A Google Ads audit is a structured check of your account to find where money is being wasted and why enquiries aren't coming in. For a small business, you can run a useful one yourself in about two hours. Start with conversion tracking, then the search terms report, then location settings, because those three decide whether every other number in the account can be trusted. The checklist below is the one I use, grouped by area, with what good looks like and where to find each item.
I ran a plumbers' merchants for 16 years before I moved into digital marketing in 2019, and I'm Google Ads certified in Search, Performance Max and Shopping. Most accounts I'm asked to review belong to small businesses and tradespeople who set them up themselves, or inherited them from someone else. The problems are remarkably consistent. This checklist is written for that situation, not for a large ecommerce account with a team behind it, and it's part of my small business guide to Google Ads.
Before you start: what you need
- Admin access to the Google Ads account. If you don't have it, that is the first finding. You should own your account, not an agency or a former employee.
- At least 30 days of data, ideally 90. A week of data will mislead you, especially on a small budget.
- Your own record of real leads. Calls, forms, emails and WhatsApps from the same period, and roughly where each came from. You'll compare this with what Google says.
- Your phone and a notepad. Several checks involve looking at your ad and landing page the way a customer does.
Work through each section and mark every item pass, fail or not sure. "Not sure" usually means fail. Don't fix things as you go: finish the audit, then fix in the order below, because the first tier affects everything else.
1. Conversion tracking
Short answer: if your tracking is wrong, every other decision in the account is wrong too. Google's automated bidding chases whatever you tell it is a conversion, so this section comes first. Google's own help explains that primary conversion actions are the ones reported in the Conversions column and used for bidding, while secondary actions are for observation only.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Primary conversions are real leads | Only calls, form submissions and bookings. No page views, scrolls or generic button clicks. | Goals |
| Calls are tracked | Calls from ads and calls from your website are both measured, with a sensible minimum call length. | Goals, call assets |
| Forms are tracked properly | A conversion fires only when a form is actually submitted, not when the thank-you page is visited by other routes. | Goals, then test a form yourself |
| No double counting | The same lead isn't recorded twice, for example by both a Google Ads tag and an imported Analytics goal set as primary. | Goals, compare the two sources |
| Count setting is "One" for leads | Lead actions count one conversion per click, not every repeat. | Conversion action settings |
| Numbers match reality | Google's conversions for the month are roughly in line with the leads in your own records. | Your own lead log against the Conversions column |
| Consent signals are sent | Your cookie banner passes consent signals to Google. Google says consent is required for users in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland. | Your website's cookie banner settings |
Two notes from experience. Counting "clicks to call" as leads is the most common way I see a failing account look healthy, because a tap on a phone number isn't a call. And for lead counting, Google's own guidance on conversion counting options says counting one conversion per click is a good choice when you care about whether a lead was generated rather than how many. The consent requirement comes from Google's consent signals guidance. If this section throws up problems, my guide to Google Ads conversion tracking explains how to fix them for calls and forms.
2. Campaign settings
Short answer: Google's defaults are designed to reach as many people as possible, which isn't the same as reaching customers. Most settings problems I find weren't choices anyone made. They were defaults nobody changed.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Networks | Search partners and Display are switched on only if you've checked they bring leads. Google includes search partners by default in new Search campaigns. | Campaign settings, Networks |
| Auto-apply recommendations | Off, or limited to changes you'd happily make yourself. Auto-apply can add broad match keywords and change bid strategies. | Recommendations, Manage (auto-apply) |
| AI Max | You know whether it's on, and you chose it. Some campaigns are being upgraded to AI Max automatically from September 2026. | Campaign settings, Change history |
| Ad schedule | Ads run when someone can answer the phone or reply quickly. | Ad schedule |
| Language and dates | Correct language targeting, no forgotten end dates or paused ad groups. | Campaign settings |
| Campaign type | Mostly Search for local lead generation, unless you have a proven reason to use something else. | Campaigns list |
| Account access | Only people who should have access do. Former staff and agencies removed. | Admin, Access and security |
| Change history | No changes you don't recognise. | Change history |
The auto-apply options are listed on Google's auto-apply recommendations page, including adding broad match keywords, removing "redundant" keywords and expanding to search partners. The AI Max change was announced on Google's Ads and Commerce blog: campaigns using Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting are being upgraded. The search partners default is on Google's search partners help page.
One more: optimisation score. Google describes it as an estimate of how well your account is set to perform. It's worked out from Google's own recommendations, and goes up as you apply them. It doesn't measure leads, and a high score is not a pass on this audit.
