A Google Ads audit is a structured review of an account that checks conversion tracking, campaign settings, search terms, keywords, bids and budgets, ads and landing pages in a fixed order, so you can see where money is being spent without producing enquiries. The order matters more than the length of the checklist: tracking comes first because every other number depends on it, and wasted clicks come second because they are the cheapest problem to fix. A first pass on a small account is realistic to do yourself, and a growing or confusing account is easier to hand to a specialist. 2Marketing runs a free audit as the first step of its Google Ads management service, and the checklist below follows the same logic so you can run your own review before anyone else touches the account.
Google Ads audit at a glance
- Search interest in Canada: about 40 searches a month for “google ads audit” (DataForSEO estimate, national figure, 12 month range 10 to 90, informational intent with commercial overlap)
- Advertiser cost signal: DataForSEO lists an average cost per click of USD 18.39 for advertisers bidding on the phrase, which says agencies and tool vendors compete for it, and says nothing about what an audit costs you
- Quality Score: runs from 1 to 10 per keyword, and Google calls it a diagnostic tool that is “not a key performance indicator” and not an input in the ad auction
- Optimization score: an estimate from 0 to 100% of how well an account is set up to perform, and Google presents its recommendations as optional suggestions
- Negative keywords: Google states they do not match close variants, so singular, plural and synonym forms must be added by hand
- Location targeting: Presence or interest is Google’s default and recommended option, and presence only is the stricter setting
Audit terms in one line each
- Search terms report: the list of actual searches that triggered your ads, which can differ widely from your keyword list
- Negative keyword: a term you add so your ads stop showing for searches that contain it
- Conversion action: an event you have told Google Ads to count, such as a form submission or a qualifying phone call
- Impression share: the percentage of impressions your ads received out of the impressions they were eligible to receive
- Match type: the setting that controls how closely a search must relate to a keyword before your ad can show
- Landing page: the page a visitor reaches after clicking, which is where the click either becomes an enquiry or does not
Everything here is general guidance drawn from Google’s own help pages and from practitioner checklists, and none of it is a forecast of what your account will save or earn. Accounts differ by industry, city, budget, campaign type and how they were built, so the same finding can be urgent in one account and irrelevant in another. A figure labelled hypothetical in this article is an illustration with its assumptions shown, and nothing in it is an observed result. Platform features and menu names also change, so confirm current wording in your own account and in Google’s documentation before you act.
Key takeaways
- Audit in this order: tracking, settings, search terms, keywords and negatives, bids and budget, ads, landing pages, then reporting. Fixing later layers on top of broken tracking only adds noise.
- The search terms report is the quickest source of evidence. It shows what people searched, and Google omits terms below its privacy thresholds, so it never shows everything.
- Negative keywords do not match close variants. A blocked word can still let its plural or a related phrase through, so review the list as a set of exact decisions.
- Quality Score and optimization score are guides. Google describes the first as a diagnostic and the second as an estimate, and neither replaces cost per lead or cost per customer.
- Check location settings against where you actually serve customers. Presence or interest can reach people who merely searched about an area.
- Rank findings by money at stake and effort to fix. A small number of high-impact fixes can beat a long list of cosmetic tweaks.
- A good audit ends with a written action list, an owner for each item and a date to measure the result, and it makes no promise about future leads or return.
What is a Google Ads audit, and when do you need one?
A Google Ads audit is a review of how an account is built and what it is doing, from the way conversions are counted through to what happens after a click. Siteimprove describes it as taking a close look at existing campaigns and ads to judge their performance, and TNT Growth frames it as inspecting tracking, bidding, keywords, structure, creative and account controls before changing spend. The common thread is evidence first: you read what the account is doing before you decide what to change.
You do not need to wait for a crisis. Reasonable moments to audit include taking over an account from a previous agency or employee, a sudden rise in cost per lead, leads that look fine in the account but do not turn into customers, a campaign that has run untouched for months, a change to your services or service area, and the point where monthly spend has grown enough that small percentages are worth real money. If someone else manages your ads, an audit is also the simplest way to understand what you are paying for.
Auditing is also different from optimizing. An audit produces a list of findings with evidence, and optimization is the work of acting on them. Keeping the two apart stops you changing bids in the middle of reading the data, which makes the before and after picture hard to interpret. The same separation applies when a team runs ads for you. 2Marketing’s page lists audit as the first of five steps (audit, set up, launch, optimize, report) and describes the audit deliverables as an account audit, a tracking check and a wasted spend report.
