How to Use This Checklist
This audit is organized into five sections. Each section contains 3 checkpoints with an estimated audit time, red flags to watch for, and a specific fix. Work through each section sequentially, tracking issues invalidate everything else, so always start there.
For a €3,500/month account, a complete manual audit takes 3-4 hours and typically uncovers €600-1,200 in monthly wasted spend. AdPredictor runs this audit automatically every day on your account.
Key Finding
Checking the search terms report across 10 campaigns finds an average of 23% wasted spend, approximately €800/month for a €3,500/month budget. This single check is the highest-ROI audit activity you can do.
Section 1: Tracking & Setup (Points 1-3)
Estimated audit time: 30-45 minutes. Problems here corrupt all downstream data and optimization decisions.
1
Conversion Tracking Accuracy
Check that all conversion actions are firing correctly. Go to Tools → Conversions → inspect each action's "Status" column. Look for "Inactive," "No recent conversions," or "Unverified." Cross-reference conversion counts in Google Ads with your CRM or analytics platform, a 20%+ discrepancy signals a tracking issue.
Red flags: Conversion count significantly higher than actual sales (duplicate tracking), all conversions attributed to last click ignoring assisted paths, conversion actions with zero data in last 30 days.
Fix: Use Google Tag Manager's preview mode to verify tags fire on actual conversion events. Remove duplicate conversion actions. Set the primary conversion action to your most valuable downstream event.
2
Auto-Tagging and Analytics Integration
Verify auto-tagging is enabled (Account Settings → Auto-tagging) and that Google Analytics is linked to Google Ads. Without auto-tagging, clicks from Google Ads appear as "direct" traffic in Analytics, making attribution impossible. Check that GA4 is importing conversions correctly if you use imported goals.
Red flags: High "direct" traffic that spikes during campaign periods, no Google Ads data visible in GA4 acquisition reports, imported conversions showing "No data" status.
Fix: Enable auto-tagging. Re-link Google Analytics. Verify the GA4 property is connected in the account's linked accounts section.
3
Campaign and Ad Scheduling Settings
Review the start and end dates, ad scheduling, and geographic targeting for every active campaign. Time zone mismatches (campaign time zone vs business operating hours), missing end dates on time-limited promotions, and campaigns running in incorrect geographies are common setup errors that persist for months undetected.
Red flags: Campaign running in a time zone different from your target market, promotional campaign still running after sale ended, geographic targeting set to "Presence or interest" instead of "Presence only."
Fix: Audit every campaign's settings tab. Set explicit end dates for promotional campaigns. Switch location targeting to "Presence" mode for local businesses.
Section 2: Campaign Structure (Points 4-6)
Estimated audit time: 45-60 minutes. Poor structure forces the algorithm to serve the wrong ads to the wrong queries, wasting spend and reducing Quality Score.
4
Campaign-to-Ad Group Relevance
Each ad group should contain tightly themed keywords (5-20) all relevant to one specific service or product. Ad groups with 50+ keywords across unrelated themes force Google to serve generic ads that match no query perfectly, resulting in low CTR and Quality Scores.
Red flags: Ad groups with 50+ keywords, ad groups where keywords span multiple product categories, single-keyword ad groups with broad match (SKAG abuse).
Fix: Restructure bloated ad groups into smaller themed clusters. Each ad group should have a single clear topic and 3 RSA ad variations written specifically for that topic.
5
Match Type Strategy Audit
Review the mix of match types across each campaign. Campaigns relying entirely on broad match without Smart Bidding are the biggest source of irrelevant traffic. Campaigns using only exact match may be missing valuable query variants. The optimal mix depends on the account's conversion volume and bidding strategy.
Red flags: All keywords in broad match with manual CPC bidding, no phrase or exact match anchors to capture proven converting queries, no match type testing over the past 90 days.
Fix: Use exact match for your proven best-converting keywords. Add phrase match for moderate-volume opportunities. Reserve broad match for discovery campaigns with Smart Bidding.
6
Budget Distribution Logic
Sort all campaigns by ROAS (or CPA). Compare which campaigns are budget-limited vs rank-limited using the Impression Share columns. Budget should flow to campaigns with the highest returns that are constrained by budget, not to campaigns that are constrained by bid competitiveness.
Red flags: High-ROAS campaigns with >30% IS lost due to budget, low-ROAS campaigns with uncapped budgets, shared budgets mixing campaigns with very different ROAS profiles.
Fix: Increase budgets on high-ROAS budget-limited campaigns. Reduce or cap budgets on low-ROAS campaigns. Break shared budgets into individual campaign budgets for more control.
Section 3: Keywords & Search Terms (Points 7-9)
Estimated audit time: 60-90 minutes, the most time-consuming section and also the highest-return. The search terms report alone typically finds 20-30% wasted spend.
7
Search Terms Report (Last 90 Days)
Download the full search terms report for all campaigns over the past 90 days. Filter by cost descending. Identify every query with significant spend but zero conversions. These are your immediate negative keyword candidates. Also look for high-converting queries not yet added as exact match keywords.
Red flags: Queries containing "free," "how to," "DIY," "jobs," or competitor names with zero conversions, queries spending 10% of the campaign's daily budget with zero conversions, broad match keywords triggering for completely unrelated queries.
Fix: Add all non-converting, high-cost queries as exact match negatives. Add high-converting queries as exact match keywords. Repeat this process monthly at minimum.
8
Quality Score Distribution
Download your keyword report with Quality Score, Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience columns. Any keyword with QS ≤ 5 and significant spend is costing you a CPC premium. Calculate the approximate overspend: QS 4 keywords pay ~2.5× more than QS 10 keywords for the same position.
Red flags: More than 20% of spend going to keywords with QS ≤ 5, keywords with "Below average" landing page experience (the easiest to fix), low Expected CTR on exact match keywords.
