Google Ads audit

What a Google Ads audit is for

A Google Ads audit answers one question: does this account spend money in a way that makes sense for the business? Most accounts I review aren't disasters. They're slightly off in a dozen places, and together those small issues send a big share of the budget to searches, places or people that will never become customers.

I audit for three kinds of owners: those running ads themselves who suspect they're missing something, those whose agency reports look great while the phone stays quiet, and those about to hire someone who want a clean starting point. The outcome is the same in all three cases: a list of fixes ranked by the money at stake. If you'd like to try a first pass on your own, my article on a DIY Google Ads account audit covers the basics.

Tracking comes first

Nearly every audit starts, and often ends, with conversion tracking. If Google counts a contact page visit, a duplicate form submission or a three-second call as a lead, the reported cost per lead is fiction and automated bidding chases the wrong goal. I compare conversions in Google Ads with real inquiries in your inbox, call log or CRM. If they don't line up, that's fix number one. When tracking needs rebuilding, a GA4 and Tag Manager setup is the clean way to do it.

For healthcare advertisers I also flag a US-specific risk: tracking pixels on patient-facing pages can raise HIPAA issues. I point out where tags fire; the compliance call belongs to you and your advisor.

Settings that quietly drain money

Some of the most expensive problems hide in settings nobody revisits after launch:

• Location set to people “interested in” your area instead of physically in it.
• Search partners and Display turned on inside a Search campaign.
• Auto-applied recommendations adding broad keywords or rewriting ads.
• Ad schedule running at hours when nobody answers.
• Geography mismatches, like ads showing in states you don't serve.

Each one takes minutes to fix once you know it's there.

Keywords and search terms

I read through the search terms that actually triggered your ads over the past few months. That's where waste becomes visible: job seekers, DIY questions, competitor names, products you don't carry, cities you don't cover. I also look for missing keywords you should be bidding on and for overlap between campaigns that makes you bid against yourself.

The landing page and the follow-up

An ad can only promise what the landing page delivers. I check how the page loads on a phone, whether it repeats the ad's message, whether the phone number is tappable and the form short. Then I look at what happens to leads: how fast someone replies and whether missed calls get a callback. Slow follow-up is one of the most common reasons good campaigns look bad; my article on speed to lead explains why minutes matter.

What you receive

A written list of findings, each with what's wrong, why it matters, roughly how much budget it touches and how to fix it. Then a Zoom walkthrough where I explain everything in plain language and answer your questions. You can apply the fixes yourself, pass them to your current specialist or hand the account to me for monthly management.

Pricing and next steps

The first look is a free 30-minute call with your account on screen, and it often surfaces the biggest problems right away. A full account audit is billed at my consultation rate of $65 an hour, with the estimated hours agreed before I start. If you want every channel reviewed, the marketing audit and strategy covers ads, website, SEO and more for $1,900. I don't rebuild other people's websites, but rescuing ad campaigns is a regular part of my work. For the wider picture of what I do in Google, see the Google Ads services page.