Audit Checklist

Google Ads Audit Checklist 2026: 50 Things to Check Before You Spend More

The PPC audit agencies charge $500 for. Find wasted spend, fix leaks, and improve results in one sitting.

By Tom Zhang · April 16, 2026 · 22 min read

Most Google Ads accounts waste 15 to 30 percent of their budget. The leaks are usually boring and fixable — broken conversion tracking, missing negative keywords, old disapproved ads still sitting in the account, or two keywords bidding against each other from different ad groups. None of them are complicated. They just go unnoticed because nobody does a proper Google Ads account audit to look.

This PPC audit checklist is how you find them. Fifty checks grouped into five areas of your account, each with a plain-English fix you can do yourself. If you are short on time, flip to Quick Audit mode and just work through the 16 essentials. Hover any underlined term if you forget what it means.

Your Progress 0 of 16 complete

How to use this. Open Google Ads in another tab and work through each check in order. Tapping a row marks it done. If you are not sure how to fix something, click "Show fix steps" for a walkthrough. Underlined terms like Quality Score have definitions on hover. The red "High Impact" tags mean it is worth fixing this week — yellow tags can wait a month, blue tags are polish.

The 5 sections

Tracking & Measurement (8 checks)
Account Structure (10 checks)
Keywords & Search Terms (12 checks)
Ads & Creative (11 checks)
Budget, Bidding & Schedule (9 checks)

1. Tracking & Measurement

8 checks

Start here. If your tracking is broken, the rest of your Google Ads account audit is pointless — you will not even be able to tell which changes made things better.

#1 Essential High impact

Conversion tracking is set up and firing

In Google Ads, go to Goals then Conversions. You should see at least one active conversion with recent data. If it shows 'No recent conversions' and you know people have been buying, your tracking is broken.

Skip if: You only count phone calls tracked through a call tracking service like CallRail (check that separately).

#2 Essential High impact

The right actions are counted as conversions

A conversion should be a real business outcome — a purchase, a lead form, a phone call, a booking. If you count page views or button clicks as conversions, your data is worthless.

Skip if: You deliberately track micro-conversions (like email signups) but have them marked as Secondary, not Primary.

#3 High impact

Only primary conversions are optimized against

Google lets you mark conversions as Primary or Secondary. Smart bidding only optimizes toward Primary. If you have 10 Primary conversions, Google does not know which matters most. Keep 1 or 2 Primary. Mark everything else Secondary.

Skip if: You are running Manual CPC bidding — Primary vs Secondary does not affect bid optimization in manual mode.

#4 Medium impact

Conversion values are set correctly

If every conversion is worth $1, Smart Bidding cannot tell a $50 lead from a $5,000 contract. Set real dollar values. For e-commerce, send dynamic order values. For leads, use your average lead value.

Skip if: Every sale is roughly the same value (like a fixed-price subscription).

#5 Essential High impact

Call tracking is enabled (if you get calls)

Many local businesses get more calls than form fills from ads. If you are not tracking calls, half your data is missing. Add call conversion tracking under Goals, then new conversion action, then Phone calls.

Skip if: Your business only takes online orders or email inquiries and you do not publish a phone number.

#6 Medium impact

Google Analytics is linked to Google Ads

In Google Ads, go to Admin then Linked accounts then Google Analytics. Link your GA4 property. This unlocks bounce rate, time on site, and cross-channel attribution in your ad reports.

Skip if: You do not use Google Analytics at all (rare, but possible).

#7 Medium impact

Enhanced conversions are on

Enhanced conversions send hashed customer email and address data to Google, which improves tracking accuracy by 10-20 percent after Apple privacy changes broke pixel tracking. Turn it on under Goals, then Settings.

Skip if: Your privacy policy or legal setup (certain EU jurisdictions) does not allow hashed user data to be sent.

#8 Medium impact

Your Google tag is installed on every page

The Google tag (gtag.js) needs to be on every page of your site, not just the conversion thank-you page. Without it, retargeting and enhanced conversions break. Use Google Tag Assistant (Chrome extension) to verify.

Skip if: You use Google Tag Manager with a container snippet on every page — GTM handles tag firing for you.

2. Account Structure

10 checks

A messy account is an expensive account. If you have never restructured yours, this section is where most of the savings hide.

#9 Essential High impact

Each campaign has one clear goal

A campaign should sell one service, one product line, or one clear outcome. If one campaign is trying to sell kitchen remodels AND bathroom remodels AND roof repair, split it into three.

Skip if: You have a single product or service and one campaign is all you need.