In what order should you audit a Google Ads account?
Start with measurement, then work outward to settings and traffic quality, then bids, ads and landing pages, and finish by deciding what to report. This order puts the question “can I trust the numbers?” ahead of “what do the numbers say?”, and it follows the order most published checklists use. TNT Growth’s own checklist ends with a similar priority sequence: measurement first, then wrong traffic and broken destinations, then account controls, budget and target constraints, structure and tests, and documentation last.
| Step | Area | Main question | Typical red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conversion tracking | Are real enquiries counted once, and only real ones? | Page views or clicks counted as conversions, duplicate form counts, no call tracking |
| 2 | Account and campaign settings | Do locations, languages, schedules and networks match how you serve customers? | Targeting an area you do not serve, ads running when nobody answers the phone |
| 3 | Search terms | What did people actually search before clicking? | Informational, job-seeker or competitor searches taking a large share of spend |
| 4 | Keywords and negatives | Do keyword and match type choices match intent, and are negatives sensible? | Broad keywords with no negative list, negatives that block good traffic |
| 5 | Bids and budget | Are targets and budgets helping or limiting good campaigns? | Strong campaigns capped by budget while weak ones spend freely |
| 6 | Ads and assets | Does the message match the search and the offer? | Generic ads, outdated offers, unused extensions or assets |
| 7 | Landing pages | Does the page finish what the ad started? | Slow or confusing pages, no clear call to action, no tracking on the form |
| 8 | Recommendations and controls | Which suggestions and automated changes are active, and who approved them? | Auto-applied changes nobody reviewed, unclear account ownership |
| 9 | Reporting and decisions | Does the report connect spend to leads and customers? | Reports that stop at clicks and impressions |
Plan to work in a copy of your account notes, not in the account itself. Export or screenshot the date range you reviewed, write what you found, and note the money involved. That record is what lets you compare the account before and after changes, and it is also what makes a later conversation with an agency specific instead of general.
How do you audit conversion tracking in Google Ads?
Check that every conversion action in the account represents a real business event, that each event is counted the way you intend, and that the totals roughly match the enquiries your team actually received. Google’s Google Ads Help page on conversion measurement describes conversions as the actions you define as valuable and notes that data can come from several sources, so the first audit task is to list which sources your account uses.
A mismatch between account conversions and real enquiries is the first thing to look for, and the fix depends on which direction it runs. If the account reports far more conversions than your inbox or phone log shows, look for actions that count harmless events such as page views, button clicks or a thank-you page that loads on refresh. If it reports far fewer, look for missing tags, forms that do not trigger an event, or calls that are not tracked. Our full guide to Google Ads conversion tracking walks through setup, testing and troubleshooting step by step, and it is the right companion for this stage of the audit.
| Check | What to look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion list | Which actions exist, which are primary, which are secondary | Smart bidding and reported results depend on the actions treated as primary |
| Counting setting | One conversion per click for lead actions, every conversion for purchases (TNT Growth recommends “One” where repeat submissions should not count separately) | Inflated counts make cost per lead look better than it is |
| Phone calls | Whether calls from ads are tracked and whether a minimum call length applies | Some local businesses win customers by phone, and 2Marketing’s page says calls lasting long enough to be real enquiries are counted as conversions |
| Value | Whether values are set for conversions that have a known worth | Value rules let you judge campaigns by revenue instead of volume |
| Match to real enquiries | Compare a month of account conversions with form submissions, calls and booked jobs | The comparison exposes both over-counting and gaps |
| Conversion window | Whether the window fits your sales cycle (TNT Growth suggests matching it to the actual research and sales cycle) | A window that is too short hides late conversions |
If tracking is badly broken, treat everything else in the audit as provisional. You can still review search terms and settings, because those rest on what people searched and how the account is configured, but any conclusion about which campaign or keyword produces leads waits until the counts can be trusted.
Which account and campaign settings should you check?
Review location, language, schedule, budget type and bidding objective against how your business really operates. Settings are where small mismatches quietly cost money, because they apply to every click in a campaign.
