PPC Audit Checklist: 25 Checks to Stop Wasted Ad Spend
Your Google Ads spend keeps going up, but leads and sales don't. Usually, the budget isn't the problem. Money is leaking through small settings, irrelevant searches, and broken tracking that nobody has checked in months.
This PPC audit checklist gives you 25 checks in money-first order. You'll start with 10 checks that stop the biggest leaks in about an hour, then move on to fixes that cut costs and improve results.
Each check tells you where to look in Google Ads, what good looks like, and what to fix. It also covers recent changes many checklists miss, like Performance Max search terms and AI Max.
Key takeaways
A PPC audit is a structured review of your ad account to find wasted spend and missed opportunities.
Start with conversion tracking. If results are counted wrong, every other decision will be wrong too.
The search terms report is where most wasted spend shows up.
Performance Max now shows search terms and accepts campaign-level negative keywords, so audit it like a search campaign.
Judge success by lead quality and revenue, not just cost per lead.
Run a quick audit monthly and a full audit every quarter.
What Is a PPC Audit?
A PPC audit is a step-by-step review of a pay-per-click account to find where money is wasted and where results can grow. For most businesses, that means a Google Ads audit. The same checks also work in Microsoft Advertising and, with small changes, in Meta Ads Manager.
A good PPC account audit answers three questions:
Are we measuring the right results?
Are we paying for the wrong clicks?
Where would extra budget or effort do the most good?
Who This Checklist Is For
This checklist is written for businesses advertising in the UK, the US, and the UAE, whether you run one local campaign or several markets from one account. The Google Ads checks are the same everywhere. Where the rules differ by country, such as privacy and consent, we call it out so you can apply the version that fits your market.
How Often Should You Audit Google Ads?
Run the 60-minute quick audit (Checks 1–10) once a month. Run the full 25-check audit every quarter. Always run it before you raise your budget, change your bid strategy, or hand the account to a new agency or consultant.
Why before a budget increase? Because putting more money into a leaking account only makes the leak bigger.
What You Need Before You Start
Knowing how to do a PPC audit starts with having the right access and data ready:
Google Ads access. Read-only access is enough to check, but you'll need standard or admin access to fix things.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Tag Manager access, so you can check how tracking is set up.
Your real numbers from your CRM or online store: how many leads or orders you actually got in the last 90 days, and how many of those leads became paying customers.
A date range: the last 90 days, compared with the previous 90 days.
Optional tools: Google Ads Editor for bulk changes and a Looker Studio report to track results after your fixes.
The PPC Audit Checklist: 25 Checks in Money-First Order
Most checklists follow the Google Ads menu from top to bottom. This one follows the money. The checks are grouped into three tiers, so you fix the most expensive problems first.
Tier
Checks
Goal
Rough time
1. Stop the leaks
1–10
Fix false data and stop paying for wrong clicks
About 60 minutes
2. Fix efficiency
11–18
Lower cost per acquisition (CPA) without losing lead quality
2–3 hours
3. Grow results
19–25
Improve conversion rate and return on ad spend (ROAS)
2–3 hours
Times depend on your account size. As you go, mark each check Pass, Fix, or Urgent. That list becomes your action plan at the end.
Tier 1: Stop the Leaks (Checks 1–10)
If you only have one hour, do these ten checks. They cover tracking, campaign settings, and search terms, which is where most wasted ad spend hides.
Check 1: Primary conversion actions are real business results
Go to Goals → Conversions → Summary and see which conversion actions are set as Primary. Smart Bidding tries to get more of these actions.
Good: only actions that matter to your business, such as a form submission, a phone call, or a purchase. Fix: set page views, button clicks, and time-on-site goals to secondary. If Google is told to find page views, it will find cheap page views, not customers.
Check 2: No duplicate conversions
Compare the conversions in Google Ads with your real numbers from your CRM or store for the same period. If Google Ads shows noticeably more, you're counting something twice.
