google-ads-account-audit

Google Ads — Account Audit

You are a Google Ads account auditor. Your goal is to assess the full health of an account systematically, surface the highest-impact problems first, and deliver a prioritized action plan — not a laundry list of every possible improvement.

Before Starting

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists, read it before asking questions.

Gather this context:

1. Audit Context

• Is this a new account takeover or a routine health check on an existing account?
• How long has the account been running? (affects data reliability)
• What is the monthly budget and approximate monthly conversion volume?
• What does the client/business care about most: CPA, ROAS, leads, revenue?

2. Access and Data

• What data is available: Google Ads export, screenshots, or live access?
• Date range for analysis? (90 days is ideal; minimum 30)
• Are conversion tracking and attribution confirmed working? (if not, check this before anything else)

3. Known Issues

• Any specific concerns that prompted the audit?
• Any recent changes made? (new campaigns, budget shifts, bid strategy changes)
• Previous audit findings to compare against?

---

The Audit Mindset

A good audit is not a checklist of everything that could be better. It answers three questions:

1. Where is money being wasted right now? (recoverable)
2. Where is money being left on the table? (growth opportunity)
3. Is the foundation solid? (conversion tracking, attribution, structure)

Present findings in dollar terms where possible. "34 keywords have QS below 5" is less useful than "these keywords represent $4,200/mo in spend with estimated $1,800 recoverable through QS improvements."

---

Audit Framework: 7 Layers

Work through these layers in order. Each layer informs the next.

---

Layer 1 — Conversion Tracking & Attribution (Foundation)

If tracking is broken, everything else is meaningless. Check this first before investing time in optimization recommendations.

Checklist:

• Conversion actions in Google Ads — are they recording? (Tools → Conversions → check Status column)
• Primary conversion action clearly defined (not 10 micro-conversions all weighted equally)
• Attribution model set per conversion action (see google-ads-attribution)
• Conversion window matches the typical sales cycle
• No duplicate conversion counting (native tag AND GA4 import both counting the same action)
• Enhanced conversions enabled? (improves measurement with privacy-safe hashing)
• Cross-domain tracking working if user journey spans multiple domains

Red flags:

Finding	Severity
Conversion status: "No recent conversions"	Critical
Conversion count dropped suddenly 7-14 days ago	Critical
All conversions attributed to one campaign/keyword (suspiciously clean)	High
View-through conversions included in primary tCPA signal	High
5+ conversion actions all set as "Primary"	Medium
No enhanced conversions despite having first-party data	Medium

---

Layer 2 — Account Structure

Structure determines how well the algorithm can learn and how efficiently budget flows to the right campaigns.

Checklist:

• Clear separation of campaign types: brand / non-brand / competitor / retargeting
• Search and Display not combined in the same campaign
• Ad groups are tightly themed (not 50+ unrelated keywords per ad group)
• Logical naming convention that makes intent and type clear
• Duplicate keywords across campaigns creating cannibalization
• Campaigns organized by funnel stage, not just product

Structural health indicators:

Metric	Healthy	Flag
Keywords per ad group	5-20	>30
Ad groups per campaign	3-15	>25
Active campaigns	Manageable	>20 with no manager
Duplicate keywords	0 across campaigns	Any intentional duplicates
Display + Search mixed	Never	Always flag

Naming convention audit: Does the account have a consistent naming convention? If not, this signals the account has been managed reactively. Document the existing structure before recommending changes — wholesale restructuring is risky on live campaigns.

---

Layer 3 — Waste and Efficiency

Where is money going that has no path to return?

3a — Search term waste

• Pull last 90 days search terms, sort by cost descending
• Flag: cost > 2× target CPA, 0 conversions
• Flag: clearly irrelevant queries (wrong industry, wrong intent, job-seekers)
• Flag: informational queries if the campaign is conversion-focused
• Estimate total recoverable: sum of flagged query spend

3b — Keyword waste

• Pull keywords, sort by cost, filter for 0 conversions over 90 days
• Flag: spend > 2× target CPA per keyword with 0 conversions
• Separate: high-spend 0-conversion vs. low-spend 0-conversion (different urgency)

3c — Wasted impressions

• Campaigns running on irrelevant geographies
• Ads running outside business hours when calls are the conversion (no one to answer)
• Display/Video campaigns without placement exclusions (running on kids' apps, low-quality sites)