Location targeting
Google’s Google Ads Help page on location targeting options says presence or interest is the default and recommended option, and that it reaches people in or regularly in the targeted location as well as people who have shown interest in it. The same page describes presence as the option that limits ads to people likely to be located in the area, and says most campaigns notice a decrease in impressions when switching away from the default. For a service business with a strict service area, that trade-off is worth a deliberate decision. If you only travel to certain neighbourhoods, check the setting, check the location report to see where clicks came from, and decide whether interest-based reach helps or wastes budget.
Schedule, devices and networks
Look at when clicks arrive against when someone can answer. A plumber whose phone goes to voicemail overnight may prefer to show ads when staff are available, and a retailer may care more about the hours the checkout is open. Device reports matter for the same reason: if mobile clicks rarely convert because the form is hard to use on a phone, that is a landing page finding, not necessarily a targeting one. Review the network settings in each campaign as well, and compare performance by network where Google reports it before deciding anything.
Budget and bidding objective
Check that each campaign has a single clear goal that matches a conversion action you trust. A campaign optimizing for a weak action, such as page views, will deliver cheap volume that does not help the business. Also look at budget distribution: a campaign that regularly runs out of budget while another spends without producing enquiries is a reallocation candidate, though the decision belongs after you have reviewed the evidence on both.
| Setting | Question to ask | Possible finding |
|---|---|---|
| Locations | Does targeting match where we serve customers and where we do not? | Radius or regions that include areas outside the service area |
| Location option | Presence or interest, or presence only, and is that a deliberate choice? | Default left on for a business that only serves a narrow area |
| Language | Do ad language and landing page language agree? | Ads in one language sending clicks to pages in another |
| Schedule | Do ad hours match staffed hours and booking behaviour? | Spend overnight with no call handling |
| Devices | Do device results reflect page quality or genuine intent differences? | Mobile traffic with no usable mobile form |
| Budget | Are the best campaigns limited by budget? | Budget spread evenly across strong and weak campaigns |
| Bidding objective | Is the objective tied to a trusted conversion action? | Optimizing for a low-value or duplicate action |
How do you audit the search terms report?
Open the search terms report for a meaningful date range, sort by cost, and read the searches behind the money you spent. The Google Ads Help page on the search terms report says the report lists search terms used by a significant number of people that triggered impressions and clicks, and it adds that terms without enough query activity are omitted to meet data privacy standards. That caveat matters in an audit: the report is strong evidence, but it is a partial list, so the absence of a bad term does not prove none were served.
Read the report in three passes. In the first pass, mark searches that show clear wrong intent, such as people looking for jobs, free software, instructions to do the work themselves, products you do not sell, or a different city. In the second, mark searches that are plausible but unproven, where you would want to see conversion data before deciding. In the third, mark searches that already produce enquiries and are not yet covered by an exact keyword, because those are growth candidates. The first group becomes negative keywords, the second group is watched, and the third group becomes new or tighter keywords.
| Category | How to recognise it | Typical action | Evidence needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wrong intent | Job seekers, free resources, wrong service, wrong place | Add as a negative keyword | A single clear example can be enough when intent is unambiguous |
| Plausible, unproven | Relevant wording with clicks but no conversions yet | Watch, or move to a tighter match type | Enough clicks to judge, and a working tracking setup |
| Proven | Searches that produce real enquiries | Add as keywords, write matching ads, check the landing page | Conversions that you have matched to real enquiries |
| Competitor or brand | Searches containing a competitor name or your own brand | Decide deliberately, and keep brand reporting separate | Clear separation of brand and non-brand results |
TNT Growth advises against adding a negative keyword after a single expensive click unless the intent is clearly wrong, which is sensible practitioner advice: one click is a sample of one, and a blocked term cannot show you what you would have learned from it. Use judgment on volume. A term that cost money across many clicks with no enquiry is a stronger case than one click that happened to be costly.
The report also helps with more than waste. Google notes that it can suggest ideas for ad creative and landing page content, and the language people use is a useful source of headings and ad text that match what they typed. When you find a recurring phrase that converts, use it in the ad and on the page.
How do you audit keywords, match types and negative keywords?
