Google Ads Audit Checklist: 10 Quick Wins to Cut Wasted Spend
Most Google Ads accounts waste 20-40% of their budget on clicks that will never convert. The good news: the biggest leaks are usually easy to find and fix.
This checklist covers the 10 highest-impact items to review. Go through it in order — each one builds on the last.
1. Check Your Conversion Tracking
Before optimizing anything else, confirm your conversion tracking is accurate. Everything downstream depends on this data.
What to verify:
- Google Ads conversion tag fires on the correct thank-you/confirmation page
- Conversion values are accurate (not all set to $1 or left blank)
- No duplicate conversions being counted
- Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads data roughly match (within 10-15%)
If your conversion tracking is off, every optimization decision you make will be based on bad data.
2. Review Search Terms Report
The search terms report shows what people actually typed before clicking your ad. This is different from your keywords.
Export the last 30 days and look for:
- Irrelevant queries eating budget (competitors’ brand names, unrelated products)
- Queries with clicks but zero conversions
- High-performing queries that aren’t in your keyword list yet
Add irrelevant terms as negative keywords immediately. This alone can save 10-25% of wasted spend.
3. Audit Your Negative Keyword List
A healthy Google Ads account has an extensive negative keyword list. If yours has fewer than 50 terms, there’s room to improve.
Common negatives most accounts need:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Job seekers | jobs, careers, hiring, salary, resume |
| DIY/Free | free, template, tutorial, how to, DIY |
| Research | review, comparison, vs, reddit, forum |
| Unqualified | cheap, discount, budget, free trial |
Build a shared negative keyword list and apply it across all campaigns.
4. Match Type Review
Broad match keywords cast the widest net but often trigger irrelevant searches. Check the match type distribution across your campaigns.
Quick rule of thumb:
- Broad match: Only use with smart bidding and strong conversion data (50+ conversions/month)
- Phrase match: Good default for most campaigns
- Exact match: Use for your highest-value, highest-intent keywords
If you’re spending heavily on broad match without enough conversion data to guide Google’s algorithm, switch to phrase match.
5. Ad Extension Coverage
Ad extensions (now called “assets”) increase your ad’s real estate on the search results page and improve click-through rates — at no extra cost.
Ensure you have:
- Sitelink extensions (at least 4 per campaign)
- Callout extensions highlighting key benefits
- Structured snippets showing service categories
- Call extensions (if you take phone leads)
- Location extensions (if you serve a local area)
6. Landing Page Alignment
Every ad should send users to a landing page that matches the ad’s promise. Sending all traffic to your homepage is a conversion killer.
Check:
- Does the landing page headline match the ad headline?
- Is the CTA clear and above the fold?
- Does the page load in under 3 seconds on mobile?
- Is the form short enough? (Name + email is often enough for top-of-funnel)
7. Bidding Strategy Assessment
Manual CPC bidding gives you control but limits Google’s optimization ability. Smart bidding strategies like Target CPA or Maximize Conversions work well — but only with enough data.
Minimum thresholds for smart bidding:
- Target CPA: 30+ conversions in the last 30 days
- Target ROAS: 50+ conversions with accurate values
- Maximize Conversions: 15+ conversions (lower threshold, good starting point)
8. Device Performance Split
Check performance by device (desktop, mobile, tablet). Many accounts show dramatically different conversion rates across devices.
If mobile converts at half the rate of desktop, consider a -25% to -50% mobile bid adjustment rather than paying the same per click on both.
9. Ad Schedule Review
Look at your conversion data by hour and day of week. Most B2B accounts see zero conversions between 10pm and 6am. Running ads during those hours wastes budget.
Set up an ad schedule that focuses spend on your highest-converting time windows.
10. Quality Score Check
Quality Score directly impacts your cost per click. A score of 7+ means you’re paying less than competitors for the same position.
To improve Quality Score:
- Match ad copy closely to keyword intent
- Improve landing page relevance and load speed
- Aim for CTR above your industry average
What to Do Next
Work through this checklist top to bottom. The first three items — conversion tracking, search terms, and negative keywords — typically deliver the biggest improvements with the least effort.
Want a professional set of eyes on your account? Request a free paid ads audit and we’ll identify your specific opportunities.
