logically based on factors such as products, services, locations or different business objectives. Review campaign and ad group naming conventions, targeting settings, networks, locations, languages and other campaign-level settings.
You should also check whether the current structure still reflects how the business operates. Campaigns that were created for an earlier strategy may no longer make sense as the account develops.
Bidding strategies should also form part of your PPC audit checklist. Check whether the strategy being used is appropriate for the campaign’s objectives and whether the available conversion data supports it.
Review Keywords, Search Terms and Negative Keywords
Keywords determine which searches can trigger your ads, but the keywords you target are only part of the picture.
Once the account structure is clear, a Google Ads audit checklist should look at what users are actually searching for. Review the Search Terms report to identify relevant searches, irrelevant queries and new opportunities that could inform your keyword strategy.
Look for:
- Keywords with high spend but little or no meaningful conversion activity
- Broad or loosely relevant terms attracting unsuitable traffic
- Search terms that should be added as negative keywords
- New search themes that could support additional targeting
- Match types that may need reviewing
- Keywords that have become less relevant to the current offer
Negative keywords deserve particular attention. A well-maintained negative keyword list can help reduce irrelevant clicks and keep budget focused on searches that are more closely aligned with the business.
Look for Keyword and Campaign Overlap
Keyword and campaign overlap can make account management more complicated and may lead to inefficient targeting.
Check for campaigns or ad groups targeting very similar search terms, particularly when they have different budgets, locations or bidding strategies. Review whether the overlap is intentional and whether each campaign has a clear purpose.
This is also a useful opportunity to identify duplicate keywords, unnecessary ad groups and areas where the account could be simplified.
Check Conversion Tracking and Attribution
An account can appear to perform well when its conversion tracking is inaccurate, incomplete or recording the wrong actions.
Review which conversions are being tracked and confirm that they still reflect meaningful business outcomes. Depending on the account, this could include enquiries, purchases, calls, form submissions or other valuable actions.
Check for:
- Duplicate conversion actions
- Conversions that are no longer relevant
- Missing or incorrectly configured tracking
- Primary and secondary conversion settings
- Attribution settings
- Differences between Google Ads and other analytics or CRM data
If the account is optimising towards unreliable conversion data, campaign decisions may be based on an inaccurate picture of performance.
Evaluate Ad Copy, Assets and Ad Strength
Your ads need to match what people are searching for and give them a clear reason to click.
Review headlines and descriptions for relevance, clarity and alignment with the landing page. Check whether important services, products, benefits or calls to action are represented where appropriate.
As part of your Google Ads optimisation checklist, review ad performance rather than relying on Ad Strength alone. Look at conversion data, engagement and the relevance of the ad to its target search themes.
You should also review available assets and extensions to make sure useful information is being presented alongside the main ad.
Assess Landing Pages and Quality Score
The landing page is an important part of the journey after someone clicks an ad.
Check whether each landing page is relevant to the keyword and ad that led the user there. The page should make it easy for visitors to understand the offer and take the intended next step.
Review:
- Relevance between keywords, ads and landing pages
- Page load performance
- Mobile experience
- Calls to action
- Form or checkout usability
- Content quality and clarity
- Navigation and distractions
- Alignment between the ad promise and landing page content
Quality Score can provide useful diagnostic information, but it should not be treated as the only measure of campaign performance. Consider it alongside actual business results and other account data.
Review Budgets, Bidding and Performance
Budget allocation should reflect campaign priorities and performance.
Review how much is being spent across campaigns and whether budget is being directed towards areas that support the business’s objectives. Look for campaigns that consistently use their full budget, as well as campaigns with limited spend or weak performance.
As part of your Google Ads optimisation checklist, review performance using several measures rather than focusing on one metric. Depending on the campaign, this could include:
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Conversion rate
- Cost per conversion
- Conversion value
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Impression share
The right measures will depend on what the campaign is designed to achieve. A lead generation campaign, for example, should not be assessed in exactly the same way as an ecommerce campaign.
How Often Should You Run a Google Ads Audit?
There is no single schedule that works for every account. The right frequency depends on factors such as account size, spend, campaign activity and how quickly the business changes.
A full audit may be useful every few months, while smaller checks can be carried out more regularly. You should also consider an audit after major changes, such as launching new campaigns, changing conversion tracking, entering a new market or significantly changing budgets.
Regular reviews help prevent small issues from becoming expensive problems.
DIY Google Ads Audit vs Professional Support
A basic Google Ads audit can be carried out internally if you have the time, account access and knowledge needed to interpret the data.
However, larger or more complex accounts can take considerable time to review. It can also be difficult to spot issues when you are too close to the account or unfamiliar with the wider PPC strategy.
A paid search audit can bring those findings together with the wider business objectives, budget allocation and campaign strategy.
Professional support can also help turn audit findings into a prioritised action plan rather than leaving you with a long list of potential changes.
What Should You Do After a Google Ads Audit?
An audit is only useful if the findings lead to action.
Start by separating issues based on their potential impact and how difficult they are to resolve. Some changes, such as correcting conversion tracking or excluding clearly irrelevant searches, may need immediate attention. Others can be tested and monitored over time.
Use your Google Ads audit checklist to document:
- What needs to change
- Why the change is needed
- Who is responsible
- How success will be measured
- When the change should be reviewed
If you need broader support across paid search campaigns, our PPC services can help with strategy, campaign management and ongoing optimisation. For accounts that need more specialist input, our PPC consultancy can provide support based on your account’s goals and performance.
Conclusion
A Google Ads audit gives you a clearer view of what is working, where budget may be wasted and which areas need attention.
Use your Google Ads audit checklist to review the foundations first, including account structure, targeting, conversion tracking, ads, landing pages, budgets and performance. From there, prioritise changes based on their potential impact and your wider business objectives.
Regular audits can help keep your campaigns aligned with your goals as your account, market and business develop.
FAQs
A Google Ads audit should cover campaign structure, targeting, keywords, search terms, negative keywords, conversion tracking, ads, landing pages, budgets, bidding and performance data. The exact areas you need to focus on will depend on the account and its objectives.
An audit can be useful when campaign performance has changed, spending has increased without a clear improvement in results, tracking has been updated or the account has become difficult to manage. It can also be useful as part of regular account maintenance.
A professional audit typically involves reviewing account structure, targeting, keywords, ads, conversion tracking, landing pages, budgets and performance. The findings can then be used to create a prioritised action plan based on the account’s goals.
A Google Ads audit can be useful for businesses managing their own campaigns, reviewing an existing account or looking for specialist support. It can also help businesses understand where their budget is going and which areas of the account need attention.
The right measures depend on the campaign objective. Common metrics include conversions, conversion rate, cost per conversion, conversion value and return on ad spend. Comparing performance before and after changes can help show whether the updates are producing the intended results.
Ongoing optimisation can help campaigns respond to changes in search behaviour, performance, budgets and business priorities. Regular reviews can identify new opportunities and prevent issues from being overlooked.
Search terms show what users actually searched for before seeing an ad. Reviewing them can reveal irrelevant traffic, opportunities for new keywords and searches that should be excluded with negative keywords.