Check that each keyword group has a clear intent, that match types suit that intent, and that the negative keyword list blocks waste without blocking good traffic. The Google Ads Help page on negative keywords sets out the rules you need to audit against, and they are stricter than many owners expect.
| Negative match type | What it blocks (Google’s rule) | Example from Google’s page | Audit point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad (default) | Blocks if the search contains all the negative terms, in any order | “running shoes” blocks “blue running shoes” but not “running shoe” | Add singular and plural forms yourself |
| Phrase | Blocks only when the terms appear in the same order | “running shoes” blocks “blue running shoes” but not “shoes running” | Use for multi-word phrases where order matters |
| Exact | Blocks only the exact terms with no extra words | “running shoes” does not block “blue running shoes” | Use sparingly, for one specific search |
Google also states that negative keywords do not match close variants or other expansions, and that casing and misspellings are handled automatically while synonyms and plurals are not. It cautions that choosing negatives carefully matters because too many can reduce reach. In an audit that means two checks. First, look for obvious gaps, such as a negative for “free” with no matching negative for a related phrase people also use. Second, look for over-blocking, where an old negative now stops a service you have since added. An old negative list can contain entries nobody remembers adding, so read it line by line.
Account-level negative lists, which Google says apply to all eligible search and shopping inventory in relevant campaign types, are worth checking separately from campaign-level lists. A shared list can quietly apply an exclusion to a campaign it was never meant to affect. Where several people have managed the account over time, compare the lists across campaigns for conflicts.
For keywords themselves, ask whether the account relies on broad match with no controls, whether keyword groups mix very different intents under one ad group, and whether any keyword has produced a large share of spend with no enquiries. Resist judging keywords on Quality Score alone, which the next section explains.
What should you do with Quality Score and optimization score?
Treat both as prompts to look closer. Neither is a target. The Google Ads Help page on Quality Score says Quality Score runs from 1 to 10 at keyword level and combines expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience, each rated above average, average or below average against advertisers whose ads showed for the same search over the last 90 days. Google describes it as a diagnostic tool, says it is not a key performance indicator that should be optimized or aggregated with the rest of your data, and states that it is not an input in the ad auction.
Optimization score works differently. The Google Ads Help page on optimization score and recommendations calls it an estimate of how well an account is set to perform, on a scale of 0 to 100%, and each recommendation shows an estimated score impact. Google presents recommendations as optional, and a dismissed recommendation can reappear later if it becomes relevant. A high score means an account has applied many suggestions, and a low score means it has not, but neither tells you whether the account is profitable. Some suggestions, such as increasing a budget, may be right for Google’s goals and wrong for yours.
| Metric | What Google says it is | How to use it in an audit | How not to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Score | A 1 to 10 diagnostic per keyword, based on expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience | Find keywords where one component is below average, then fix the ad or page | As a goal, or averaged across the account |
| Optimization score | A 0 to 100% estimate of how well an account is set to perform | Read each recommendation and decide on its merits | As a pass mark that overrides your own cost per lead data |
| Impression share | The percentage of impressions your ads receive out of those they were eligible to receive | Spot good campaigns that miss eligible impressions | As a reason to raise budget before checking conversion quality |
| Ad strength | A Google indicator of how an ad is built | Treat as one input among many | As proof of results, since TNT Growth reports in its own analysis of 3,900 ads across 65 accounts that it found essentially no relationship between ad strength and cost per acquisition (self-reported, not independently verified) |
How do you review recommendations and auto-applied changes?
Open the Recommendations page and the history of applied changes, and decide which automated actions are active and who approved them. The Google Ads Help page on auto-applied recommendations explains that when you turn on automatically apply recommendations, the selected recommendations apply regularly, that the feature works at account level, that you can turn it on or off at any time, and that it will not increase your budget. A History tab summarizes recently applied recommendations, and Change History shows individual changes.
An audit should find out whether automation is on, which types are enabled, and whether anyone reviewed what it did. Some automated changes may suit your goals and others may not, and the point is not to switch everything off, only to make sure the choice was deliberate. Compare the change history against performance dates. If cost per lead moved shortly after a batch of automatic changes, that is worth a closer look, although a coincidence in timing is only a lead and not proof of cause.
Account access belongs in the same review. Confirm who has administrator access, that the account is owned by your business, and that no hidden accounts exist under a third party’s name. 2Marketing’s Google Ads page states that clients keep full ownership of the account, its history and its data, with admin access at all times, and the same standard is reasonable to ask of any provider.
