Google Ads Audit Checklist: How to Audit Your Own Account

This is the self-audit version of the audit I run for clients

This checklist is built from the same 15 areas I use in my in-depth audit, cut down to the checks you can do yourself with account access. Answer each one honestly as Good (done well), To do (missing or unconfirmed) or Bad (wrong or costing money), then fix the Bad items first, starting with tracking.

Some checks need the Google Ads interface, some need your website, and a few just need a straight answer from whoever manages the account. Not every area applies: skip Shopping and Merchant Center if you do not sell products, and skip Performance Max or Microsoft Ads if you do not use them.

Fix conversion tracking first, then everything else

The order matters. If conversion tracking is wrong, your bidding, your keyword decisions and your reports are all based on bad data, however good the rest of the account is. So work through the areas below in order, and do not trust any performance number until section 7 is clean.

A quick ten-minute pass to find the most common leaks: check your location setting, check which devices and networks spend your money, read the last 30 days of search terms, and confirm what counts as a conversion.

1. Goals, targets and roadmap

• Are the goals written down? A target cost per lead, target ROAS or monthly volume, overall and by campaign type.
• Is there a 30 to 90 day roadmap? Know what is being changed next and why.
• Is there a testing log? The change history should show ads and bids being tested, not left alone.

2. Connections

• Is Google Analytics 4 linked to Google Ads, with key events imported as secondary unless you chose them deliberately as primary?
• Is Google Merchant Center linked if you sell products?
• Are any other links needed and live? For example your CRM or call tracking, if you use them.

3. Account settings

• Is auto-tagging on? Without it, clicks cannot be tied to conversions properly.
• Are location settings set to people in or regularly in your target area rather than people showing interest in it?
• Are Search Partners and the Display Network switched off on Search campaigns unless you have evidence they convert?
• Are auto-applied recommendations reviewed and any you do not want switched off?

4. Audience data

• Are remarketing lists in the account and big enough to use?
• Is user data collected within UK GDPR and PECR, with a consent banner and Consent Mode signals reaching Google?
• Are audiences added to campaigns in observation so you can see which segments convert?

5. Google Merchant Center (ecommerce only)

• Is the feed approved and free of disapproved products?
• Are titles, images, prices and stock accurate and matching the landing page?
• Are there product-level policy or shipping problems holding back impressions?

6. Performance

• Compare the last 30 days with the same period last year and the previous 30 days.
• Look at results by campaign, device and day. Where is the money going and what does it return?
• Check whether performance changes line up with changes in the account (the change history will show them).

7. Conversion tracking

• Do conversion counts match your CRM, orders or call log reasonably closely? A big gap points to duplicates or missed events.
• Are you counting the right outcomes? Calls, forms and purchases, not page views.
• Are the important actions set as primary and the rest as secondary?
• Are there duplicate conversion actions? They inflate counts and skew bidding.
• Do conversions carry sensible values and do offline or CRM outcomes need importing?
• Are enhanced conversions set up where they apply?

8. Bid management

• Does the bidding strategy match your goal and conversion volume? Automated strategies need enough conversions to learn from.
• Are Target CPA and ROAS set from your own history rather than aspiration? A target far below what the account has achieved starves it of impressions.
• Is your target ROAS above your break-even? See break-even ROAS by margin.
• Are brand campaigns bid separately from non-brand?

9. Budget

• Is the monthly budget big enough to meet the goal at your cost per lead or sale?
• Is budget going to the campaigns that return most, rather than where it has always been?
• Are your best campaigns limited by budget while weaker ones have spare?

10. Search campaigns

• Is there a separate brand campaign, and are brand terms kept out of non-brand campaigns?
• Are you reading search terms every month and adding negative keywords? An outdated negative list is a common source of wasted spend.
• Do match types and ad groups make sense? Keep ad groups themed tightly enough to write relevant ads.
• Is there keyword overlap between campaigns that makes you compete with yourself?
• Are responsive search ads using varied headlines and descriptions with the main keyword themes included, and are all assets (sitelinks, callouts, call, structured snippets) in use?
• Do landing pages match what the search and ad promise? Review Quality Score components (expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience) for the keywords that spend most.
• Do all active campaigns and ad groups have live ads and keywords? Empty ones are clutter.

11. Performance Max

• Is there a reason for each Performance Max campaign and a logical structure?
• Are asset groups split by theme or service, with full sets of images, video, headlines and descriptions?
• Are brand and exclusion controls set so it is not just harvesting brand searches?
• For ecommerce, is it the right fit compared with a feed-only or Standard Shopping set-up?

12. Standard Shopping (ecommerce only)

• Is the product group structure logical and based on how you sell, such as category or margin?
• Are priority and negative keyword settings stopping campaigns overlapping?
• Do bids reflect margin? A product with thin margin should not get the same target as a high-margin one.

13. Google recommendations

• Have you reviewed the Recommendations tab and applied only what suits your goals?
• Is there any auto-apply setting that changes your account without you knowing?
• Is the optimisation score being chased for its own sake? It is Google’s measure, not your profit.

14. Microsoft Ads (if used)

• Is the Google Ads import running and updating on a schedule?
• Have you checked Microsoft settings separately, such as locations and devices, rather than assuming they copied across?

15. Remarketing

• Are remarketing campaigns running where they make sense, and are audiences split by intent and recency?
• Are exclusions in place for people who have already converted?
• Does the bidding strategy suit remarketing, and is optimised targeting set the way you intended?

What to fix first

• Step 1: Fix conversion tracking. Nothing else can be trusted until it is right.
• Step 2: Stop obvious leaks. Location, Search Partners and Display on Search, and irrelevant search terms.
• Step 3: Fix bidding and targets. Make sure targets match your history and break-even.
• Step 4: Reallocate budget from campaigns that cannot show a return to those that can.
• Step 5: Improve ads and landing pages for the keywords that spend most.
• Step 6: Tidy structure once tracking, bidding and copy are solid.

What to do after the audit

An audit without action is just a list. Once you have scored all 15 areas, rank the Bad and To do items by impact and by how easy they are to fix: high impact and simple goes first. Put a date in the diary to repeat the audit, and look at search terms and tracking more often than that.

If you want a specialist to do it, I run an in-depth Google Ads audit for £450, with the report within 5 working days. You can see exactly what it looks like in the example report (PDF). The audit may tell you your account is in better shape than you feared, and if so, I will say so.