Google Ads Audit Checklist: 20 Things to Check First

Google Ads accounts rarely break all at once. They drift. A conversion action gets duplicated, a campaign keeps a setting nobody remembers choosing, Performance Max quietly takes over branded searches, and over a year or two a meaningful share of budget ends up going to clicks that were never going to convert.

This checklist covers the 20 things we look at first when we audit a Google Ads account. Work through it yourself, or hand it to whoever manages your account and ask for answers.

Conversion Tracking (Start Here)

If tracking is wrong, every other optimization is built on bad data. Smart Bidding will optimize toward whatever you tell it is a conversion, right or wrong.

1. Are the right actions set as primary conversions?

Only actions that represent real business value, like purchases, qualified leads, or booked calls, should be primary conversions used for bidding. Page views, scroll depth, and button clicks belong in secondary.

2. Are any conversions double-counting?

A common problem is the same purchase tracked by both a Google Ads tag and an imported GA4 conversion, both set as primary. Check the conversion column against your actual orders or leads.

3. Are conversion values accurate?

For eCommerce, values should reflect real revenue, ideally excluding tax and shipping. For lead gen, assigning different values to different lead types helps bidding prioritize better leads.

4. Are enhanced conversions set up?

Enhanced conversions use hashed first-party data to improve measurement accuracy as cookies become less reliable. For most advertisers, it's worth enabling.

5. Are offline conversions coming back in?

If sales happen after the click, through a phone call, sales meeting, or CRM stage, importing those outcomes lets Google optimize for real customers rather than form fills.

Account & Campaign Structure

6. Is the structure simple enough for automation to learn?

Dozens of tiny campaigns and ad groups spread conversion data too thin. Consolidating where it makes sense often improves Smart Bidding performance.

7. Are brand and non-brand separated?

Branded search almost always has much higher conversion rates and much lower costs. Mixing it with non-brand traffic makes overall performance look better than it is and hides problems in prospecting.

8. Are naming conventions consistent?

Clear naming makes reporting and handoffs far easier. It's a small thing that saves a lot of time.

Keywords & Search Terms

9. When did someone last review the search terms report?

Broad match and automation have widened the range of queries ads can show for. Review search terms regularly and look for irrelevant, low-intent, or competitor queries you didn't intend to target.

10. Is there a structured negative keyword list?

Account-level and shared negative lists, for terms like "jobs," "free," "DIY," or irrelevant product categories, prevent repeat waste.

11. Is match-type strategy intentional?

Broad match can work well with Smart Bidding and strong conversion data. Without those, it often wastes money. Know why each match type is being used.

Performance Max & Shopping

12. Are brand exclusions and negative keywords applied to PMax?

Without guardrails, Performance Max can claim branded searches you'd get anyway and report them as wins. Use brand exclusions and campaign-level negatives where appropriate.

13. Have you looked at where PMax is spending?

Use channel performance and placement reporting to understand how much budget goes to Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, and other inventory. See our Performance Max guide for more.

14. Is the product feed in good shape?

Product titles, descriptions, images, and attributes directly affect Shopping and PMax performance. Check Merchant Center for disapprovals and warnings.

Bidding & Budget

15. Do bid strategies match goals and data volume?

Target ROAS or target CPA need enough conversion data to work well. Campaigns with very few conversions may perform better on simpler strategies or after consolidation.

16. Are campaigns limited by budget, or by target?

"Limited by budget" on your best campaigns means you're leaving profitable volume on the table. Overly aggressive targets can choke delivery just as badly.

17. Are location and schedule settings correct?

Check that location targeting uses "presence" (people in your area) rather than "presence or interest" unless you have a reason. This setting causes more wasted spend than almost any other.

Ads & Landing Pages

18. Are responsive search ads giving Google good material?

Look for strong, distinct headlines, and pin only when you need to. Weak or repetitive assets limit performance.

19. Are assets fully used?

Sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, images, and calls take up more space on the results page and often improve click-through rate.

20. Does the landing page match the search?

Someone searching for a specific product or service should land on a page about that product or service, not your homepage. Check page speed and mobile experience too.

What to Do With What You Find

Prioritize. Tracking issues come first because they affect everything else. Next come wasted-spend fixes like negatives, location settings, and brand cannibalization. Structural and testing improvements come after that.

If you'd like an objective, senior-level review, Stonepath & Partners offers standalone paid media audits covering Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, and GA4, with a prioritized action plan you can use however you like. Or learn more about our Google Ads management.