3. Keywords and search terms
Short answer: the search terms report shows what people actually typed before clicking your ad, and it is where most wasted money turns up. Keywords are what you asked for. Search terms are what you paid for.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Search terms are relevant | Over the last 30 days, sorted by cost, almost every term is someone who wants to buy what you sell, in your area. | Search terms report |
| Negative keywords in place | Jobs, courses, DIY, free, wholesale and similar are excluded, ideally in shared lists. | Negative keywords, Shared library |
| No ambiguous terms | Terms that could mean something else are excluded rather than paid for. | Search terms report |
| Match types are deliberate | Broad match is used only where you've chosen it and have tracking good enough to steer it. | Keywords, Match type column |
| Keywords are grouped tightly | Each ad group covers one service, so ads and landing pages can match the search. | Ad groups |
| No keywords competing with each other | The same keyword isn't live in several campaigns or ad groups. | Keywords, sort by text |
| Quality Score checked | Low scores are understood, with the weak component identified. | Keywords, add Quality Score columns |
I'm deliberately strict here. I exclude anything that isn't directly transactional, because in most trades there's enough qualified search volume that I don't need to pay to find out what an ambiguous searcher meant. "Gas near me" might be a gas engineer. It might also be a gas bottle. My full method, including the shared lists I use and a table of the searches I exclude, is in my guide to negative keywords and the search terms report.
On Quality Score, it helps to know what it is and isn't. Google calls it a diagnostic tool, not an input in the auction, built from expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Use it to find which of the three is weak. My guide on why your Quality Score is low goes through each one.
4. Ads and assets
Short answer: your ads should repeat what the person searched for, say where you work, and give them a reason to pick you over the three ads around yours. Assets (sitelinks, callouts, calls and your location) make the ad bigger and more useful at no extra cost per click.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Enough headlines | Each responsive search ad uses a good share of the 15 headlines and 4 descriptions available, with real variety. | Ads |
| Headlines match the service | The service and area appear in the headlines, not just your business name. | Ads, preview |
| Specific reasons to choose you | Accreditations, guarantees, response times, reviews, free quotes. Facts, not "quality service". | Ads |
| Call asset set up | Your number shows on mobile, with call reporting on so calls are measured. | Assets, Calls |
| Location asset | Your Google Business Profile is linked so your address and reviews can show. | Assets, Location |
| Sitelinks and callouts | Sitelinks go to real, relevant pages. Callouts list short selling points. | Assets |
| No disapproved or limited ads | Everything is eligible, or you know why not. | Ads, Status column |
Google's limits for responsive search ads are up to 15 headlines of 30 characters and up to 4 descriptions of 90 characters. For calls, Google's call reporting uses a forwarding number so calls from your ads can be measured.
5. Landing pages
Short answer: the page has one job, which is to make it easy for someone on a phone to call you or send a short enquiry. Check it on your own phone, on mobile data, not on your office computer.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Right page for the search | Someone searching for a service lands on that service's page, not the homepage. | Final URLs in your ads |
| Fast on mobile | Loads in a few seconds on mobile data. | Your phone |
| Phone number visible | A tap-to-call number without scrolling. | Your phone |
| Short form | A few fields at most. Name, number, postcode, what they need. | Your phone, then submit a test |
| Area covered is clear | The page shows you work where they are. | The page |
| Trust signals | Reviews, accreditations and real photos of your work. | The page |
| Final URL expansion checked | If AI Max or Performance Max can send people to other pages on your site, you know which pages and you're happy with them. | Campaign settings |
If your pages need work, I've written a practical guide on how to create a landing page that converts.
6. Budget and bidding
Short answer: the budget should be concentrated where it can win, and the bid strategy should match how much conversion data you actually have. A strategy that optimises for conversions needs conversions to learn from.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Budget matches the plan | Enough to get meaningful clicks each day on your main service. In my experience, £10 a day is the realistic minimum. | Campaigns, Budget |
| Not spread too thin | A small budget covers one or two profitable services, not everything you do. | Campaigns, Ad groups |
| Bid strategy fits the data | Maximise clicks (with a sensible cap) while there's little conversion data. Conversion-based bidding once there is. | Campaign settings, Bidding |
| Targets are realistic | Any target cost per lead is close to what you actually achieve, not a wish. | Bidding, Bid strategy report |
| Limited by budget understood | If campaigns are limited by budget, you know how much you're missing. | Search lost IS (budget) column |
| Spend is where the leads are | Cost per lead compared by campaign, and budget moved towards what works. | Campaigns, compare cost/conv. |
Remember that Google can spend more than your daily budget on a given day. Its budget help page says you won't pay more than two times your average daily budget on any day for most campaigns, or more than 30.4 times it in a month. If you see "Limited by budget", my guide to Search lost impression share (budget) explains what to do about it.
