Most Google Ads accounts waste 20-40% of their budget on inefficient targeting, poor structure, and missed optimisation opportunities. A PPC audit systematically reviews every aspect of your account to find and fix these leaks. Whether you manage your own ads or work with an agency, regular audits ensure your money works harder.
Account Structure Audit
Good structure is the foundation of good performance. Check: are campaigns organised by service/product line, location, or funnel stage? Are ad groups tightly themed with 10-20 related keywords each? Are there ad groups mixing different intent levels (informational and transactional)? Is there a clear naming convention? Fix: restructure messy campaigns. Split broad ad groups into specific themes. Separate brand campaigns from generic campaigns.
Keyword Audit
Review every active keyword. Search terms report: The most important audit step. Review the last 90 days of actual search queries that triggered your ads. Identify irrelevant searches costing you money and add them as negative keywords. Look for high-performing queries that deserve their own ad groups.
Match type review: Are broad match keywords generating relevant traffic? Switch underperforming broad match keywords to phrase match. Are exact match keywords too restrictive? Check impression share.
Quality Score analysis: Sort keywords by Quality Score. Investigate anything below 6 — what component is low? Pause keywords with Quality Score 1-3 that are not improving after optimisation.
Keyword performance: Pause keywords with high spend but zero conversions over the last 60 days. Increase bids on keywords with strong CPA/ROAS that are limited by budget.
Ad Copy Audit
Check: does every ad group have at least one responsive search ad with 10+ headline variations? Are ads relevant to the keywords in their ad group? Is there a clear CTA in every ad? Are all applicable ad extensions active? Are there underperforming ads dragging down ad group performance? Fix: write new ad variations for thin ad groups. Refresh stale copy that has been running for 6+ months. A/B test new angles against current best performers.
Landing Page Audit
Visit every landing page your ads point to. Check: does it match the ad message? Does it load in under 3 seconds on mobile? Is the CTA visible above the fold? Is the form working? Is conversion tracking firing correctly? Is the page mobile-friendly? Fix the most impactful issues first — broken forms and slow load times cost the most.
Bid and Budget Audit
Are campaigns regularly hitting daily budget limits? (This means you are missing out on potential conversions — consider increasing budget or narrowing targeting.) Are bids appropriate for each keyword’s value? Are bid adjustments set correctly for device, location, and time of day? Is the bidding strategy appropriate for the campaign’s data volume? Automated bidding strategies need 30+ conversions per month to optimise effectively.
Conversion Tracking Audit
Verify every conversion action is firing correctly. Submit a test form, make a test call, complete a test purchase. Check that conversions appear in Google Ads within a few hours. Verify Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion numbers roughly match (slight differences are normal due to different attribution windows). Ensure conversion values are set correctly — especially for e-commerce.
Audience Audit
Are you using audience targeting effectively? Check: remarketing audiences are set up and active, audiences are applied to campaigns (in observation or targeting mode), irrelevant audiences are excluded, and audience bid adjustments reflect performance. For Meta Ads: are Custom Audiences refreshing properly? Are Lookalike Audiences based on your best customers?
Competitive Analysis
Use the Auction Insights report to see who you compete against and your impression share. Are you losing impression share to budget or to rank? Who are your top competitors, and what does their ad copy focus on? Use these insights to differentiate your messaging and adjust your competitive strategy.
Audit Schedule
Weekly: search terms review, budget pacing check, conversion verification. Monthly: ad copy performance, Quality Score review, bid adjustments, audience performance. Quarterly: full account structure review, landing page audit, competitive analysis, strategy alignment with business goals. Schedule these in your calendar — audits that are not scheduled do not happen.
