Account Audits
Search campaign account audits
Audit a Google Ads Search account from access and conversion settings through search traffic, offers and business outcomes, then record fixes by impact.
A search campaign account audit should establish what the business wants from its spend, what the Google Ads account delivers, and where the evidence leaves a gap. Check access and measurement before recommending bid or budget changes. Then review where ads can serve, which visible searches reached them, whether ads and pages describe the offer accurately, and which outcomes the business accepted.
Set the audit boundary
Agree the Search campaigns, period and business outcome under review. Record the products or services advertised, areas the business can serve, spending authority, and the person who can confirm an order or assess an enquiry. Separate own-brand activity from non-brand acquisition when they answer different budget questions.
Request the account access and business records needed to interpret results, and note what is missing. A low cost per form submission says little about useful work if the team has not assessed the requests.
Keep a dated snapshot of campaign settings, selected conversion goals, spend and material recent changes. Review account history alongside the snapshot; a change record alone cannot establish why performance moved.
A practical review inventory can include campaign and ad group structure, naming conventions, ad copy, extensions, geographic targeting, and a basic competitor snapshot. Mark which items are in scope, so a finding about account organisation is not mistaken for a conclusion about business results.
Check control and measurement
Confirm the business has direct administrator access to the client account. Record linked managers, account ownership and billing arrangements, and identify who is responsible for measurement. Check access and ownership settings against the business's agreed control requirements.
For each Search campaign, inspect its selected conversion goals and actions. Check the event definition, source, counting rule, value, window and tracking status. A goal label cannot establish whether an enquiry became useful work.
If recording is uncertain, investigate the event path and compare it with business records before using cost per conversion to justify a bid change. Allow for conversion delay: spend from recent clicks may be complete while their outcomes are still arriving.
Key Metrics to Verify During Measurement Check
- Conversion Goal
- Confirmed goal label and tracking status
- Counting Rule
- Last click, first click, or linear attribution
- Value Assignment
- Fixed, dynamic, or based on transaction value
Trace spend to a serviceable request
| Audit question | Evidence to inspect | Possible decision |
|---|---|---|
| Can the ad serve where the offer is available? | Targeting, schedule, networks and the business service boundary | Correct a documented mismatch. |
| Which searches brought traffic? | Visible search terms, matched keywords, spend and outcomes | Investigate unsuitable themes. |
| Does the page fulfil the ad's promise? | Active ad, destination and current offer | Correct the message or destination. |
| Did the action become useful work? | Conversion details and accepted enquiries or orders | Investigate traffic or measurement. |
Use the available search terms report and Search terms insights to assess whether visible traffic aligns with the intended service and offer. Record any limits in the evidence; a visible list alone may not settle whether traffic was relevant.
Read the whole query and consider other offers before calling it waste. Check a proposed negative keyword's match type and scope against valuable searches.
Review account structure and ad presentation
Inventory the account structure at campaign and ad group level. Check whether naming conventions make the intended service, location or purpose understandable. Record confusing or inconsistent labels as navigation issues, rather than assuming they explain performance.
Inspect responsive search ads and the available ad extensions, including sitelinks, callouts, call and location extensions. Compare what is presented with the offer and destination already under review. Note any mismatch or missing element for the business to assess.
Include geographic targeting in the review and compare it with the areas the business can serve. Where useful to the audit question, include a basic competitor snapshot from Auction Insights. Treat it as context for the account review, not proof of a competitor's strategy or results.
Prepare access for an external review
If an external reviewer is involved, agree the audit goals and arrange secure, read-only access to the ad account using its Google Ads Customer ID. Confirm the scope before work begins so the review covers the intended account and questions without requiring the reviewer to make campaign changes.
Pre-Audit Access and Data Requirements
- Google Ads Customer IDRequired for secure access
- Read-only accessEnsure no campaign changes can be made
- Business recordsSales logs, CRM entries, order confirmations, and enquiry assessments
- Account ownership documentationRecorded managers, billing contacts, and access permissions
Record decisions
For each finding, record the affected item, observation, possible business consequence, evidence gap, proposed action, owner and review date. Distinguish a confirmed fault from a plausible opportunity or an unknown. An access or measurement fault may need attention first because it limits the team's ability to operate or interpret the account.
Use spend, accepted work, margin and capacity from the business's own records when estimating impact. Do not turn observed cost into a promised saving. Where evidence is thin, favour a reversible change and specify what later result would support it. Record simultaneous changes that could complicate interpretation.
Finish with a short list of what to correct, investigate and retain. Revisit outcomes after they have had time to mature.
In this guide
- Finding waste in search term reportsReview visible search terms against your offer and accepted enquiries, identify costly mismatches and choose a proportionate response.
- Reviewing conversion settings before changing bidsCheck campaign goals, action settings, counting, values and conversion delay before using reported results to change Google Ads Search bids.
- Checking account access and ownership at handoverVerify business administrators, linked managers, ownership and billing or measurement dependencies before changing Google Ads account access.
- Prioritising paid search fixes by expected business impactTurn Search audit findings into a fix queue using observed exposure, plausible business value, evidence, downside and a clear review plan.