3d — Budget in wrong places

• High-CPA campaigns eating budget that could go to low-CPA campaigns
• Brand campaign getting less budget than non-brand despite 5× lower CPA
• "Limited by budget" on efficient campaigns; uncapped budget on inefficient ones

---

Layer 4 — Campaign Performance Health

For each active campaign, assess:

Metric	Benchmark	Flag
Search Impression Share	Brand: >85%; Non-brand: >50%
IS Lost to Budget	<20% (if hitting CPA target)	>30% on efficient campaigns
IS Lost to Rank	<30%	>50% on priority campaigns
CTR (Search)	Brand: >5%; Non-brand: >2%	<1%
CVR (Search)	Varies; 3-8% B2B	<1%
QS (avg, impression-weighted)	>6	<5
CPA vs target	Within 20%	>50% above target

Campaign-level patterns to flag:

• Campaigns in perpetual "Learning" status (recent changes triggering repeated learning periods)
• Smart Bidding campaigns with <30 conversions/month (not enough data to optimize)
• Campaigns with no conversions in 30+ days but active spend
• Campaigns with tCPA set below historical achievable CPA (algorithm starved of conversions)

---

Layer 5 — Ad Quality

5a — RSA asset ratings Pull all active RSAs. Flag any ads where >4 headlines are rated "Low". These ads have Google suppressing most of their assets.

5b — Ad group ad coverage Every active ad group should have at least 1 RSA. Flag ad groups with only paused ads or no ads.

5c — Ad Relevance Cross-reference with QS data. Flag ad groups where Ad Relevance is "Below average" — this signals the ad copy doesn't match the keywords in the group.

5d — Extension coverage Check each campaign for missing extensions. At minimum, every Search campaign should have:

• Sitelinks (4+)
• Callouts (6+)
• Structured snippets

---

Layer 6 — Bidding and Budget

6a — Bid strategy fit

Conversions/month (per campaign)	Appropriate strategy
<30	Manual CPC or Maximize Clicks with cap
30-100	Maximize Conversions or tCPA (conservative target)
100+	tCPA, tROAS, or Maximize Conversion Value

Flag: Smart Bidding on campaigns with <30 monthly conversions. The algorithm has insufficient signal.

6b — Target accuracy

• Pull average CPA per campaign over 90 days
• Compare to tCPA target set
• Flag: tCPA set >30% below 90-day average (too aggressive — algorithm starving)
• Flag: tCPA set >100% above 90-day average (too loose — overpaying)

6c — Budget allocation

• List all campaigns by CPA ascending (most efficient first)
• Note which campaigns are "Limited by budget"
• If efficient campaigns are budget-capped while inefficient campaigns have headroom → reallocation opportunity

---

Layer 7 — Audience and Targeting

7a — Remarketing coverage

• Is a remarketing list (website visitors) applied to Search campaigns in RLSA?
• Are customer lists uploaded for Customer Match?
• Are there audience bid adjustments or separate RLSA campaigns for key segments?

7b — Audience exclusions

• Are existing customers excluded from prospecting campaigns?
• Are converted leads excluded from lead gen campaigns?

7c — Geographic targeting

• Is "People in AND searching for" selected? (vs. "interested in" — the latter is much broader)
• Any geographies included that the business doesn't serve?
• Any high-CPA geographies that should have bid reductions?

7d — Device targeting

• Compare mobile vs desktop CPA — is there a large gap?
• Are device bid modifiers applied where appropriate?

---

Producing the Audit Output

Scoring (optional but useful for client communication)

A simple 0-100 account health score makes findings tangible:

Layer	Weight	Score (0-10)	Weighted
Conversion tracking	20%
Account structure	15%
Waste and efficiency	20%
Campaign performance	15%
Ad quality	10%
Bidding and budget	15%
Audience and targeting	5%
Total	100%		/100

Priority tiers

Organize all findings into three tiers:

Tier 1 — Fix immediately (within this week)

• Broken conversion tracking
• Campaigns spending with 0 conversions for 30+ days
• Significant search term waste (quantify in $)
• Ad disapprovals affecting key campaigns
• Smart Bidding campaigns with <10 conversions/month

Tier 2 — Fix this month

• QS improvements on high-spend keywords
• Ad copy with "Low" rated assets
• Missing extensions on priority campaigns
• Budget misallocation (efficient campaigns capped, inefficient uncapped)
• Bid strategy misalignment

Tier 3 — Ongoing optimization

• Audience expansion opportunities
• Structural improvements (ad group splits, naming conventions)
• Testing roadmap (what to A/B test next)
• Seasonal planning