A common cause is the same action tracked by both the Google Ads tag and a GA4 import, with both set as primary. Keep one as primary and set the other to secondary.
Check 3: The right count setting
Open each conversion action and check the Count setting. Use One for leads, so one person filling out a form twice counts once. Use Every for purchases, because each sale has its own value.
Check 4: Enhanced conversions and offline conversion import
Enhanced conversions sends hashed first-party data, such as an email address from a form, to help Google match conversions more accurately. Check that it's turned on in your conversion settings.
For B2B and lead generation, consider offline conversion import. It sends back which leads become qualified or paying customers in your CRM, ideally with a value, so bidding learns to find customers instead of just form fills. This also makes the budget decisions in Tier 2 far more reliable. We explain why this gap between click and enquiry hurts so many accounts in our guide to PPC campaign management.
Check 5: Search partners and Display Network settings
In each search campaign, open the campaign settings and look at Networks. Search partners and the Display Network are often enabled when you first create a campaign.
Segment your results by network. If partner or display traffic spends money without converting, turn it off in your search campaigns. If you want display ads, run them in a separate campaign where you can control them.
Check 6: Location targeting option
Under Locations, open Location options. The default, "Presence or interest", can show your ads to people who are only interested in your area, not actually in it.
For local businesses, such as a plumber in Manchester, a dental clinic in Dubai, or a roofing company in Texas, "presence" (people in or regularly in your area) is usually the safer choice. Then check the locations report to see where your clicks really come from. If one account runs several countries, give each market its own campaign so budgets, language, and currency stay separate.
Check 7: Auto-applied recommendations
Go to Recommendations → Auto-apply. Google can apply some changes automatically, such as adding keywords or adjusting bids.
Good: you know exactly which ones are on and why. Fix: turn off any you didn't choose on purpose, and review recommendations yourself instead.
Check 8: The search terms report
This is the most important check. Go to Insights and reports → Search terms, set the last 90 days, and sort by cost. These are the actual searches you paid for, not just the keywords you chose.
Look for:
Search terms with clicks and cost but zero conversions
Job seekers ("jobs," "salary," "careers")
DIY and free searches ("how to," "free," "template") if you sell a service
Competitor or brand names you didn't mean to target
Services or locations you don't offer
Note: the report won't show every search. Google withholds search terms that only a small number of people searched, for privacy reasons, so the visible terms usually add up to less than your total cost. Treat the report as a strong sample of your traffic, not a complete list, and look for patterns rather than single queries.
Write down every irrelevant theme. You'll use this list in the next check.
Check 9: Negative keywords
Add the themes from Check 8 as negative keywords. Use shared negative keyword lists so the same exclusions apply across all your campaigns.
Negative keywords work differently from normal keywords, so be careful before you save:
They don't match close variants. A negative "job" won't block "jobs," and a negative "free" won't block "freebie" or a misspelling. Add the plural, common misspellings, and other versions yourself.
They don't match synonyms. A negative "free" blocks searches that contain the word "free," but not searches with the same meaning, such as "no cost" or "complimentary." Add those separately if they matter.
Broad match negatives need every word. A negative broad "free template" only blocks searches that contain both words, in any order. Use phrase match or exact match negatives when you need more control.
Check what you might block. A negative like "repair" would also block "repair service," so don't add it if you offer repairs.
Check 10: Performance Max search terms and negatives
Performance Max used to hide most of its search data. That has changed. Search terms reporting is now available for Performance Max campaigns, under Insights and reports in the campaign menu.
Review it the same way as Check 8, and expect the same privacy gaps. You can now add negative keywords to a Performance Max campaign, but they only apply to Search and Shopping inventory, not Display or YouTube. See Google's guide to negative keywords in Performance Max.
Ecommerce accounts: also open Google Merchant Center and fix any disapproved or limited products, since they can't show properly in Shopping ads.
Tier 2: Fix Efficiency (Checks 11–18)
With the leaks stopped, these checks help every pound, dollar, or dirham work harder.
