The definitive Google Ads audit guide (with an interactive checklist)

Avoiding wasted ad spend 

Regardless of your level of expertise in social and search advertising, there’s always space for enhancement. A PPC audit is your ally in identifying where you’re overspending without reaping the benefits of ROI. It also serves as a compass, pinpointing the root cause of any inefficiencies.

No matter how much of a hotshot you think you are in social and search advertising, there’s always room for a little razzle-dazzle. A Google Ads account audit is like having your own personal ad sleuth uncovering where you’re throwing cash down the drain without getting that sweet ROI in return. It’s like shining a spotlight on the culprits behind lackluster performance.

Take, for instance, your ad copy. You might discover that your ad copy is stale and failing to captivate audiences, and chances are it’s not exactly…setting hearts aflutter. (Here’s a guide on good Google Ads copywriting to fix that, or try our AI Ad copywriting tool to start creating high-converting ads.) Or you realize that your targeting is off-base, or your chosen search terms are ineffective. Fear not, though, because a top-notch PPC audit will sniff out these problems faster than a bloodhound on a scent, allowing you to swoop in, save the day, and get your hard-earned cash.

Enhancing your targeting game

Ah, targeting. It can feel like trying to hit a moving target with a rubber band sometimes. Sure, PPC Google Ads might seem like a shortcut to selling more, but mastering targeting? That’s a slow dance, friends.

Here’s where auditing your campaigns can come in and change the game. You peek under the hood, check out who’s digging your ads, and voila, you’ve got yourself some primo data for future campaigns. It’s like laying down a solid foundation for your PPC ads.  

With enough data under your belt, your decisions become as sharp as a tack, and that ROI? It’s bound to skyrocket faster than a SpaceX launch.

Unearthing fresh keyword goldmines

When you give your existing campaigns a once-over, odds are you’ll stumble upon shiny new keyword treasures primed for future use. This rings especially true if you’ve amassed a treasure trove of data on buyer habits and the typical customer journey.

Think of it like discovering hidden gems—whether they’re related keywords or those elusive long-tail wonders. Armed with this data, you’re like a trendsetter, always one step ahead of what people are actually searching for. After all, just because “eyebrow glitter” was all the rage in 2003 doesn’t mean it’s still lighting up the search bars in 2024. (As much as we would have liked that.)

Beating the (keyword) competition 

PPC audits are your secret weapon for outmaneuvering the competition. A top-notch Google Ads account audit wouldn’t be complete without diving into competitive analysis, uncovering the keywords, ad campaigns, and targeting tactics your rivals are deploying. With this intel in your back pocket, you’re poised to fine-tune your existing marketing campaigns and craft new ones that leave the competition eating your digital dust.

Uncover practical insights

By meticulously scrutinizing every aspect of your Google Ads framework, you gain a comprehensive view of all your campaigns, unveiling minor insights with significant potential for improvement. You’re practically a digital marketing critic. At the same time, you can discover new approaches and use automated tools to enhance your PPC campaigns, streamlining and optimizing account management for a faster route to success. 

How to do a Google PPC Ads audit

Embarking on a PPC audit might seem like scaling Mount Everest if you’re a newbie—or even if you’ve tackled it before but there’s room for improvement. Fear not. The following checklist is your trusty guide, ensuring you’re covering all the bases in auditing the crucial elements, paving the way for maximizing your results.

1. Review your account setup and tracking

First things first, you need to review your account setup and tracking to make sure you’re set up for success. How, you ask? Take a good look at your tracking URLs, conversions, goals, UTM parameters, and other tracking elements. You can also go the extra mile and see to it that your website tracking is functioning smoothly, and that all data is being recorded accurately. 

The aim of this review process is to make sure that your conversion tags are triggering correctly, that all your data is being comprehensively captured, and to explore alternative methods for capturing any data that may currently be slippin’ through the cracks.

2. Review GA4 audiences (and make the switch to GA4 if you haven’t already)

If you didn’t already know, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google’s new measurement solution, and it replaced Universal Analytics all the way back in the summer of 2023 (time flies!) Many Google Ads accounts are still using Universal Analytics without knowing, and you don’t wanna be one of ‘em.

To be able to audit your Google Ads properly, you’ll need to make the switch to Google Analytics 4 (if you haven’t already.)  GA4 gives you the most comprehensive view of your audience.

After you’ve created and linked your GA4 account to your Google Ads, you can use the platform to auto-generate audiences or recreate existing audience data you had on Universal Analytics in GA4. Boom.