How do you audit bids, budgets and impression share?
Compare what each campaign spends with what it produces, then check whether budget or ranking is the limit on the campaigns that do produce. Google’s Google Ads Help page on impression share defines impression share as the percentage of impressions your ads receive out of the total eligible impressions, notes that eligibility is estimated from factors such as targeting, approval status and quality, and observes that because it relies on estimates, small fluctuations do not necessarily call for action.
Google Ads also reports lost impression share separately for budget and for rank, which point to different fixes. A campaign losing share to budget has demand it cannot afford to serve at the current daily limit. A campaign losing share to rank is being outranked, which can point to ad quality, relevance, landing page experience or bids. TNT Growth suggests looking at 90 day views for lost share to rank and cost per acquisition, which is a reasonable way to avoid reacting to a noisy week.
| What you see | Likely reading | Check before acting | Possible action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good cost per lead, limited by budget | Demand exists that the budget cannot serve | That lead quality holds at higher volume | Test a budget increase in steps |
| Poor cost per lead, limited by budget | Money is concentrated on a weak performer | Tracking, search terms and landing page | Fix the cause before adding money, or reduce the budget |
| Low share lost to rank | Ads rank below competitors on eligible searches | Ad relevance, landing page and bids | Improve relevance first, adjust bids second |
| High share, rising cost per lead | Competition or intent drift | Search terms and auction changes in the period | Tighten keywords, add negatives, refresh ads |
| Spend spread evenly | Budget set by habit instead of results | Which campaigns generate enquiries | Move budget to proven campaigns gradually |
Bid strategies deserve the same plain questions. Which action is the strategy optimizing for? Is there enough conversion data for the strategy to learn from? Was the strategy changed recently, and does the change date line up with a change in results? A bid strategy cannot be judged properly if the conversion action behind it is unreliable, which is one more reason tracking comes first.
How do you audit ads and assets?
Read the ads as a customer would, then compare each ad with the search that triggered it and the page it leads to. An ad is doing its job when the searcher sees their own words reflected, a clear reason to click and an offer that the landing page then confirms. Message match, as TNT Growth calls it, is a simple test: if the ad promises same-day service and the page never mentions it, expect disappointment and lost clicks.
- Check that each ad group has current ads, and that offers, hours, prices and service areas in the text are still true.
- Look for ads that repeat the same headline idea so the account has no real variety to test.
- Confirm that call, location and other extensions or assets are present where they apply to your business.
- Check policy status and disapprovals, because a quietly disapproved ad cuts reach without any visible alarm.
- Compare ads that show for brand searches with those for service searches, since each needs a different message.
Small samples can mislead. Ad variants need enough impressions and clicks to compare, and a difference between two ads after a handful of clicks may be noise. Write down what you intend to test, how long you will run it and how you will decide, so the audit leads to a test plan and not a pile of unrelated edits.
How do you audit landing pages and the enquiry path?
Follow the path a customer takes from the click to the moment someone replies, and note every point where the visitor could stop. Some problems that look like campaign problems are page problems. Siteimprove’s audit overview lists landing pages among the review areas and says they should match the promise of the ad, load quickly, work on any device and carry clear calls to action. Those four checks are a sound starting point, and you can run them by loading your own ads on a phone.
| Check | Method | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Message match | Read the ad, click it, read the page | The page repeats the ad’s main promise within the first screen |
| Mobile experience | Open the page on a phone using mobile data | The form or phone button is easy to use without zooming |
| Call to action | Find the first way to enquire | One clear action, visible without scrolling |
| Form tracking | Submit a test enquiry and check it appears as a conversion | The test shows up in tracking and in your inbox |
| Response speed | Time how long it takes your team to reply to a test | Someone replies within the window the customer expects |
| Trust signals | Look for real reviews, credentials and contact details | Evidence a stranger can check, with nothing invented |
If landing pages are the weakest link, the fixes are design and copy work, which sit outside the ad account. 2Marketing offers conversion rate optimization for that stage, and its Google Ads page lists landing page recommendations and tests for ad traffic as part of the service. For a business that needs a stronger page to receive ad traffic, web design may be the right next step. Reviews on a landing page are also a trust factor, and our guide to getting more Google reviews covers how to collect and reply to them within Google’s rules.