#10 High impact

Brand and non-brand keywords are in separate campaigns

If you bid on your own brand name, that should be its own campaign. Brand searches convert at 30-50 percent. Non-brand converts at 2-10 percent. Mixing them makes your numbers look better than they really are.

Skip if: Your brand name has less than 50 monthly searches, so you are not bidding on it separately yet.

#11 Essential High impact

Search and Display are in separate campaigns

Some accounts have the 'Include Display Network' box checked on Search campaigns. This dumps your Search budget onto random display placements with terrible results. Uncheck it. Run Display in its own campaign if you want it.

Skip if: You never enabled Display on a Search campaign — common in newer accounts.

#12 Medium impact

Ad groups have 5 to 20 tightly-related keywords each

An ad group with 200 keywords cannot serve relevant ads for all of them. An ad group with 1 keyword is too narrow. Target 5-20 closely-related keywords per ad group.

Skip if: You are running a Performance Max campaign — it uses asset groups, not keyword ad groups.

#13 Medium impact

Each ad group has at least 2 ads running

Google tests ad combinations. With 1 ad, there is nothing to test. Google recommends 3 responsive search ads per ad group. Add a second ad anywhere you only have one.

Skip if: You just launched a new ad group within the last 7 days and are still building it out.

#14 Medium impact

No duplicate keywords across ad groups

If the same keyword is in two ad groups, they bid against each other. Google shows the one with higher Ad Rank, but you are still paying more than needed.

Skip if: You intentionally test the same keyword with different ad copy across ad groups as an A/B test.

#15 Essential High impact

Geographic targeting matches your service area

A local business serving a 25-mile radius should not advertise to the whole country. Go to Settings, then Locations. Check the radius. Also check the 'Target' dropdown is set to 'Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations.'

Skip if: You are an e-commerce business shipping nationwide — broad targeting is correct.

#16 Low impact

Language targeting is correct

By default, some campaigns target 'All languages.' If you only speak English, your English ads might show to people searching in other languages. Limit language targeting to what you actually serve.

Skip if: You have ad copy and landing pages in multiple languages.

#17 Low impact

Audience segments are applied for observation

Even on Search campaigns, you can add audiences in 'observation' mode. This tells you which audience segments convert best without restricting who sees your ads.

Skip if: Your account has fewer than 30 conversions per month — not enough data to make audience insights meaningful.

#18 Low impact

Inactive or paused campaigns are archived

Old paused campaigns clutter your account and make reports confusing. Archive anything you have not run in 90 days. You can unarchive later if needed.

Skip if: You use those paused campaigns as seasonal templates (e.g., Black Friday campaign paused the rest of the year).

3. Keywords & Search Terms

12 checks

This is where most accounts bleed money without noticing. Search terms run away. Keywords with zero conversions keep spending. Negative lists stay empty. The 12 checks below catch the worst of it.

#19 Essential High impact

You have negative keywords added

If your Negative Keywords list is empty or has fewer than 20 entries, you are almost certainly paying for irrelevant clicks. Start with our negative keywords list by industry and add them today.

Skip if: You have a brand-only campaign — you usually want to match every brand search, not filter any out.

#20 Essential High impact

Search Terms report reviewed in the last 14 days

Go to Insights and reports, then Search Terms. Sort by cost, highest first. Look at the top 20 queries that triggered your ads. Irrelevant ones get added as negatives. Great ones not in your keyword list get added as keywords.

Skip if: You just launched within the last 14 days — not enough data yet.

#21 High impact

Broad match keywords have enough negatives

Broad match plus Smart Bidding works well, but only if you have 100+ negative keywords filtering out waste. If you use broad match and have fewer than 50 negatives, switch to phrase or exact match until you build up your negative list.

Skip if: All your keywords are phrase match or exact match — this check does not apply.

#22 Low impact

No keywords with zero impressions for 30+ days

Keywords getting zero impressions are too specific, too expensive, or disapproved. Pause them. They clutter your account and can lower your overall Quality Score.

Skip if: The keyword is seasonal and you expect it to get impressions later (e.g., 'Christmas tree delivery' in July).

#23 Essential High impact

High-cost, low-conversion keywords are paused

Sort your keywords by cost. Any keyword with $100+ spent and zero conversions over 60 days should be paused or moved to a lower bid. One keyword can eat half your budget if you let it.

Skip if: The keyword has spent less than 3x your target cost per conversion — it may just need more data.

#24 High impact

Keywords have Quality Score of 5 or higher

In the Keywords view, add the Quality Score column. Any keyword below 5 is costing you 30+ percent more per click than it should. Either improve ad relevance, landing page experience, or pause the keyword.