I start new Search campaigns on a low budget with Maximise clicks until there's real conversion data, then move to a conversion-based strategy and scale up. In my experience a new campaign typically takes three to four weeks to reach the point where Google has learned how best to convert, so judge bidding changes over weeks, not days.
7. Location targeting
Short answer: set the location option to "Presence", target the area you can actually serve profitably, and check the locations report to see where clicks really came from.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Location option is "Presence" | Not the default "Presence or interest", unless you have a reason. | Campaign settings, Locations, Location options |
| Area is tight enough | Centred on where you're based, not your widest possible service area. | Campaign settings, Locations |
| Clicks come from your area | The locations report shows few or no clicks from outside it. | Locations report |
| Exclusions where needed | Areas you won't travel to are excluded. | Campaign settings, Locations |
Google describes "Presence or interest" as its default and recommended option. It includes people who have only shown interest in your area, which suits a hotel. It doesn't suit a roofer in Bromley.
I target tightly around where a client is physically based rather than their whole stated service area, as long as the budget is comfortably spent in the smaller radius. It also helps to separate two things that often get mixed up: location pages on your website are an SEO asset, and they don't mean your paid campaigns should target every one of those towns.
If you're running Performance Max
Performance Max needs its own checks, because it spends across YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover and Maps as well as Search. At minimum, check the channel performance report to see where the money went, review the Performance Max search terms report, add negatives and brand exclusions where needed, and confirm the conversion goals are real leads. I've gone through all of this, and when Performance Max suits a small lead generation business at all, in my guide to Performance Max for small businesses.
Red flags that mean stop and fix before spending more
- Google shows conversions but you've had no leads. Tracking is counting the wrong thing.
- More than a handful of search terms are jobs, training or DIY. You're paying for people who will never hire you.
- Clicks from towns or countries you don't serve. Location settings are too loose.
- Changes in Change history that nobody in your business made. Auto-apply or an automatic upgrade has been at work.
- You don't have admin access to your own account. Fix that before anything else.
If your account ticks several of these, my guide on why Google Ads get clicks but no calls walks through the most common causes in more depth.
How often to audit
| When | What to do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Daily, first few weeks of a new campaign | Search terms report, add negatives | 5 to 10 minutes |
| Weekly | Spend, leads, cost per lead, search terms, anything limited or disapproved | 15 to 20 minutes |
| Monthly | Compare Google's conversions with your own lead records, check Change history | 30 minutes |
| Every quarter, or after any big change | The full checklist above | About two hours |
For my own clients, I send a report every Monday across all accounts, so underspending or weak impressions are caught in the first week rather than at the end of the month. Reports show leads by source and type, spend and cost per lead. For a broader view of what to do once the audit is done, see my guide on how to optimise your PPC campaigns.
FAQ
What should a Google Ads audit include?
At minimum: conversion tracking, campaign settings, keywords and the search terms report, ads and assets, landing pages, budget and bidding, and location targeting. For a small business, tracking, search terms and location settings usually hold the biggest problems, so check those first.
How long does a Google Ads audit take?
For a small account with a few campaigns, around two hours for the full checklist. A quick check of search terms, location settings and conversion goals takes about 20 minutes and catches most of the expensive problems.
How often should I audit my Google Ads account?
Review search terms daily in the first weeks of a new campaign, check performance weekly, and run the full checklist every quarter or after any major change, such as a new campaign type, a new website or an automatic upgrade from Google.
Is a free audit from Google or an agency worth having?
It can be, as long as you know what it's based on. Suggestions built around Google's recommendations tend to increase reach and spend. An independent review should focus on leads and cost per lead, and tell you honestly if ads aren't the right spend for you right now.
What's the most common problem you find in small business accounts?
Paying for searches that were never going to become customers, usually alongside tracking that counts something other than real leads. The two together mean Google is being trained to find more of the wrong people.
Want me to run the audit for you?
If you're running your own ads and they're not paying, I'm happy to take a look. I'll go through your account using this checklist, tell you what's wasting money, and what I'd fix first. If it's working and just needs small tweaks, I'll tell you that too. You deal with me directly, not an account manager.
You can read more about my Google Ads management service and wider PPC services, or get in touch and tell me a bit about your account.