3. Hunt down any absent account and campaign information

Before we get too far ahead, it’s important to do a high-level review of your campaigns and ad sets, too. Use Google Ads’ own checklist to review your account and to find the missing gaps. Have you remembered to pick all of the keywords you needed? Do you have all of the details of your budget? Do you know what devices you’d want to show up on? That kind of thing. 

4. Review your Google Ad account’s targeting settings

You could have ad copy so enticing it makes Shakespeare jealous and designs so eye-catching they give Picasso a run for his money—but if your PPC ads aren’t hitting the mark with targeting, they’re just spinning their digital wheels. Take a gander at your audience settings and ask yourself: Is your audience vibing with your message and product, and is that coming through on your PPC Google Ads?

As you evaluate this PPC ad targeting strategy, it’s time for a little soul-searching. Are you honing in on the right crowds? Do these audiences pack enough punch to fuel your campaigns? Are you wielding negative keywords or placements to dodge those irrelevant search term pitfalls? And hey, is your current customer base the crowd you’re chasing after—and is that a match made in marketing heaven or a recipe for digital disaster? 

5. Review your Ad groups 

An ad group consists of one or more ads targeting similar audiences. Within each campaign, you’ll find one or more ad groups. Fun! You can use ad groups to categorize your ads based on a unified theme. For instance, consider organizing ad groups according to the various types of products or services you provide.

After determining your ad groups, you should take the time to carefully review them, making sure they’re organized in a way that makes sense and reflects the messages you want to get across. This attention to detail isn’t just about cleaning up your data; it’s about strategically optimizing your advertising approach to drive better results. By ensuring that your ad groups are well-structured and aligned with your objectives, you’re setting yourself up for success in your PPC campaigns.

At this stage, it’s time to address several key questions to ensure the effectiveness of your ad groups and campaigns. 

1. Whether the ad groups are structured in a logical and organized manner. 
2. Whether the ads within each group target different buyer personas or stages of the customer journey.
3. If the headlines align with your messaging and product or service goals. 
4. How the messages conveyed in each ad group complement and reinforce those of other ad groups.
5. Explore the potential to further segment your ads based on demographics, interests, or other relevant factors. 
6. Check if any adjustments are needed to your ad copy or design to enhance conversion rates. 

By tackling these queries head-on, you’ll be sharpening your PPC campaigns like a skilled chef slicing through butter—ensuring they sizzle with maximum impact. Yum.

6. Review your ad format and campaign type

Various campaign types and ad formats excel in different roles. For instance, while video campaigns shine in boosting brand awareness, they might not be the ideal choice for driving conversions. Remember, your delivery method is just as crucial as your message and targeting when it comes to campaign success. You’ve gotta consider if your ad format matches your goals, or if you could be using any other ad types—like native ads or dynamic display campaigns—to better reach your goals. Using the right format and campaign type is really what it’s all about at this stage.

7. Review your keywords

What are your PPC ads without the right keywords? Your keywords should be tightly intertwined with your ads and the narrative you want to convey. This alignment not only enhances the relevance of your ads and targeting but also boosts your Quality Score and keeps your CPC (cost-per-click) in check. So it’s paramount that your keywords and negative keywords list (aka keywords that let you exclude search terms from your campaigns and help you focus on only the keywords that matter to your customers) align seamlessly with your industry, target audience, product offerings, and overarching business objectives.

When figuring out your keywords, some things to consider are: 

1. If any of your ads should have irrelevant keywords that need to be removed.
2. If you’re targeting the keywords you need and if you need to add new ones. 
3. If your keywords are updated.
4. If there are any tangential keywords you could target to capture more leads.

8. Review your Quality Score 

Your Google Ads Quality Score serves as a litmus test for your ad performance, gauging factors like relevance and click-through rate. So aim high, because a stellar score translates to lower costs-per-click and prime ad placement. At this stage, it’s time to take a peek at each campaign’s Quality Score status. 

Are any ads lagging behind with low scores? It’s time to roll up your sleeves and give them a makeover for better performance. Do your ads and keywords tell a cohesive story? Are you using enough landing pages for each campaign or ad group, and are they optimized for CRO? Do your PPC landing pages sync up with the ad message, keywords, and targeting?  Do your ad copy and targeting harmonize with the campaign’s message? These are the questions you should be asking yourself in this step.

9. Review your click-through rate and conversion rate  

You’ve gotta remember that the ultimate goal of any Google Ads audit is to capture as much engagement as humanly possible. You may accumulate a billion impressions for your ads, but they will hold little value if there’s no engagement. So, what’s the solution? Your click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate are the answer. They serve as pivotal metrics for assessing the effectiveness of your campaigns. So delve into your Google Analytics/Ads data to review how your audience interacts (and converts). You can check for metrics like how many clicks your ads are getting, if your CTAs are clear, and what the average PPC conversion rate of your campaigns is.

