Google Ads Audit Questions: 25 Checks Every Account Needs

If you’ve ever looked at a “healthy” Google Ads dashboard and still felt the results were slipping, you’re probably right. Accounts can bleed budget through silent failures: a conversion action that stopped firing, a broad match query that never should’ve triggered, two campaigns bidding against each other, or spend drifting toward low-intent traffic because the budget has nowhere better to go.

This audit is built for people who manage live accounts and need clarity fast: freelancers, in-house marketers, and agencies. Set aside 30 to 60 minutes. You’ll end with a Pass/Fail scorecard and a short list of fixes you can ship today, starting with measurement, then waste, then growth moves that actually have a chance of working.

If you manage multiple accounts, the hard part isn’t finding one clever insight. It’s running the same checks every time and catching drift early. Tools like Roger help by running these checks across accounts, flagging anomalies, and drafting changes for approval with read-only access by default plus EU data residency aligned with GDPR.

Audit Scorecard: 25 Questions by Area (Quick Table)

Consistency across accounts starts with a shared scorecard. Use the table below as your 30 to 60 minute checklist, then circle the failures that touch tracking, spend waste, or landing page friction first. Those fixes usually move results fastest.

If you want to use this as a team scorecard, add two columns in your doc: Pass/Fail and Fix Owner. That keeps audits from becoming “interesting findings” that never ship.

What Should a Google Ads Audit Include (and What to Ignore)?

“Fix Owner” only works if the checks map to outcomes. A Google Ads audit should answer two questions: do we measure the right thing, and are we buying the right traffic at the right price?

Include these areas in every audit because they directly change spend efficiency and conversion volume:

• Goals and tracking: Google Ads conversion actions, attribution settings, Enhanced Conversions, and GA4 alignment. Validate in Google Tag Manager Preview and GA4 DebugView, not by trusting a green status dot.
• Account structure: campaign and ad group intent separation, brand vs non-brand, and whether Performance Max overlaps with Search. Check internal competition and duplicated targeting.
• Search terms and negatives: the Search terms report, match type behavior, and negative keyword coverage at campaign and account level. This is where wasted spend usually hides.
• Ads and assets: Responsive Search Ad strength is secondary. Look for message match to queries, pinned assets used intentionally, and whether sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets cover the offer.
• Bidding and budgets: bid strategy fit (Maximize Conversions, tCPA, tROAS), learning status, and budget caps that force Google into low-quality queries late in the day.
• Landing pages: speed, mobile UX, and conversion friction. Validate the page used by the ad, not the homepage you wish it used.
• Measurement and guardrails: segmentation (device, location, hour, audience), change history, and anomaly detection for spikes and tracking drops.

Ignore “busywork” that consumes time without changing decisions:

• Chasing 100% Optimization Score, especially when it pushes broad match or auto-apply recommendations.
• Rewriting every RSA because Ad Strength says “Average.”
• Endless micro-structure (single-keyword ad groups) when query intent varies.
• Pixel-perfect share-of-voice reporting when you cannot act on it.

If you want consistency across accounts, run the same checklist weekly and let tools like Roger flag anomalies and draft negatives or bid edits for approval, so your team spends time on judgment, not screenshots.

The 25 Google Ads Audit Questions (With What to Do If You Fail)

Run these as Pass or Fail, then paste the “Fix” line into your audit doc. Keep the fixes one-step so someone can ship them today.

1. Primary conversions correct? Fix: set the real business goal to Primary, move micro actions to Secondary.
2. Enhanced Conversions enabled? Fix: enable Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads (or via Google Tag Manager) and validate hashing.
3. GA4 imports clean, no duplicates? Fix: pick one source of truth (Google Ads tag or GA4 import) and remove the duplicate conversion action.
4. Conversion values reflect economics? Fix: set values from revenue or expected lead value, then use value rules if needed.
5. Each campaign has one job? Fix: split mixed intent (brand, non-brand, remarketing, Performance Max) into separate campaigns.
6. Locations match where you sell? Fix: switch to “Presence” targeting and exclude regions you cannot serve.
7. Ad schedule matches reality? Fix: restrict to staffed hours for lead gen, or add bid adjustments by hour.
8. Brand separated from non-brand? Fix: move brand keywords into a dedicated Brand Search campaign.
9. Search terms reviewed on cadence? Fix: schedule a weekly Search terms review on top-spend campaigns.
10. Negative keyword system exists? Fix: create shared negative lists (jobs, free, support, research) and assign an owner.
11. Match types align with intent? Fix: tighten to phrase or exact on money terms, pause broad that drives irrelevant queries.
12. No internal keyword competition? Fix: dedupe overlapping keywords and consolidate into one ad group.
13. RSA has enough unique assets? Fix: add at least 10 distinct headlines and 3 descriptions, remove near-duplicates.
14. Useful assets live? Fix: add sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, and a lead form asset if relevant.
15. Ad copy matches page and intent? Fix: rewrite one RSA to mirror the landing page headline and the query’s intent.
16. Brand safety and compliance controlled? Fix: add an account-level negative list for restricted terms and review trademark settings.
17. Bidding fits your data volume? Fix: use Max Conversions until you have stable conversion volume, then test tCPA or tROAS.
18. Budgets feed winners? Fix: move budget from low-ROAS campaigns to the highest marginal return campaign.
19. Waste capped by device, geo, audience? Fix: apply exclusions or bid adjustments where CPA is consistently unprofitable.
20. Spend spikes caught fast? Fix: set automated rules or alerts for daily spend, CPA, and conversion drops.
21. Best page per ad? Fix: map each ad group to a dedicated landing page, avoid the homepage by default.
22. Mobile speed acceptable? Fix: run PageSpeed Insights and fix the top issue (image weight, render-blocking scripts).
23. Conversion path frictionless? Fix: remove one step (fields, captcha, forced account creation) and retest the form or checkout.
24. Attribution settings understood? Fix: document current attribution model and conversion window, then keep them stable during tests.
25. Weekly report explains changes? Fix: add a one-page changelog (budget moves, new negatives, bid strategy edits) next to results.