Fix: For "Below average" landing page, create dedicated landing pages matching the keyword's intent. For "Below average" ad relevance, rewrite ad copy to include the keyword. For "Below average" CTR, test new headlines with stronger value propositions.
9
Negative Keyword Coverage
Review your negative keyword lists at the campaign and account level. Check if themed negative lists exist (informational queries, competitor names, job seekers, free-product seekers). Verify negative keywords are applied at the correct level, campaign vs ad group vs shared list.
Red flags: No account-level negative list, campaign-level negatives applied manually per campaign (use shared lists instead), no review of negative keywords in the last 60 days.
Fix: Create themed negative keyword lists (Free/No-cost, DIY/Tutorials, Jobs/Careers, Competitors, Informational). Apply these lists to all relevant campaigns via shared negative lists.
Section 4: Ad Copy & Extensions (Points 10-12)
Estimated audit time: 30-45 minutes. Ad copy quality directly determines CTR and Quality Score, which affects both the cost you pay and your ranking in the auction.
10
RSA Asset Performance and Pinning
In Ads → Responsive search ads, check each ad's Asset Details view. Assets rated "Low" should be replaced. "Best" assets should be pinned to position 1 or 2 if they contain your primary value proposition. Each ad group should have at least 2 RSAs with different messaging angles to enable Google's testing.
Red flags: Only 1 RSA per ad group, assets rated "Low" still active, all assets listed as "Learning" for more than 30 days (insufficient impressions), headlines that don't include target keywords.
Fix: Replace "Low" rated assets with new variations. Ensure headlines include primary keyword, a clear benefit, and a differentiator. Create a second RSA per ad group with a different messaging angle.
11
Ad Extension (Asset) Coverage
Extensions increase ad real estate and CTR without additional cost per click. Check which extensions are active: Sitelinks (minimum 4), Callouts (minimum 4), Structured Snippets, Call extensions (if phone leads matter), Price extensions (e-commerce), Image extensions. Each extension type should be populated with relevant, non-generic content.
Red flags: Fewer than 4 sitelinks, sitelinks pointing to the homepage instead of specific landing pages, no call extension for businesses that want phone leads, generic callouts like "Quality service" with no specific benefit.
Fix: Add specific sitelinks pointing to your highest-intent pages (Pricing, Book a Demo, Contact, Case Studies). Write specific callouts with measurable benefits (e.g., "Dedicated account manager," "No setup fees," "14-day free trial").
12
Landing Page Consistency and Speed
For each ad group, verify that the landing page URL is specific to the ad group's offer (not just the homepage), the page loads in under 3 seconds on mobile, the headline on the page matches the primary promise of the ad, and there's a clear primary CTA above the fold. Run Google's PageSpeed Insights on your top 5 landing pages.
Red flags: All ads pointing to the homepage, landing page load time over 3s on mobile, page headline doesn't match ad headline (message match failure), more than one primary CTA competing for attention.
Fix: Create dedicated landing pages for each major keyword theme. Ensure message match between ad and page headline. Compress images and remove unnecessary scripts to hit sub-3s load time.
Section 5: Bidding & Budget (Points 13-15)
Estimated audit time: 30-45 minutes. Bidding decisions have the largest single-click leverage on your account efficiency.
13
Bidding Strategy Appropriateness
For each campaign, verify that the bidding strategy matches the campaign's conversion volume and goals. Target CPA requires 30+ conversions per month to function effectively. Target ROAS requires 50+ conversions and accurate conversion values. Campaigns with less volume should use Maximize Conversions (no target) or Manual CPC.
Red flags: Target CPA set on campaigns with <20 conversions/month, Target ROAS set without conversion values being passed, Maximize Clicks used on campaigns with conversion data available.
Fix: Match bidding strategy to conversion volume. Upgrade low-volume campaigns from tCPA to Maximize Conversions. Downgrade over-constrained tCPA targets to your actual current CPA, then tighten gradually.
14
Bid Adjustment Audit (Device, Location, Schedule)
Review all manual bid adjustments for device, location, and ad schedule. Compare CPA by device type, if mobile CPA is 2× desktop CPA, a negative mobile adjustment is appropriate. Check if there are bid adjustments stacked on top of Smart Bidding campaigns (often counterproductive). Verify that dayparting matches actual high-conversion hours from your data.
Red flags: Manual bid adjustments applied on Smart Bidding campaigns, no device adjustments despite 3× CPA difference between devices, identical bid adjustments across all locations regardless of performance.
Fix: Remove manual bid adjustments from Smart Bidding campaigns (they conflict with the algorithm). Apply data-driven adjustments to manual CPC campaigns only. Use Segmentation → Device and Segmentation → Time → Hour of Week to calculate CPA by segment.
15
Impression Share Analysis
Download the campaign report with Search Impression Share, IS Lost Due to Budget, and IS Lost Due to Rank columns. Campaigns losing >20% IS due to Budget are constrained by spend, increase their budget. Campaigns losing IS due to Rank have a bid or Quality Score problem, don't throw more budget at them. This analysis identifies exactly where more budget will generate returns vs where it won't.
Red flags: High-ROAS campaigns losing >30% IS due to budget, budget going to campaigns that are already winning their target impression share, no IS tracking set up for top-performing campaigns.
Fix: Increase daily budget for campaigns with high ROAS + high IS Lost Due to Budget. Lower budgets for campaigns with IS Lost Due to Rank (they need QS or bid work, not more money). Repeat this analysis monthly.
AdPredictor Runs This Daily
A manual audit like this takes 3-4 hours and reveals a snapshot of your account at one point in time. AdPredictor runs all 15 of these checks automatically every day, alerting you the moment a new issue appears so you can fix it before it compounds into significant waste.