The phone and the inbox are part of the path. A fast, well-tracked page still loses the lead if the phone goes unanswered or the form email lands in a spam folder. Run a real test: submit your own form, call your own tracking number, and see how long the response takes. A ten minute test like that can show you more than an hour inside the account.
How do you audit Performance Max and other campaign types?
Review each campaign type against its own purpose, and keep reporting separate so one type does not hide the results of another. 2Marketing’s page describes Performance Max as running across Search, Maps, YouTube and Display, guided by conversion data. Because one campaign reaches several surfaces, the audit should ask what reporting is available for it, which conversion data feeds it, and whether results are compared fairly with standard Search campaigns.
- Search campaigns: apply the full search terms, keyword and negative review described above.
- Performance Max: check which conversion actions guide it, which assets it uses, and what each surface contributes where the account shows that detail.
- Local and call-focused campaigns: confirm call tracking, business hours and location settings match reality.
- Remarketing: check list sizes, how long visitors stay on lists and whether existing customers are being shown acquisition offers.
- Brand campaigns: report brand and non-brand results separately, because brand searches can come from people who already know you.
Local Services Ads follow different rules from standard Search campaigns, including eligibility and verification, and are covered in our guide to Google Local Services Ads in Canada. If you run both, audit them separately and compare cost per lead on the same definition of a lead.
How should you prioritize what you find?
Rank each finding by the money it affects and the effort it takes to fix, then act on high-impact, low-effort items first. A scoring system that is too elaborate will not get used, so a simple grid is enough.
| Priority | Money at stake | Effort | Examples | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (fix now) | High | Low | Broken or duplicate conversion tracking, obvious wrong-intent searches, a location setting that reaches outside the service area | Start immediately |
| 2 (plan this month) | High | Medium | Reallocating budget, tightening broad keywords, rewriting ads that do not match the page | Schedule with an owner |
| 3 (test) | Medium | Medium | New ad variants, bid strategy changes, landing page tests | Run as a measured test |
| 4 (document) | Low | Low | Naming conventions, notes on past changes, report layout | When time allows |
Fix measurement before spend, and fix wrong traffic before bids. TNT Growth’s suggested sequence puts measurement first, wrong traffic and broken destinations second, account controls and budget constraints third, structure and tests fourth and documentation last, which matches the logic of this table. Every later change is judged by the numbers, so the numbers need to be right first.
Also decide what you will not do. Some findings are real but small, and some are interesting but not worth the time at your spend level. Writing a short list of deferred items stops them returning as new surprises at the next audit.
What does a Google Ads audit finding look like in numbers?
The example below is hypothetical. It uses assumed figures to show how to turn findings into money at stake, and it is not a benchmark, a result from a client or a prediction of what an audit will find in your account. Currency is Canadian dollars (CAD), and the amounts are ad spend paid to Google, not agency fees.
| Assumption or finding | Assumed value | How it was calculated |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly ad spend | CAD 3,000 | Assumed |
| Spend on clearly wrong-intent searches | 18%, or CAD 540 | Assumed share found in the search terms report |
| Spend on clicks from outside the service area | 7%, or CAD 210 | Assumed share found in the location report |
| Candidate waste to review | CAD 750, or 25% | CAD 540 plus CAD 210 |
| Assumed cost per lead on well-targeted traffic | CAD 60 | Assumed |
| Leads the same CAD 750 might fund if efficiency held | About 12 | CAD 750 divided by CAD 60 |
Two cautions apply to this example. First, candidate waste is money to review, not money saved, because some of those clicks may have produced enquiries once tracking is checked. Second, moving money to well-targeted traffic does not guarantee the same cost per lead at higher volume, since efficiency can change as spend grows. Reuse the structure and replace the numbers with your own: for each finding, write the share of spend it touches, the cause, the fix and how you will measure the change.
Should you audit your own account or hire someone?