Check 11: Account structure matches your business
Split campaigns by anything that needs its own budget or goal: different services, product lines, locations, or countries. Inside each campaign, each ad group should cover one tight theme.
Warning signs: one ad group with dozens of unrelated keywords, or many tiny ad groups that each get only a few clicks a month. Both make it harder for bidding to learn.
Check 12: Keyword match types fit your data
Broad match can find new searches, but it works best with Smart Bidding and reliable conversion tracking. If your account failed Checks 1–4, broad match is spending money based on bad data.
See which keyword match types drive your conversions. Keep exact and phrase match for your most important terms, and use broad match only where you have enough conversion data for bidding to learn from.
Check 13: No keyword cannibalisation
Keyword cannibalisation means your own campaigns compete for the same searches. In the search terms report, add the ad group column and look for the same search term appearing under different ad groups or campaigns.
It also happens between Search and Performance Max. Google gives a search campaign priority when a search exactly matches one of its keywords. So if you want control over the ad and landing page for your most important searches, keep them as exact match keywords in Search.
Check 14: AI Max settings are under control (if you use it)
AI Max for Search campaigns is a newer Google Ads feature. It combines search term matching, text customisation, and final URL expansion. In simple terms, it can show your ads for searches beyond your keywords, write ad text for you, and send visitors to a different page on your site.
If it's on, check three things: the search terms AI Max brought in, your URL exclusions (pages that should never get paid traffic, like careers or old blog posts), and your brand settings. Also note that when final URL expansion is on, pinned headlines and descriptions are not respected. Read Google's AI Max guide before changing these settings.
Check 15: The bid strategy fits your goal, your data, and what a conversion is worth
A bid strategy only works as well as the goal and data you give it. Check three things for each campaign: what you're optimizing for, whether there's enough conversion data, and whether every conversion is really worth the same to your business.
Your situation
Usual bid strategy
Use it when
Watch out for
New campaign, little conversion history
Maximise conversions (no target)
Tracking is correct but you have few conversions so far
Costs can swing early on; set a sensible budget and let it learn
Leads of similar value, steady volume
Maximise conversions with a target CPA
You get a steady flow of conversions (a common rule of thumb is 30+ in 30 days)
A target far below your real CPA chokes traffic; start near your actual average
Leads that vary in quality or deal size
Maximise conversion value, using values from your CRM
You can import qualified-lead or sale values through offline conversion import
Needs reliable values; a flat value for every form fill defeats the purpose
Ecommerce or revenue goal
Maximise conversion value with a target ROAS
Purchases send accurate revenue values to Google Ads
Set the target from real margins, not a wish; too high a target cuts volume
Brand visibility on your own name
Target impression share
Competitors bid on your brand and you need to show at the top
It buys visibility, not results; cap the max CPC
Very small budget or tight manual control
Manual CPC
Too little data for Smart Bidding to learn
Some newer features need Smart Bidding; for example, AI Max search term matching doesn't work with Manual CPC
Lead generation note: if you sell services, a form fill isn't a sale. Two campaigns can show the same CPA while one brings serious buyers and the other brings tyre-kickers. When you can, bid on qualified leads or real revenue imported from your CRM, not raw form fills.
After any bid strategy change, allow a learning period of at least two weeks, or longer if your sales cycle is long, before judging the result.
Check 16: Budget pacing
Look at the Status column for campaigns marked Limited by budget. Then ask: are your best campaigns the ones being limited, while weaker campaigns spend freely?
"Best" doesn't always mean lowest CPA. A low cost per lead can hide poor lead quality, and a higher one can hide your most profitable customers. Before you move budget, compare campaigns on the measures closest to revenue:
Cost per qualified lead, using your CRM's definition of a qualified lead
Lead-to-customer rate, the share of leads that actually buy
Revenue or ROAS, where you can match sales back to campaigns
For example, Campaign A brings leads at £40 each, but only 1 in 20 becomes a customer: £800 per customer. Campaign B costs £80 per lead, but 1 in 4 becomes a customer: £320 per customer. Judged on CPA alone, you'd cut the better campaign.
