Google Ads Audit Checklist
Check foundations before performance
Record account ownership, billing, campaign goals and the reporting period. Confirm that a primary conversion represents an outcome worth bidding towards. A page view or button click may be useful context without being an appropriate primary sales goal.
- Conversion actions: verify source, counting, values and duplicate imports.
- Targeting: inspect actual locations served, exclusions, schedules and languages.
- Search demand: review search terms, match types and negative keywords.
- Destinations: check offer consistency, phone usability and successful submission.
- Budget: compare allocation with qualified outcomes rather than headline traffic.
Trace wasted spend with evidence
In an illustrative account, a campaign may show cheap conversions because it counts both a lead-form event and the same lead imported from analytics. Another may attract research queries that never become qualified enquiries. Those findings need different fixes: reconcile goals in the first case and investigate intent in the second. Do not apply a bulk list of exclusions without checking what the business actually sells.
Leave a prioritised action log
For every issue, include the campaign, supporting evidence, proposed change, owner and validation method. Repair measurement and broken destinations first. Then test targeting, messages and allocation. Keep the change history intact so a later review can distinguish an improvement caused by a repair from a promotion, seasonality or a different reporting window.