How Often Should You Audit Google Ads (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly)?

One-step fixes only work if you run them on a cadence. Google Ads changes daily (queries, auctions, budgets, tracking), so your audit rhythm should match your spend, volatility, and how many moving parts you run (Search plus Performance Max plus offline imports, for example).

A Simple Cadence Based on Spend and Complexity

• Weekly: any account where a bad day costs real money (high spend, seasonal demand, aggressive broad match, heavy PMax, or frequent promo changes). Run the “leak” checks that catch waste and tracking breaks fast.
• Monthly: steady accounts with predictable demand and stable conversion tracking. Use this for deeper structure, creative, and landing page checks.
• Quarterly: strategic clean-up and measurement decisions. Do this when you have enough data to change bidding targets, conversion values, or account architecture without guessing.

If you manage an MCC with many small accounts, use one rule: audit weekly when a 10% swing changes the month’s outcome, audit monthly when it does not.

Which Questions to Repeat Most Often

Every week (fast, high-impact): #1 primary conversions, #3 GA4 imports and duplicates, #9 Search terms cadence, #10 negative keyword system, #18 budgets vs priorities, #20 spend spike monitoring, #21 landing page relevance, #23 conversion-path friction.

Every month: #5 campaign “one job” check, #6 locations and exclusions, #7 ad schedule, #11 match type intent, #13 RSA coverage, #14 assets (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets), #17 bidding strategy fit, #19 traffic quality caps (device, location, audience).

Every quarter: #2 Enhanced Conversions, #4 conversion value economics, #8 brand vs non-brand separation, #16 compliance and brand safety, #22 mobile speed and Core Web Vitals basics, #24 attribution settings, #25 reporting narrative.

Automation helps most on the weekly items. A tool like Roger can monitor spikes, flag new wasteful queries, and draft negatives or bid edits for approval, so you keep the “Pass/Fail then ship” discipline without living in the UI.

How Roger Automates These Audit Checks Without Risky Auto-Changes

Weekly audits fail for one reason: nobody has time to check the same screens every week across every account. Roger automates the checks that catch waste and tracking drift, but it avoids the scary part of automation: Roger drafts changes and asks for approval. It connects with read-only access by default, you can revoke access in one click, and it runs with GDPR-aligned EU data residency and CASA Tier-2 audited security.

What Roger Automates From the 25-Question Scorecard

Roger focuses on repeatable, high-impact checks where speed matters more than creativity.

• Wasted spend detection: Roger scans the Search terms report for irrelevant intent (jobs, free, support, research), flags spend with low or zero conversion contribution, and groups findings into themes you can turn into shared negative lists.
• Negative keyword drafts: Roger proposes campaign-level or shared-list negatives, with the exact match type and a short rationale. You approve, edit, or reject before anything changes.
• Bid and budget drafts: Roger flags campaigns that starve winners or overspend on weak segments. It drafts budget moves, device or location bid adjustments, and guardrail suggestions (for example, limiting exposure where CPA is consistently unprofitable).
• Monitoring routines: Roger watches for spend spikes, conversion drops, and tracking anomalies that your weekly cadence misses. You can run these checks daily without living in Google Ads.
• Client-ready reporting: Roger turns the audit into a narrative report that includes what changed, why it changed, and what you plan next. That maps directly to the “Pass/Fail then ship” workflow.

The approval-only workflow matters most for agencies and in-house teams with change control. You keep human judgment on brand, compliance, and account strategy, while Roger handles the repetitive detection and drafting work.

Conclusion: Your Next 3 Fixes After the Audit

Approval-only changes keep you safe, but momentum comes from shipping the right fixes in the right order. After you mark Pass or Fail, pick three actions and execute them this week.

1. Fix tracking first (so bidding stops learning the wrong lesson). Open Google Ads conversion actions and confirm one primary goal matches how you make money. If you use GA4, remove duplicate conversions so a single event does not count twice. Validate the full path with Google Tag Manager Preview and GA4 DebugView, then run one real test conversion and confirm it appears in Google Ads with the correct value.
2. Stop waste second (so you buy fewer “accidental” clicks). Pull the Search terms report for the last 7 to 14 days on your highest spend campaigns. Add negatives for irrelevant intent themes (jobs, free, support, research) and for obvious mismatches you never want to pay for. If Performance Max drives low-quality traffic, tighten it with better audience signals, cleaner asset groups, and stronger landing page mapping, then watch the search term insights you do get.
3. Scale third (so extra budget goes to proven demand). Move budget to the campaign with the best marginal return, not the one with the loudest spend. Keep bidding targets stable for 1 to 2 weeks after a major tracking or negative keyword change, then test one controlled change: a higher budget cap, a new RSA variant tied to a single intent, or a new landing page for your top ad group.

If you want this to run like a routine instead of a one-off cleanup, set a weekly calendar block for search terms and spend spikes, and a monthly block for structure, ads, and landing pages. Roger can monitor the weekly items continuously, draft negatives or bid edits, and hand you an approval queue plus a client-ready report, while you keep final control over strategy and compliance.

Open your account right now and choose the first fix you can ship in 15 minutes. The fastest wins usually come from one clean conversion goal and one ruthless negative keyword pass.