Skip if: Quality Score shows '—' for a keyword — there is not enough data yet. Wait until you have 50+ impressions per keyword.

#25 Medium impact

You are bidding on your brand name

Competitors bid on your brand. If you do not, they outrank you on your own name. Brand keywords have the highest conversion rates and cheapest clicks. Every account should have a brand campaign running.

Skip if: Your brand name has fewer than 50 monthly searches (new or very niche business).

#26 Medium impact

Competitor brand keywords are handled deliberately

Searches like 'Competitor X reviews' cost money. Decide: do you want to show up for competitor searches or not? Either bid on them with a tailored ad, or add competitor names as negatives.

Skip if: You are a local business with no direct competitors who run ads in your city.

#27 Medium impact

Match types are deliberate, not mixed randomly

Many accounts have the same keyword in broad, phrase, and exact match — sometimes in different ad groups. Decide which match type you want for which keyword.

Skip if: You intentionally use all three match types for the same keyword to segment traffic (advanced strategy).

#28 Medium impact

Long-tail keywords are working alongside short ones

'Plumber' is expensive and broad. 'Emergency plumber 24 hour service' is cheaper and more specific. Long-tail keywords usually have lower CPCs and higher conversion rates. For industry CPC data, see our CPC benchmarks report.

Skip if: You already have 50+ keywords including plenty of 3-5 word phrases.

#29 Essential High impact

No irrelevant categories showing in Search Terms

Check for searches like 'jobs,' 'free,' 'DIY,' 'salary,' 'how to become.' If these show up, they are waste. Add them to your negatives immediately.

Skip if: You sell DIY supplies or offer training courses and those terms are actually relevant to you.

#30 Low impact

Negative keyword lists are shared across campaigns

Build one 'universal negatives' list and apply it to all campaigns. Build industry-specific lists for each campaign type. Faster than adding negatives to each campaign separately.

Skip if: You only run 1 campaign — shared lists do not add value.

4. Ads & Creative

11 checks

Weak ad copy is more expensive than most people realize. A boring headline drops your CTR, which pulls down your Quality Score, and Google quietly raises your cost per click as a result. Good ads literally cost less.

#31 Essential High impact

Every ad has all 15 headlines and 4 descriptions

Responsive search ads let Google test combinations. With only 3 headlines, there is nothing to test. Fill all 15 headline slots and 4 description slots. Ad Strength improves from Poor to Good or Excellent.

Skip if: You are running a call-only or click-to-message ad (different format, fewer fields).

#32 Medium impact

Headlines fit the 30-character limit

Google rejects ads over 30 characters per headline. Even at exactly 30, some devices truncate. Aim for 27-29 characters. Use our character limits cheat sheet or preview live on AdsPreview.us.

Skip if: All your headlines are already under 30 characters — Google enforces this, so if your ads are running, they pass.

#33 Medium impact

Each headline makes sense on its own

Google may show Headline 3 first, then Headline 1. Each one has to stand alone. If your headlines only work in order ('Step 1: Save 20%' then 'Step 2: Today Only'), rewrite them.

Skip if: You pin headlines to specific positions (Position 1, 2, 3), which locks the order.

#34 Essential High impact

Ad copy includes specific numbers or offers

'Best service in town' is weak. '$49 new patient exam' is strong. Every ad should have at least one specific number — price, percentage off, review count, time promise. See our 75 Google Ads examples for working patterns.

Skip if: Your industry regulations prohibit price advertising (some legal, medical, or financial services).

#35 High impact

The landing page matches the ad

If the ad says '$49 cleaning' and the landing page says 'call for pricing,' users bounce. Google notices. Quality Score drops. The landing page headline should mirror the ad.

Skip if: You only link ads to a generic homepage — you know you need to fix that, this check is redundant.

#36 Essential High impact

No ads show 'Disapproved' status

Disapproved ads sit in your account not running. Policy violations (prohibited claims, trademark issues, misleading language) stop them. Filter by Status = Disapproved in the Ads view.

Skip if: You have zero disapproved ads (good — skip).

#37 Medium impact

Ad Strength is Good or Excellent on every ad

Google displays Ad Strength next to every responsive search ad: Poor, Average, Good, Excellent. 'Poor' ads are throttled. Aim for Good or Excellent.

Skip if: You just launched an ad within the last 7 days — Ad Strength needs data to calibrate.

#38 Essential High impact

Sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets are active

Ad extensions are free and double your ad's visual real estate. Every search campaign should have 4+ sitelinks, 6+ callouts, and 1 structured snippet. Accounts missing these leave 10-20 percent of CTR on the table.