Here are a few definitions you might’ve missed in these past few steps, too. (We’ve got you covered.)

Click-through rate (CTR): CTR is the percentage of individuals who click on your ad upon first seeing it. Google favors ads that boast high relevance and CTR, so it’s key to have this metric in mind. Enhancing this metric looks like fine-tuning your ad copy, imagery, CTA, and overall brand experience to resonate with your audience.

Cost-per-click (CPC): CPC is the percentage that represents the average cost of a click on your ad. Google will rate your site poorly if you provide users with outdated or subpar content, which results in a huge increase in your CPC. You wanna lower this percentage as much as you can, and a good way of doing that is to enhance and update your ad format and landing pages.

Quality Score: Essentially, Google dishes out scores to your keywords based on how slick your ads and landing pages are. To ace this game, make sure your ad copy, keywords, and landing pages are all in cahoots with each other and as close as they can get to what users are searching for. Your landing page should be a smooth operator, giving users a great time and lookin’ sharp on mobile screens.

10. Review your landing pages 

You might be thinking, “Typical Unbounce, going on again about landing pages,” but hear us out. Landing pages might be external to Google Ads, but to say that they have a huge impact on your Google Ads performance is a massive understatement. It’s safe to say that not reviewing your landing pages and making sure they’re firing off on all cylinders would be a huge oversight. There’s much to learn about how to create landing pages and how to make them thrive, but here are a few key pointers to get them working in your (and your PPC ad’s) favor. 

A well-crafted CTA

Your small but mighty CTA (call to action) button is the MVP on your landing page—put simply, it’s what you want visitors to do. Learning how to get your call to action right is important, and can be a make-it-or-break-it moment for your landing page (and Google Ads.) Making your CTAs specific yet simple (think “Learn More” or “Get Started”) and cohesive with the rest of your page is one of the ways forward.

A compelling headline

Word on the street is you’ve about 15 seconds to grab a visitor’s attention on a landing page—which means the headline is pretttyyy important. Make sure it’s memorable, clear, and solves the problem your visitors care about most. Then, make sure it’s aligned with the rest of your campaign ads. If you’re second-guessing your copywriting prowess right about now, our landing page copy generator is here to help save the day. 

A form that works

You might think this should be a given, but you’d be surprised by the amount of times forms become the downfall of landing pages and Google Ads. So go ahead and check those forms and make sure they’re firing off correctly. You should even go the extra mile and create a thank you page for the folks who fill out your form. This page should contain a conversion tracking code that keeps you in the know.

These are just some of the elements of a landing page to keep track of for your Google Ads account audit. Deciding whether to increase or decrease the number of landing pages you have running based on their performance and checking the Quality Score of the ads linking to your landing pages are among other things to keep in mind.

11. Review your bids (and your budget)

Bids are the maximum amount you’re willing to pay when someone clicks on your ad. With Google Ads, you pay when a visitor clicks on your ad to visit your site or call you. Needless to say, it’s a pretty important negotiation to make. To make the correct call on your bids, you’ve got to have a handle on your budget. It’s all connected. The good news is that you can go back and review your previous bids and adjust them accordingly based on your conversions, the budget you’re working with, and more. 

Are you using the right bidding strategy? Are there any campaigns you should be spending more or less money on? This is precisely the time to figure all of that out. 

P.S. If getting more bang for your PPC ad bucks is on your mind right now, you should take a look at our Smart Traffic feature, which helps you earn more revenue from every ad dollar you spend.

12. Review your branded search campaigns

Once most steps are out of the way, it’s time to take a look at your branded search campaigns. A branded search campaign focuses on keywords that are (you got it) all about your brand. These campaigns kick in when someone hits up Google specifically looking for your brand or company, whether they include a product name or not. Essentially, branded keywords are all about your paid search and SEO strategies coming together. 

To conduct a proper review of your branded search campaigns on your Google Ads account audit, you’ve got to pay close attention to these key factors:  

Check to see if you’re cannibalizing your own search campaign

This is, unfortunately, more possible than you might think. If you have duplicated search terms that are targeting both your general campaigns and your branded campaigns, that could be bad news. You’d be competing against yourself while hurting your results in the process. You can access this information by reviewing your Search Terms Report on your Google Ads account. Problem solved.

