What does a Google Ads account audit actually check?

A real audit starts with one question: are the conversions this account is counting actually leads? If the answer is no, everything downstream, including every optimization made in the last year, was aimed at the wrong target.

Here is the order we work in. You can run most of it yourself.

1. Conversion tracking

What exactly counts as a conversion, and does each one represent a human who wants to buy?
Are page views, clicks on a phone number, or duplicate submissions being counted?
Which conversion actions are set as primary, and therefore driving automated bidding?
Are calls tracked, with a minimum duration?
Do platform conversion counts roughly reconcile with leads in the CRM?

2. Structure and budget allocation

Do campaigns map to the services the business actually wants more of? Is budget weighted toward profitable work or spread evenly? Are campaigns so fragmented that none of them gathers enough data? Are any permanently stuck in learning?

3. Search terms and targeting

We read the last 60 to 90 days of search terms against the client's own service pages and stated service area. We are specifically looking for two failures: money going to searches that were never going to buy, and demand being blocked that should not be. The second is more common than people expect, usually because someone applied a borrowed negative keyword list. We check existing exclusions for blocked service nouns, product nouns, brand names and city names, and we remove them. Only research and employment intent words such as how to, diy, free, jobs, salary and career belong there.

4. Ads, assets and landing pages

Does each ad match the intent of its ad group? Are assets filled out? Does every ad land on a page that answers the search, loads fast on a phone, and has a working form and phone number? This is where most accounts leak the most money.

5. Settings people forget

Location targeting and the presence versus interest setting, ad schedule, device performance, network settings, and whether search partners or display expansion are quietly on.