Skip if: You are running Performance Max — assets work differently there (uses Asset Groups).

#39 Medium impact

Phone number extension is set up (for lead gen)

If you accept phone calls, add a call extension. On mobile, users tap to call directly from the ad. Many service businesses get 30 percent of their conversions from call extensions alone.

Skip if: You are an e-commerce business with no sales phone line.

#40 Low impact

Pinning is used sparingly

Pinning a headline to Position 1 tells Google to always show it first. Helpful for brand names or legal disclaimers. But pinning more than 2 headlines kills Google's ability to test combinations.

Skip if: You do not use pinning at all — this check does not apply.

#41 Medium impact

Final URLs use trackable parameters

Add UTM parameters to final URLs so Google Analytics can attribute conversions to specific campaigns. Without them, 'google / cpc' lumps everything together.

Skip if: You use auto-tagging (GCLID) — that handles Google Ads attribution in GA4 without UTMs.

5. Budget, Bidding & Schedule

9 checks

How you spend matters more than how much. These 9 checks find the campaigns running at 2am, the budgets set too low to learn, and the bid strategies fighting against your goals.

#42 Medium impact

Daily budgets are consistent across related campaigns

If one campaign has $100/day and a similar one has $5/day, the small one cannot gather enough data. Minimum daily budget should be 3x your average CPC. If CPC is $5, budget at least $15/day.

Skip if: You are intentionally throttling a campaign to test before scaling.

#43 Low impact

Shared budgets make sense (or are not used)

Shared budgets let Google decide which campaigns to fund. Sometimes Google dumps budget on underperforming campaigns. Unless you have a clear reason, give each campaign its own budget.

Skip if: You do not use shared budgets — this check does not apply.

#44 Essential High impact

Bid strategy matches your goal

Maximize Conversions works when you have 30+ conversions per month. Target CPA works with 50+. Target ROAS works for e-commerce with revenue tracking. If you have fewer than 15 conversions per month, use Manual CPC.

Skip if: You just switched bid strategies within the last 14 days — it is still in learning phase.

#45 Medium impact

Ad schedule reflects your business hours

If you cannot answer the phone at 2 AM, do not run ads that generate calls at 2 AM. Check Settings, then Ad Schedule. Reduce bids or pause during hours when leads go to voicemail.

Skip if: You are an e-commerce business with no phone line — 24/7 is fine.

#46 Medium impact

Device bid adjustments are set based on data

If mobile converts 3x better than desktop, raise mobile bids 30 percent. If worse, lower them. Default is 0 percent on all devices, treating them equally.

Skip if: You have fewer than 30 conversions total across the past 60 days — not enough data to adjust.

#47 Low impact

Location bid adjustments reflect performance

If one city converts twice as well as another, raise bids there. Go to Locations and view the report. Adjust bids by 20 percent based on what the data shows.

Skip if: You serve one city or zip code — location adjustments do not apply.

#48 Medium impact

No campaign is limited by budget unnecessarily

In the Campaigns view, look for 'Limited by budget' status. A profitable campaign hitting its daily limit is leaving money on the table. Raise the budget. An unprofitable one limited by budget should stay limited until you fix the conversion math.

Skip if: Your cost per conversion is already 2x higher than your target — raising budget makes it worse.

#49 Essential High impact

Cost per conversion is within your target

Calculate your target cost per lead: what can you pay for a customer and still be profitable? Compare to your actual cost per conversion. If actuals are higher, you are losing money. Check your industry benchmark in our CPC report.

Skip if: You just launched a new campaign within the last 14 days — costs are still stabilizing.

#50 Medium impact

Recommendations tab reviewed (not blindly applied)

Google's Recommendations tab suggests changes. Some good (add sitelinks, better headlines). Some bad (raise bids, switch to broad match, AI auto-apply). Review each. Apply the good. Ignore the ones that benefit Google more than you.

Skip if: You have already reviewed the Recommendations tab within the last 14 days.

What to Do After Your Google Ads Audit

Fix the High-Impact Items First

Scroll back up and look at what you left unchecked with red tags. Those are the expensive ones. A broken conversion tracker or an empty negatives list bleeds way more money than a missed bid adjustment will. Block out an hour this week and get through them.

Medium Impact in the Next 30 Days

Yellow tags are worth doing but will not sink you if they wait. A couple of hours on a Saturday clears most of them. Each fix is usually 5 to 15 minutes of actual work.

Low Impact When You Have Time

Blue tags are polish. They are not going to turn a bad account into a great one, but if you have an hour on a quiet afternoon, they are worth knocking out.