Take advantage of misspelled brand searches

There are many folks out there who will misspell your brand’s name while searching it up (trust us, we’ve gotten our fair share of “Unbonce”). The smart thing to do is to include those misspelled brand searches in your bids as you go because there are always new ways people can misspell things. So make sure that you cover all your bases by including any pertinent misspellings in your campaigns. This way, you’ll cast a wider net and reach as many potential customers as possible.

13. Stalk, ahem, review your competitors 

Yup, competitor analysis is still relevant, even during your Google Ads account audit. Who are you competing against? How are you comparing? Are you overlapping in your keyword searches? How are their ads doing against yours? These are all important questions to consider and good data to take advantage of as you continue to test ads. Google Ads can be another form of social media stalking, who knew?

14. Review performance based on channel and device

At the risk of sounding like boomers, we have to say that no one uses the internet the same. You can hope that your audience reaches your PPC ads in a certain way, or by using a certain keyword, or through a certain channel, or on a certain device—but the reality is that there are quite literally infinite ways of getting there. So it’s safe to say to say that it’s worth a bit of investigation. 

You might find that your mobile campaigns are performing better than your web campaigns. This is valuable information. How you end up using it ultimately depends on you, but it could be like investing in your mobile ads more with a higher budget to maximize those mobile conversions.

Ultimately, the conversion type you end up focusing on in your paid search endeavors hinges on your customers’ preferred purchasing habits. If the bulk of your conversions stem from one device over another, give priority to that device for conversions, and utilize the other for top-of-the-funnel targeting and gathering information.

15. Review location targeting 

Location targeting settings play a crucial role in campaign success. And it shouldn’t be overlooked in your Google Ads account audit. Targeting the right locations can significantly impact the number of clicks and conversions your campaigns generate. Think of it as choosing the perfect spot for your lemonade stand. Get it right, and you’ll have a line around the block. 

It can seem like a small factor, but it’s important to find out whether your location extension targeting settings are aiding or impeding campaign performance. So consider if there are any potential clicks or conversions missed by not targeting specific locations, or if there are any locations that are just not clicking (ahem) with your ads. And then adjust accordingly.

16. Review your optimization plan

Finally, there is no finally. There’s no real endgame when it comes to optimization—it’s an ongoing journey fueled by adaptation and evolution. Based on the steps mentioned above, it’s time to craft a dynamic optimization plan tailored to your Google Ads account to get the best results.

But the journey doesn’t stop there—it’s all about staying nimble and continuously reassessing your strategies. Agility is the name ‘o the game—adapting to new trends, and seizing opportunities as they arise. Welcome to digital marketing.

Your Google Ads account audit checklist

Now that you know the steps to get your Google Ads account to where it needs to be, why not make it official with a checklist you can tick off? Let’s get into it. 

Note: If the checklist item doesn’t apply to you, check the box anyway. Because why not? It’s fun, okay?

1. Do you audit your campaign settings?

1. Do your campaigns have a logical, descriptive naming convention based on common themes?
2. Do you have a campaign dedicated to branded terms?
3. Do you have a campaign dedicated to remarketing?I 
4. Did you make sure all lists are collecting visitors?
5. Did you make sure you have a unique list dedicated to each major abandonment activity?

Make sure you don’t have campaigns set to both search and display because the two networks require different bid prices, and the user intent is different. Visitors coming from the search network are actively looking for what you offer, whereas visitors in the display network are doing something else when they see your ad. Within the display network, check on the following:

6. Do you have any automatic placements that need to be changed to managed?
7. Do you see any poorly performing placements that should be excluded?
8. Have you included various banner sizes, and are you using both image as well as text ads?
9. Are your location targets correct, with no strange or contradictory overlaps?
10. Did you double-check that your daily budget is appropriate?
11. Have you set up ad extensions?
12. Did you set your ad rotation to rotate indefinitely? If you set it to optimize, Google automatically shows the ad that gets more clicks–although that might not be the ad that gets the most conversions or revenue. More clicks get Google more revenue, so naturally, that’s what they want to optimize for. But you want to test to see which ad makes you more money, not which one makes Google more money. (Sorry, Google.)

Score: 0/12

2. Do you audit your ad groups?

1. If your campaigns are named appropriately based on common themes, are your ad groups named to reflect more targeted themes or subcategories?
2. Do you limit the keywords in each ad group to no more than 20 so you can keep them targeted to tightly-knit themes with matching ad copy? (You should.)
3. Do you use negative keywords at the ad group level to avoid overlap and maintain consistency from keyword to ad to landing page? For example, if you have one ad group about gloves and another about scarves, make “gloves” a negative in the scarves ad group, and vice versa. 