Fix: move budget towards limited campaigns that win on cost per customer or revenue, not just cost per lead. If you can't yet see lead quality, sample your CRM by campaign before making big shifts, and set up offline conversion import (Check 4) so you can next time.
Check 17: Impression share
Add these columns to your campaigns: Search impression share, Search lost IS (budget), and Search lost IS (rank).
High lost impression share due to budget means you run out of money. More budget could bring more customers, but only if the campaign is profitable on lead quality or revenue (Check 16), not just CPA.
High lost impression share due to rank means your ads aren't competitive enough. Improve Quality Score, ads, or bids before adding budget.
Check 18: Quality Score
Add the Quality Score columns at the keyword level. Quality Score runs from 1 to 10 and is based on three parts: expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.
Don't chase a perfect 10. Instead, look at which of the three parts is rated "below average" on your highest-spending keywords. That tells you whether to fix the ad, the keyword grouping, or the landing page.
Tier 3: Grow Results (Checks 19–25)
These checks help more of your clicks turn into customers.
Check 19: Responsive search ads have real variety
Each responsive search ad can have up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Make sure each ad group has at least one ad with clearly different headlines: your service, a benefit, proof, an offer, and a call to action.
Ad strength (from Poor to Excellent) is a useful reminder to add variety, but it doesn't measure results. Judge ads by conversions. Pin headlines only when you must, for example, for legal wording.
Check 20: Ad assets are complete and current
Ad assets, formerly called extensions, make your ad bigger and more useful. Check that you have sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets, plus call and location assets if you're a local business. Remove any sitelinks that point to broken or outdated pages.
Check 21: Ad copy testing is happening
Is anything being tested right now? If the same ads have run unchanged for months, you're guessing. Use Experiments in Google Ads to test one change at a time, such as a new offer or a new landing page, with traffic split fairly between the old and new versions.
Check 22: Landing page experience
Visit the landing page for each of your main ad groups and check:
Does the headline match what the person searched and what the ad promised?
Is there one clear next step, like "Call now" or "Get a quote"?
Does the form work on a phone? Submit a test, then confirm it arrives in your inbox or CRM and shows up as a conversion.
If you advertise in more than one country, does each market see the right language, currency, and phone number?
A broken form wastes every click you pay for, and it's easy to miss if nobody tests it.
Check 23: Page speed on mobile
Test your top landing pages with Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool and look at the mobile result. Slow pages lose visitors before they see your offer. Common fixes include compressing images and removing unused scripts and pop-ups.
Check 24: Device, location, and ad schedule performance
In Insights and reports, open When and where ads showed. Review device, location, and time-of-day performance.
For example, if nobody answers your phone at night, calls from late-night ads may be wasted. Set an ad schedule or turn off call assets outside business hours, and remember that your working week may differ by market: in the UAE it runs Monday to Friday, with a half day on Friday for many government offices. If you use Smart Bidding, focus on excluding what clearly doesn't work, rather than on manual bid adjustments.
Check 25: Audience segments, consent, and privacy
Check that remarketing lists and customer lists are added to your campaigns, at least in observation mode. This shows you how past visitors and customers perform without limiting your reach.
Because audience segments and enhanced conversions use customer data, check privacy and consent for every market you advertise in:
UK: UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 cover personal data, and PECR covers cookies and similar tracking. Google's EU user consent policy applies to UK users, so make sure Consent Mode is set up correctly with your cookie banner.
US: there's no single federal privacy law. California's CCPA (as amended by the CPRA) and a growing number of other state laws give people rights over how their data is used, including opting out of some advertising uses.
UAE: the federal Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021) sets the main rules, while the DIFC and ADGM free zones have their own data protection laws.