Rerun This Audit Every 90 Days

Accounts never stay fixed. You will launch new campaigns, keywords will stop converting, disapprovals will sneak in — it all slides back over three or four months. Put a reminder on your calendar to run this checklist again every quarter. It takes less time the second time around.

Before you push any new ads live that you wrote while working through this audit, paste them into AdsPreview.us first. It takes 30 seconds and catches the things Google will not tell you about — cramped mobile layouts, truncated headlines, weird combinations Google will actually serve.

What PPC Audits Usually Find

If you are curious what other people find when they do this, the same five issues keep turning up across almost every account I look at. Your list is probably similar.

1. Conversion tracking is broken in some way. Sometimes nothing is being tracked at all. More often the wrong actions count as conversions, or form submissions fire twice so every lead shows up as two. Shows up in about 40% of accounts I audit.

2. Negative keywords are missing or too few. Empty negative keyword lists are common in accounts under $5,000/month. Most of these accounts have 10-30 percent of spend going to irrelevant searches. Found in about 60 percent of accounts.

3. Display Network is quietly running inside Search campaigns. A Google setup wizard checked the box a couple years ago and nobody ever looked again. Your Search budget has been leaking onto random display placements ever since. About 1 in 5 accounts I see.

4. Geographic targeting is too wide. A local business targeting the whole country because nobody checked the location settings. Easy fix, big savings. Found in about 30 percent of accounts.

5. Ads are running with only 3 or 4 headlines. These are usually old ads that migrated from the days of Expanded Text Ads and never got updated. Ad Strength drops to Poor, Google throttles them, and nobody ever knows why the account suddenly got more expensive. Half the accounts I see have this.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I audit my Google Ads account?

A quick weekly check on search terms and budget pacing takes 10 minutes. A full 50-point audit takes 1 to 2 hours and should be done quarterly. New accounts benefit from an audit at 60 days once there is enough data.

What is the most common Google Ads mistake?

Missing negative keywords is the big one. Right behind it is conversion tracking that was never set up properly, and running broad match keywords without enough negatives to filter out the junk. If you fix just those three, you have handled most of the wasted spend in a typical small account.

Should I do a Google Ads audit myself or hire someone?

Do the first one yourself with a checklist like this one. Most problems are obvious once you know where to look. If your spend is over $5,000/month or you ran through a self-audit and still cannot figure out why results are poor, that is when paying someone $300 to $800 for a proper audit usually pays for itself in the first month.

What is Quick Audit mode and when should I use it?

Quick Audit mode hides the 34 lower-priority checks and just shows you the 16 that catch 80% of the wasted spend. Good for a first-time audit, a new account, or any time you only have 30 minutes. The full 50-point version is better for quarterly deep-dives once you have been running ads for a while.

How do I find wasted spend in Google Ads?

Start with the Search Terms report. Look for queries that got clicks but zero conversions. Add them as negative keywords. Then check for low Quality Score keywords, duplicate keywords bidding against each other, and disapproved ads still spending.

What is Quality Score and why does it matter?

Quality Score is Google's rating of your ad relevance from 1-10. Higher scores get lower costs per click — sometimes 50 percent lower. It is based on click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page quality. Moving from 5 to 7 can cut your CPC by 20-30 percent.

How long does a Google Ads audit take?

A Quick Audit takes about 30 minutes. A full 50-point audit takes 1-2 hours for a small account, 3-4 hours for a medium account with multiple campaigns, and a full day for large accounts.

Can I audit Google Ads without a lot of experience?

Yes. Turn on Quick Audit mode to see only the 16 essential checks. Each check has step-by-step fix instructions. Technical terms have hover definitions. You do not need deep Google Ads knowledge to spot a missing conversion tag or an unchecked Display Network box.

The Bottom Line

Most Google Ads accounts are quietly wasting money on stuff that would take an afternoon to fix. The only reason nothing gets fixed is that nobody opens the account with a proper Google Ads optimization checklist in front of them.

You just did. Go knock out the red items this week, block out an hour next weekend for the yellow ones, and put a quarterly reminder on your calendar to run the audit again. The accounts that beat their industry benchmarks are not run by smarter people — they are just the ones where somebody takes the time to actually check.

Sources

Google. "About Conversion Tracking." support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722022
Google. "About Quality Score." support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6167118
Google. "About Ad Strength." support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9683097
Google. "About Negative Keywords." support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2453972
Google. "About the Search Terms Report." support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7531771
Google. "About Enhanced Conversions." support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9888656
Google. "About Smart Bidding Strategies." support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7065882

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