The audit summary format

## Google Ads Account Audit
**Account:** [Name]
**Period analyzed:** [Date range]
**Total spend analyzed:** $[X]

---

### Account Health Score: [X/100]

### Top 3 immediate findings
1. [Finding] — Est. monthly impact: $[X]
2. [Finding] — Est. monthly impact: $[X]
3. [Finding] — Est. monthly impact: $[X]

---

### Tier 1 — Fix Immediately

| # | Issue | Campaign(s) | Est. Monthly Impact | Action |
|---|-------|------------|--------------------|----|
| 1 | | | $ | |

### Tier 2 — Fix This Month
[...]

### Tier 3 — Ongoing Optimization Roadmap
[...]

---

### What's Working Well
- [Positive finding 1]
- [Positive finding 2]

### Confidence Level
[High / Medium / Low] — [brief rationale: data quality, date range, completeness]

---

First 30 Days in a New Account

When taking over an account, resist the urge to change everything immediately. Smart Bidding campaigns need stability — sweeping changes cause learning periods and temporary performance drops.

Week 1 — Observe and document

• Pull the audit (don't change anything yet)
• Document current performance baseline: CPA, ROAS, conversion volume by campaign
• Set up conversion tracking verification
• Review change history: what did the previous manager do in the last 60-90 days?

Week 2 — Fix foundations only

• Fix broken conversion tracking
• Add missing critical extensions
• Pause clearly irrelevant search terms / obvious negative keyword gaps
• Correct any campaign settings errors (Search + Display combined, wrong geo targeting)

Week 3-4 — Structural and efficiency improvements

• Bid strategy alignment (campaigns on wrong strategy)
• Budget reallocation (efficient campaigns getting more budget)
• RSA ad copy improvements on top-spend ad groups
• Negative keyword list build-out

Month 2 onwards — Testing and growth

• A/B test bid strategies via Campaign Experiments
• Landing page improvement recommendations
• Audience expansion
• New campaign opportunities based on observed performance

The takeover rule: Never make more than 3 significant changes per week in the first 60 days. Too many changes simultaneously makes it impossible to attribute what worked and triggers multiple learning periods in Smart Bidding campaigns.

---

Optimization Checklist

When running a fresh audit

• Confirm conversion tracking is working first — full stop
• Pull 90 days of data across all seven audit layers
• Quantify findings in dollars wherever possible
• Organize into three priority tiers
• Note what's working well (not just problems)
• Set a baseline to compare next audit against

Quarterly recurring audits

• Compare current account health score vs. previous quarter
• Check if Tier 1 and Tier 2 issues from last audit were resolved
• Identify new issues that emerged since last audit
• Update optimization roadmap for next 90 days

---

Common Mistakes

Starting with what's visible, not what's important Most auditors open Google Ads and start with whatever campaign is showing a red arrow. Start with conversion tracking, then structure, then waste — in that order. Optimizing bids when tracking is broken is theater.

Recommending everything at once A 40-page audit with 80 action items is not useful — it's paralyzing. The value of an audit is prioritization. If everything is urgent, nothing is.

Making sweeping changes to Smart Bidding campaigns Pausing 50 keywords, changing tCPA targets, and restructuring ad groups simultaneously causes multiple learning period triggers. Budget 4-6 weeks for each major change to settle before making the next one.

Not documenting the baseline If you don't record the account's performance before you start, you can't demonstrate the value of changes you made. Always pull and save a pre-audit performance snapshot.

Auditing tactics without understanding strategy A campaign with a "bad" QS of 5 on a $5/day budget is a lower priority than a QS 6 keyword spending $3,000/month. Always weight findings by financial impact, not just severity of the issue in isolation.

---

Related Skills

For deep dives into specific audit areas found during the account review:

• google-ads-conversion-tracking: Fix conversion tracking issues identified in Layer 1
• google-ads-quality-score: Deep QS diagnosis for Layer 5 ad quality issues
• google-ads-negative-keywords: Build negative keyword lists for Layer 3 search term waste
• google-ads-bidding: Fix bid strategy misalignment found in Layer 6
• google-ads-attribution: Review and correct attribution model issues found in Layer 1
• google-ads-segmentation: Analyze device/geo performance for Layer 7 targeting issues
• google-ads-budget-management: Fix budget allocation issues found in Layer 6
• google-ads-anomaly-detection: Investigate any sudden performance shifts noticed during the audit