You can run a useful first audit yourself if the account is small, you can read the reports, and you have time to follow the order above. Hiring a specialist makes more sense when the account is large, when results are unclear after your own review, when several people have changed it over the years, or when you simply do not have the hours. The choice is not permanent: you can do a first pass and then ask a specialist to review your findings.
| Option | Strengths | Limits | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | No fee, and you learn how the account works | Slower, easier to miss technical issues, risk of changing too much at once | Small accounts with a patient owner |
| Audit tool or script | Fast checks for common issues | Cannot judge business context or lead quality | A first sweep before a manual review |
| Freelancer or consultant | Focused review, flexible scope | Scope, depth and follow-through vary by person | A defined review with clear deliverables |
| Agency audit | Wider team, includes tracking, pages and strategy | Quality varies, so check what is in the scope | Larger or more complex accounts |
| Free agency audit | Low-pressure way to see findings | May come with a sales conversation, so compare scope | Owners deciding whether to outsource |
This research did not find a reliable published Canadian price range for paid Google Ads audits, and search demand for audit cost terms is only about 10 searches a month in Canada according to DataForSEO, so any specific price quoted in an article should be treated with caution. If you are quoted a fee, ask what it covers, whether implementation is included, what currency it is in and whether the audit fee is credited against later work.
What a good audit deliverable contains
- Findings listed with evidence such as screenshots, date ranges and figures.
- The estimated money affected by each finding, with the assumptions shown.
- A priority order, an owner for each item and a proposed measurement date.
- A clear statement of what is not covered, such as landing page redesign or call handling.
- No promise of rankings, lead volume or return on ad spend.
What 2Marketing offers
2Marketing’s Google Ads page describes a free Google Ads audit in which a specialist reviews your account, tracking and landing pages and shows where budget is being wasted. The page says management is a separate monthly fee on top of ad spend, which is paid directly to Google, that the fee is a fixed quote sent after the free audit, that terms are month to month, and that existing accounts are audited first so that what already works is kept. The page does not publish prices, so ask for a written quote that states currency and scope. You can request a free Google Ads audit or book a free 30 minute call. If you are still choosing between providers, our guide to choosing a PPC agency lists the questions to ask, and the PPC agency page for Toronto describes the wider service.
How often should you audit a Google Ads account?
Run a full audit at least when something significant changes, and a lighter check on a regular schedule. TNT Growth suggests at least quarterly, with weekly checks for high-spend accounts, which is practitioner opinion and not a Google rule, but it is a workable starting point. The right rhythm depends on spend, how fast your market changes and how much attention the account gets between audits.
| Cadence | What to review | Time to allow |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly (higher spend) | Spend pacing, search terms, disapprovals, conversion counts | Short check |
| Monthly | Search terms, budget against results, report to decision-makers | A focused review |
| Quarterly | Full audit across all nine areas, settings, negatives, landing pages | A planned session |
| After a change | Anything touched: new service, new area, new site, new tracking | As needed, before and after comparison |
Reporting is where an audit turns into a habit. A useful monthly report connects spend to enquiries and customers instead of stopping at clicks, and our guide to what a useful monthly report should include applies the same thinking to search performance. For tracking and dashboards across channels, 2Marketing’s marketing analytics service covers GA4, call tracking and reporting.
What mistakes should you avoid during an audit?
- Changing things while you are still reading. Finish the review, write the findings, then act in a planned order.
- Trusting conversion counts without matching them to real enquiries.
- Adding negatives after a single click without checking the intent behind it.
- Optimizing toward Quality Score or optimization score as if they were business goals.
- Raising budgets before checking whether the extra clicks are the right clicks.
- Comparing two ads or two bid strategies after too little data.
- Ignoring the landing page and the phone, which sit outside the account but decide the outcome.
- Hiring on a promise of guaranteed leads, first-page placement or a fixed return, since no one controls the auction.
Paid search is also only one channel. If your service area is small and you rank well locally, strong organic and map results may reduce how much you need to buy in ads, and the balance between the two is covered in our guide to Google Ads costs in Toronto and our comparison of Google Ads and Facebook Ads for a local business budget. For the underlying idea of paid search, what paid search is and why businesses use it is a good primer, and local SEO is the organic counterpart. If you are also weighing social ads, see what Facebook ads cost in Canada.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Google Ads audit?
A Google Ads audit is a structured review of an account that checks conversion tracking, settings, search terms, keywords, bids, budgets, ads and landing pages to find wasted spend and missed opportunities. It produces a list of findings with evidence and a priority order, and optimization is the separate work of acting on them.
How do you audit a Google Ads account step by step?
Start with conversion tracking, then review account settings, the search terms report, keywords and negative keywords, bids and budgets, ads, landing pages, recommendations and reporting. This order puts trustworthy measurement before any decision that depends on it.