Score: 0/3

3. Do you audit your ads?

1. You should always be running two different ads in each ad group and doing A/B testing to see which one performs better.
2. Make sure your ads follow all of the advertising guidelines.
3. Check for correct spelling and grammar.
4. Look for any ads that have been disapproved and get them approved.
5. Make sure your ads have a compelling message and a strong CTA.
6. Check that ads are going to the best landing page and that the destination URL is correct.
7. Check that there is cohesiveness between the ads and landing pages.

Score: 0/7

3. Do you audit your keywords?

1. Do you have the appropriate match types configured? If you have too many broad-match keywords, you can save money and get more targeted traffic by including more modified broad, phrase, and exact-match keywords.
2. Sort by impressions and sort by spend to see if you have any keywords that are costing you more money than they’re making.
3. Do you see any keywords that need to be paused or bid down?
4. Do you look at the search terms report for any keywords that should be added as positives or negatives?
5. Do you set up your negative keywords properly for the appropriate ad group level, campaign level, and account level?
6. Has the quality score dropped on any keywords?
7. Have you bid on brand misspellings?

Score: 0/7

5. Do you audit your landing pages?

1. Make sure your landing pages match the keyword and ad.
2. Do your landing pages look professional and follow best practices?
3. Do you have a systematic process for identifying and prioritizing conversion obstacles, then running A/B tests to fix them?
4. Have you created unique landing pages for different devices?
5. Have you crafted a simple and concise CTA?
6. Have you crafted a catchy headline?
7. If there is a form, is it working properly?
8. Are you sending folks to a thank you page with conversion tracking once they submit the form?

Score: 0/8

6. Do you analyze your metrics?

The eight steps above are all to prepare you for the final and most important step: analyzing the metrics so you can make data-driven decisions. Here are a few things to look for:

1. First and foremost, is your Google Ads account linked with GA4, and do you have your goals configured?
2. Look for trends. It’s a red flag to see the CPA (cost-per-acquisition) creeping up or Quality Scores sliding down over time.
3. Do you set your date range to compare apples to apples? Do this, especially if seasonality affects your business. For example, if Christmas is your big selling season, compare the data from the previous year’s Christmas season. Don’t compare Christmas to summer.
4. Do you look for gems and lemons?
5. Do you adjust your budget accordingly based on under-performing and highly-performing segments of geography, time of day, day of week, and device?

Score: 0/5

Your grand total score: 0/42

You can use this list as your official template for your Google Ads account audit, checking items off as you go along. No one and no campaign is perfect (allegedly), but ideally, you wanna be hitting a few checkmarks in each step, if not all. 

Make the time to check these six areas of your Google Ads account a few times a year, and keep it running like a well-oiled machine. After all, you do that for your car, and it doesn’t have the revenue-generating potential that your Google Ads account does.

Tools to help perform your Google Ads account audit

So are you expected to do all of this optimizin’ and auditin’ on your own? Of course not. Turns out, there are some pretty great tools around that can simplify your Google Ads account audit for you. They can help you organize your data, analyze your metrics, improve organic traffic, and more. Let’s get into some of ‘em.

1. Google Analytics

Well, duh. Google Analytics offers both paid and free versions to assist advertisers in fine-tuning their successful Google Ads campaigns. It consolidates and organizes all your data in one central location, allowing you to analyze metrics and pinpoint areas within your ad groups that require enhancement. Make sure you get moved over to GA4 if it doesn’t automatically take you there by connecting with an assistant.

2. SEMRush

SEMrush does a lot. And helping you out with your Google Ads audit is no exception. It provides a range of resources, like the SEM Toolkit, which allows you to monitor a website’s visibility progress over a defined period. It also helps identify the keywords the site may be ranking for on the SERPs and its page rank for those specific keywords. Some of the other features of their PPC auditing tool are recommendations to improve organic traffic and comparison of page performance against the competition.

3. Wordstream

In under a minute, Wordstream’s free Google Ads audit tool conducts a thorough audit or analysis of your Google Ads account. It offers insights into your ad campaign’s performance compared to competitors while providing valuable hints to swiftly boost your CTRs and your conversion rate.

4. Opteo

Opteo, a dynamic PPC audit tool tailored for Google Ads, empowers you with data-driven suggestions and insights to elevate your campaign’s effectiveness. Its customizable reporting feature allows you to infuse your brand’s color palette and logo, facilitating seamless sharing with both colleagues and clients.

Ease of use is key with this tool. You can easily integrate your Google Ads account to kickstart the audit process. Plus, you’ll receive an Opteo scorecard based on your PPC audits, providing a comprehensive overview of your campaign or ad group’s performance and pinpointing areas ripe for improvement. Impressive.

5. Unbounce