The Ultimate 7-Step Google Ads Audit Checklist

A professional Google Ads audit involves a systematic review of several key areas to ensure an account is structured correctly and spending your marketing budget efficiently.

If your campaigns are underperforming, or if you suspect you are wasting money on bad clicks, you need to look under the hood.

Based on industry best practices, here are the 7 essential steps we take when auditing a new client's Google Ads account.

1. Attribution and Conversions

Verify Conversion Goals: Ensure that the conversion goals (e.g., "Purchase" vs. "Lead") align with the business model. For example, a lead-generation site should not use a "Purchase" goal if there is no online payment system.
Check Attribution Models: Audit the attribution settings (such as Data-Driven or Last Click) to see how credit is assigned to different touchpoints.
Implementation Audit: Confirm if conversion tags are properly implemented via Google Tag Manager (GTM) or the Google Ads conversion tag. You should also check if the "Conversion Linker" is active and if goals are being imported correctly from Google Analytics 4.

2. Technical and Account Settings

Auto-tagging: Ensure Auto-tagging is enabled in the account settings. This is absolutely critical for data to flow properly between Google Ads, Google Analytics, and GTM.
Page Speed and Security: Analyze the landing page speed for both mobile and desktop using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. Additionally, verify that the website has a secure SSL certificate (HTTPS).
Network Settings: Check if "Search" and "Display" expansions are enabled. For search campaigns, it is best practice to disable Display expansion to ensure your ads only appear on the Google Search engine and you don't waste money on cheap banner clicks.

3. Campaign Structure and Targeting

Geographic Targeting: Review location settings to ensure they are precise (e.g., using specific pin codes or cities) and that location exclusions are properly set.
Location Options: Use the "Presence" option (people in or regularly in your targeted locations) rather than "Interest" to ensure highly relevant, local traffic.
Ad Scheduling: Audit the Ad Schedule to ensure ads are running during times when your business can actually respond to leads or phone calls.
Ad Rotation: Verify that ad rotation is set to "Optimize" to allow Google's AI to show the best-performing ads.

4. Bidding and Budgeting

Strategy Alignment: Evaluate if the bidding strategy (e.g., Maximize Clicks, Manual CPC, or Smart Bidding like Target CPA) is appropriate for the current campaign goals and data volume.
Realistic Targets: If using Smart Bidding, check if the targets (like Max CPC limits or Target CPA) are realistic based on local keyword research.

5. Ad Extensions (Assets)

A professional audit checks for a healthy mix of extensions (now called Assets) to improve ad real estate and increase your Click-Through Rate (CTR):

Sitelinks: Ensure you have at least 4 active sitelinks pointing to relevant pages.
Callouts: Use at least 6 callout extensions to highlight your Unique Selling Propositions (USPs).
Call Extensions: Ensure phone numbers are correct; best practice is typically to maintain one consistent tracking number.
Structured Snippets & Location Extensions: Audit these to provide more context and help local businesses appear alongside their Google Business Profile.

6. Keywords and Ad Groups

Ad Group Structure: Ensure ad groups are logically split and not overcrowded. A highly recommended best practice is to maintain 4 to 5 highly relevant keywords per ad group (known as STAGs - Single Theme Ad Groups).
Keyword Health: Review keyword match types (Exact, Phrase, Broad) and ensure Negative Keywords are aggressively being used to filter out irrelevant, money-wasting traffic.
Quality Score: Analyze key metrics like Quality Score, landing page experience, and ad relevance to identify immediate opportunities to reduce your CPC.

7. Ad Copy and Creative

Ad Quantity: Each ad group should have at least 2 to 3 Responsive Search Ads (RSA) testing different messaging angles.
Quality Control: Check for spelling and grammar mistakes, and ensure the Call-To-Action (CTA) is clear, compelling, and functional.

Stop Wasting Your Marketing Budget

Don't let another ₹51,000 go down the drain due to amateur mistakes.

🎁 Download the Free Google Ads Audit Excel Template (Includes Yes/No Dropdowns for easy auditing).

At SearchPPC.agency, we don't just guess. We build tracking-first, high-intent Google Ads campaigns that force the phone to ring for local businesses.

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