What should be on a Google Ads audit checklist?
At minimum: conversion actions and counting, location and schedule settings, search terms with cost, match types and negatives, budget and impression share, ad relevance, landing page message match and mobile experience, automated recommendations and account access. The table in this article lists a typical red flag for each.
How long does a Google Ads audit take?
It depends on account size and complexity, and this research found no reliable published figure. A small account with a handful of campaigns can be reviewed in a focused session, while a large account with several campaign types takes longer. Agree the scope and delivery date in writing before any paid audit starts.
How much does a Google Ads audit cost?
No reliable published Canadian price range was found in this research, and prices vary by provider and scope. Some agencies offer a free audit as a first step. Ask what a fee covers, whether implementation is included, which currency applies and whether it is credited against later work.
Is there a free Google Ads audit?
Yes, some providers offer one. 2Marketing’s Google Ads page describes a free audit where a specialist reviews your account, tracking and landing pages and shows where budget is being wasted. Compare the scope of any free audit with what you need before agreeing to a longer engagement.
How often should I audit my Google Ads account?
Audit fully when something significant changes and review lightly on a schedule. TNT Growth suggests at least quarterly, with weekly checks for high-spend accounts. That is practitioner opinion and not a Google requirement, so adjust it to your spend and how quickly your market moves.
What is the most important thing to check first?
Conversion tracking. If conversions are over-counted, under-counted or tied to the wrong events, every report and every automated bidding decision rests on poor information. Match a month of account conversions against real form submissions, calls and booked jobs before changing anything else.
How do I find wasted spend in Google Ads?
Sort the search terms report by cost and read the searches behind the spend, looking for wrong intent, wrong place and wrong service. Then check the location report and device reports. Google omits low-volume terms from the report for privacy, so the report shows strong evidence but not the full picture.
Do negative keywords match close variants?
No. Google’s help page states that negative keywords do not match close variants or other expansions, so a negative for one word may not block its plural or a related phrase. Casing and misspellings are handled automatically, but you must add synonyms and plural forms yourself.
Should I aim for a high Quality Score?
Use it as a diagnostic and not as a goal. Google describes Quality Score as a 1 to 10 diagnostic per keyword, says it is not a key performance indicator and says it is not an input in the ad auction. Use it to find a below-average component, then judge success by cost per lead or customer.
Should I follow Google’s recommendations and optimization score?
Review them and decide each on its merits. Google describes optimization score as an estimate from 0 to 100% and presents recommendations as optional. Some suggestions may suit your goals and others may not, and a high score does not prove an account is profitable.
What does presence or interest location targeting mean?
It is Google’s default and recommended setting, and it can show ads to people in or regularly in your target area as well as people who have shown interest in it. Presence only limits ads to people likely to be located there. Choose deliberately if you serve a strict area.
How do I audit Performance Max campaigns?
Check which conversion actions guide the campaign, which assets it uses and what reporting your account shows for each surface it reaches. Compare its cost per lead with Search campaigns on the same definition of a lead, and keep reporting separate so one campaign type does not hide the other.
Can an audit guarantee better results?
No. An audit finds issues and ranks them, and results depend on competition, budget, your website, your sales process and the auction. Be cautious about any provider that promises a fixed lead volume, a number-one position or a set return on ad spend.
Who should own the Google Ads account?
Your business should own it, with administrator access for you at all times. 2Marketing’s Google Ads page states that clients keep full ownership of the account, its history and its data, and that there are no hidden accounts in the agency’s name. Ask any provider to confirm the same in writing.
What should I do after the audit?
Turn the findings into an action list with an owner and a date for each item, fix tracking and wrong traffic first, then change budgets, ads and pages in planned steps. Record the date of each change so you can compare results before and after and decide what to do next.
Is a Google Ads audit worth it for a small budget?
It can be, because with a small budget each wasted click is a larger share of spend, and the first fixes, such as tracking and wrong-intent searches, take little effort. The review should be proportionate: a short, focused pass can suit a small account better than a long checklist.
Related reading
- Google Ads conversion tracking: how to set it up, test it and fix it
- How much do Google Ads cost in Toronto?
- Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: which fits a local business budget?
- Google Local Services Ads in Canada: cost, eligibility and setup
- How to choose a PPC agency: questions to ask before you hire
- Google Ads management services
