You’re spending money on Google Ads. Maybe it’s working. Maybe it’s not. Either way, you should audit the account regularly to catch problems before they drain your budget.
This isn’t a deep analysis that takes days. It’s a 10-minute checklist of the most impactful things to check. Hit these 12 items, fix what’s broken, and move on.
Checklist Overview
| # | Check | Time | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conversion tracking status | 1 min | Critical |
| 2 | Search terms report | 2 min | High |
| 3 | Quality Score distribution | 1 min | High |
| 4 | Wasted spend (low performers) | 1 min | High |
| 5 | Bid strategy alignment | 30 sec | Medium |
| 6 | Ad copy and extensions | 1 min | Medium |
| 7 | Landing page experience | 1 min | High |
| 8 | Device performance | 30 sec | Medium |
| 9 | Geographic performance | 30 sec | Medium |
| 10 | Audience signals | 30 sec | Medium |
| 11 | Budget allocation | 30 sec | Medium |
| 12 | Campaign structure | 30 sec | Low-Medium |
1. Conversion Tracking Status
Where: Tools, then Conversions
What to check: Look at the “Status” column for each conversion action.
| Status | Problem | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Recording conversions | None | You’re good |
| No recent conversions | Tag isn’t firing or no one is converting | Check tag placement |
| Unverified | Tag was just created | Wait 24-48 hours |
| Tag inactive | Tag hasn’t fired in 30+ days | Tag is missing from your site |
| Removed | Tag was deleted | Recreate it |
If any conversion actions show “No recent conversions” or “Tag inactive,” stop everything else and fix this first. Without working conversion tracking, Google Ads can’t optimize and your ROAS numbers are meaningless.
For a full diagnosis, see our Google Ads conversion tracking guide.
2. Search Terms Report
Where: Campaign, then Insights and reports, then Search terms
What to check: Sort by cost (highest first). Scan for irrelevant searches.
Red flags:
- Search terms unrelated to your business
- Terms with “free,” “jobs,” “how to” (for commercial businesses)
- Searches for competitors you don’t want to bid on
- Terms with high cost and zero conversions
Action: Add irrelevant terms as negative keywords. If you find a lot of waste, create a shared negative keyword list. See our detailed search terms report guide for the full process.
Time investment: 2 minutes to spot the biggest offenders. Schedule a deeper review later.
3. Quality Score Distribution
Where: Keywords tab, add the “Quality Score” column if it’s not visible
What to check: Look at the distribution of Quality Scores across your keywords.
| Quality Score | Assessment |
|---|---|
| 7-10 | Good — keep optimizing |
| 5-6 | Average — room for improvement |
| 1-4 | Poor — actively hurting your CPC and position |
Red flags:
- Multiple keywords with Quality Score below 4
- Your highest-spend keywords have low Quality Scores (you’re overpaying)
- Quality Scores dropped recently (something changed)
Action: For keywords with low Quality Scores, check the three components: expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Fix the lowest-scoring component first. Our Quality Score guide explains each component and how to improve them.
4. Wasted Spend (Low Performers)
Where: Keywords tab, filter by “Conversions less than 1” and sort by cost
What to check: Keywords that have spent significant money with zero or very few conversions.
Rules of thumb:
- If a keyword has spent 3x your target CPA with zero conversions, pause it or reduce bids
- If a keyword has spent 5x your target CPA with zero conversions, pause it
- If a keyword has a ROAS below 1x over 30+ days, it’s losing money
Action: Pause the worst offenders. Don’t be sentimental about keywords that “should” work. Data beats intuition.
5. Bid Strategy Alignment
Where: Campaign settings, then Bidding
What to check: Is your bid strategy aligned with your goal?
| Your Goal | Right Strategy | Wrong Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Maximize conversions at a target CPA | Target CPA | Maximize clicks |
| Maximize revenue at a target ROAS | Target ROAS | Maximize conversions (no target) |
| Get as many conversions as possible | Maximize conversions | Manual CPC (unless you have time to manage bids) |
| Brand awareness / top-of-page presence | Target impression share | Target CPA |
Red flags:
- Using “Maximize clicks” when you want conversions (Google optimizes for clicks, not sales)
- Using smart bidding with broken conversion tracking (the algorithm is optimizing on bad data)
- Target CPA set unrealistically low (the algorithm can’t hit it, so it stops spending)
6. Ad Copy and Extensions
Where: Ads tab, plus Extensions (now called Assets)
What to check:
Ads:
- Does each ad group have at least 2-3 responsive search ads?
- Are ad headlines relevant to the keywords in that ad group?
- Are you using all available headline and description slots?