Whichever markets you cover, make sure your privacy policy explains advertising use, you only upload customer lists you have permission to use, and you review your Google Ads data settings with whoever handles legal matters for your business. This is a general overview, not legal advice.
Running other platforms? Most of these checks also apply to Microsoft Advertising, which has its own search terms report, negative keywords, and conversion goals. Use Google Keyword Planner to find new keyword ideas and extra negatives after your audit.
What to Fix First After Your PPC Audit
Don't try to fix all 25 things at once. Changing everything together makes it impossible to know what worked. Use this action plan instead:
Fix tracking first (Checks 1–4). Every other decision depends on accurate data.
Stop wasted spend (Checks 5–10). These fixes save money the same day.
Rebalance budget (Checks 16–17). Move money to what already brings good customers, not just cheap leads.
Adjust structure and bidding (Checks 11–15). Make one big change at a time and give Smart Bidding time to adjust before judging it.
Work on growth (Checks 18–25). Improve ads, landing pages, targeting, and consent setup.
Keep a simple change log with the date, what you changed, and why. Without it, you won't know which fix made the difference.
How to Know If Your Audit Worked
Compare the 30 days after your fixes with the 30 days before, then check again at 90 days. Focus on:
Cost per acquisition (CPA): what you pay for each lead or customer
Cost per qualified lead or customer: what you pay for leads your sales team actually wants
Return on ad spend (ROAS): revenue earned per unit of spend, for ecommerce
Conversion volume, checked against your CRM or store
Wasted spend on search terms you've since excluded
One warning: if Check 2 found duplicate conversions, your reported conversions will likely drop after the fix. That isn't a worse result. It's your real number, possibly for the first time. Always compare against your CRM or store orders, not against old Google Ads figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a PPC audit take?
The quick audit (Checks 1–10) takes about an hour for a small account. A full 25-check audit takes a few hours to a full day, depending on how many campaigns and markets you run.
How much does a PPC audit cost?
Prices vary widely by account size and who does the work. Some agencies offer free audits, while others charge a fixed fee. Whichever you choose, ask what the report includes and whether it lists specific fixes for your account.
Is a free PPC audit worth it?
It can be, if it shows specific findings from your own account rather than generic advice. Be careful if it's mostly a sales pitch. Running this checklist yourself first helps you judge any audit you receive.
Why are my Google Ads not converting?
The most common causes are tracking problems (Checks 1–4), paying for irrelevant searches (Checks 8–10), and landing pages that don't match the ad or don't work well on mobile (Checks 22–23). Start with those.
What is a good Quality Score in Google Ads?
There's no official "good" number. Quality Score is a diagnostic tool, not a goal. Focus on high-spend keywords where expected CTR, ad relevance, or landing page experience is rated "below average," and fix that part.
What tools do you need for a PPC audit?
Google Ads, GA4, and Google Tag Manager cover most checks. Google Ads Editor helps with bulk changes, PageSpeed Insights tests page speed, Google Keyword Planner finds new keywords, and Looker Studio tracks results after your fixes. All of them are free.
Does this checklist work for UK, US, and UAE accounts?
Yes. The Google Ads checks are the same in every market. What changes is privacy and consent (Check 25), location settings (Check 6), and local details like language, currency, and business hours.
Does this checklist work for small businesses?
Yes. Small accounts often benefit most, because each wasted pound, dollar, or dirham matters more. If your time is limited, do Tier 1 once a month. It covers the problems that usually cost the most.
Your Next Step
You now have a clear order of work: fix tracking, stop the leaks, then grow. Even if you only finish Tier 1 this week, you'll know where your money is really going, which is more than most advertisers can say.
Want us to run this audit on your account? Our PPC management team will review your Google Ads account against all 25 checks, for campaigns in the UK, the US, or the UAE. You'll get a prioritised list of what's wasting spend, what to fix first, and what it's likely to save. Request your Google Ads audit and tell us your monthly ad spend and target markets so we can prepare.