- Is there a clear call-to-action?
Extensions/Assets:
- Sitelinks (at least 4)
- Callout extensions (at least 4)
- Structured snippets
- Call extension (if you take phone calls)
- Price extensions (for ecommerce)
- Image extensions
Red flags:
- Ad groups with only one ad (no A/B testing)
- Generic ad copy that doesn’t match search intent
- Missing extensions (extensions improve CTR and Quality Score for free)
- Ads with “Learn more” as the only CTA (weak)
7. Landing Page Experience
Where: Click through your own ads (or check the final URLs)
What to check:
- Does the landing page match the ad’s promise? If the ad says “50% off running shoes,” the landing page should show running shoes on sale.
- Does the page load in under 3 seconds?
- Is there a clear conversion action (buy button, form, phone number)?
- Does it work on mobile?
Red flags:
- Ads pointing to the homepage instead of a specific product or service page
- Slow pages (Google penalizes this in Quality Score AND users bounce)
- Landing pages with no clear CTA
- Broken pages (404s, SSL errors)
If your Google Ads are getting clicks but not conversions, the landing page is often the problem. See our diagnosis guide for clicks without conversions for a systematic approach.
8. Device Performance
Where: Campaign view, then Devices tab (or add a “Device” segment)
What to check: Compare CPA and ROAS across mobile, desktop, and tablet.
Common findings:
- Desktop converts at 2-3x the rate of mobile for B2B and high-consideration products
- Mobile converts well for local services and impulse purchases
- Tablet performance is usually not significant enough to matter
Action: If mobile CPA is 3x desktop CPA, apply a negative bid adjustment for mobile (-30% to -50%). Don’t turn mobile off entirely — some mobile users convert later on desktop, and cutting mobile visibility can hurt overall performance.
9. Geographic Performance
Where: Locations tab in campaign settings
What to check:
- Are your ads showing in the geographic areas you serve?
- Are any locations spending heavily with no conversions?
- Are you targeting “Presence or interest” vs “Presence”?
Red flags:
- “Presence or interest” targeting (default) shows ads to people who are “interested in” your location but aren’t there. A plumber in Denver might get clicks from people in New York searching “Denver plumber” for relocation research.
- High spend with zero conversions in specific regions
Action: Switch to “Presence” targeting for local businesses. Add negative location targeting for areas you don’t serve.
10. Audience Signals
Where: Campaign or ad group, then Audiences
What to check:
- Do you have remarketing audiences applied (at minimum, “all website visitors”)?
- Are you using audience observation to see how different groups perform?
- Are you adjusting bids for high-performing audiences?
Red flags:
- No audiences applied at all (missed opportunity for remarketing)
- Audiences applied in “Targeting” mode when they should be “Observation” (accidentally excluding all non-audience traffic)
11. Budget Allocation
Where: Campaign overview, look at “Budget” and “Status” columns
What to check:
- Are your best-performing campaigns limited by budget? (Look for “Eligible (limited)” status)
- Are poorly performing campaigns consuming budget that could go to winners?
Red flags:
- A campaign with 6x ROAS is budget-limited while a campaign with 1.5x ROAS has unused budget
- Multiple campaigns competing for the same keywords (cannibalizing each other)
Action: Shift budget from underperformers to campaigns that are profitable but budget-constrained.
12. Campaign Structure
Where: Campaign and ad group overview
What to check:
- Are campaigns organized logically (by product, service, funnel stage)?
- Are ad groups tightly themed (related keywords grouped together)?
- Are there ad groups with too many keywords (30+) that should be split?
Red flags:
- One campaign with 50 ad groups and 500 keywords (too broad, hard to manage)
- Ad groups mixing different intents (informational and commercial keywords together)
- Duplicate keywords across campaigns competing against each other
After the Audit
Once you’ve gone through the checklist:
- Fix critical issues first. Broken conversion tracking and major wasted spend should be addressed immediately.
- Schedule the quick fixes. Quality Score improvements, extension additions, and bid adjustments can be done this week.
- Plan deeper optimizations. Landing page improvements, campaign restructuring, and negative keyword list building are ongoing projects.
- Set a recurring audit. Put this 10-minute checklist on your calendar weekly or biweekly.
The Bottom Line
A Google Ads audit doesn’t need to be a massive project. Ten minutes checking these twelve items will catch the biggest problems — broken tracking, wasted spend, and misaligned strategies. The key is doing it regularly instead of waiting until performance tanks.
And if you want an automated check of your tracking setup, run a free scan. We’ll verify your Google Ads conversion tags, GA4 configuration, and pixel setup in about 60 seconds.