If you spend £500 or more a month on Google Ads and have not audited your account in the last 90 days, you are almost certainly leaving money on the table. The good news is a meaningful audit does not need to take a week or cost £2,000. You can spot the biggest leaks in 60 minutes with the checklist below.
The 60 Minute Audit Structure
Set aside one undisturbed hour. Have Google Ads open in one tab, this checklist in another. Tick through it in order. Most accounts have at least three of these problems.
Section 1: Account Settings (10 Minutes)
- Check the location targeting. Settings, Locations. Is "Target" set to "Presence or interest" (wrong for local) or "Presence" (correct)? Are you excluding places you do not serve?
- Check language targeting. Should be "English" only for UK accounts. "All languages" lets your ads run to non English speakers.
- Check ad rotation. Should be "Optimise" for most accounts. Some advanced cases want "Rotate indefinitely" but rarely.
- Check the bidding strategy. Is it Manual CPC, Maximise Conversions, or Target CPA? Does it match your conversion volume? (See conversion rule below)
| Conversions per Month | Right Bid Strategy |
|---|---|
| Under 15 | Manual CPC |
| 15 to 29 | Maximise Conversions |
| 30 plus | Target CPA or Maximise Conversions |
Section 2: Conversion Tracking (10 Minutes)
- Tools, Conversions. Is every important goal tracked? Form submits, phone calls, key page views?
- Look at the "Status" column. Anything "No recent conversions" or "Tag inactive" needs investigation immediately.
- Is conversion counting set correctly? "One" per click for lead generation, "Every" for e-commerce.
- Check primary vs secondary conversions. Only the lead/sale goals should be primary. Page views or video plays should be secondary.
The conversion tracking trap: If page view conversions are set as primary, the algorithm will optimise toward page views, not leads. We find this in roughly 40 percent of audits.
Section 3: Search Terms Report (15 Minutes)
This is where the biggest wasted spend usually hides. Insights and reports, Search Terms, last 30 days.
- Sort by Cost descending.
- Scan the top 50 search terms. For each ask: is this a buyer?
- Any clear non buyer terms (information, free, DIY, jobs, wrong location) should already be negatives.
- If the same wasted term shows in multiple ad groups, add it as an account level negative.
If you find 10 plus wasted terms in the top 50, your account is leaking budget weekly. This alone justifies the audit.
Section 4: Campaign Structure (5 Minutes)
- Are campaigns organised by intent or service? One campaign for Brand, one for each major service, one for retargeting is typical. If you have 1 campaign with 20 ad groups, structure is wrong.
- Do campaigns share budget that should not be shared? Different services usually need separate budgets so high performers do not steal from learners.
- Are you running Smart Campaigns or Performance Max with no constraints? Both can quietly bleed budget if not actively managed.
Section 5: Ad Group Health (10 Minutes)
Spot check 3 to 5 ad groups, especially the highest spend ones.
- How many keywords per ad group? Sweet spot is 5 to 20. Over 50 is too many. Under 3 is too few.
- Are keywords tightly themed? All keywords in an ad group should be served by the same ad.
- How many ads per ad group? 2 to 3 Responsive Search Ads is the minimum. 1 or zero needs fixing immediately.
- What is the Quality Score? Anything below 5 needs attention. Below 3 needs an immediate rebuild.
Section 6: Ad Extensions (5 Minutes)
- Sitelinks: At least 4, all active. Linking to specific pages.
- Callouts: At least 4 short trust statements.
- Structured Snippets: At least one matching your service list.
- Call extensions: Active with a tracked phone number.
- Location extensions: Linked to Google Business Profile.
Missing extensions hurt click through rate, which raises cost per click. They are free to add.
Section 7: Landing Page Quality (5 Minutes)
Open the landing pages your top 5 keywords send to. Honestly assess:
- Does the page match the keyword and ad copy?
- Does the page load in under 3 seconds on mobile?
- Is there an obvious CTA above the fold?
- Is there proof (reviews, ratings) visible without scrolling?
Bad landing pages tank conversion rate, which makes everything else look worse than it is. Fix the page and the whole account looks healthier.
Common Audit Findings
In our experience auditing hundreds of small business accounts, the top 5 issues are:
| Issue | Frequency |
|---|---|
| No or weak negative keyword list | ~80% of accounts |
| Conversion tracking misconfigured | ~40% of accounts |
| Wrong location targeting setting | ~50% of accounts |
| Smart Campaign instead of Search | ~25% of accounts |
| Landing page is the homepage | ~55% of accounts |
What to Do After the Audit
Make a prioritised fix list. Order matters:
- Conversion tracking corrections (cannot optimise without)
- Location targeting fix (stops wasted spend immediately)
- Negative keywords (stops wasted clicks)
- Bidding strategy alignment
- Ad copy and extensions
- Landing page improvements
Implement one at a time. Wait 5 to 7 days between changes so you can see what moved.
Free External Audit Available
If you would rather an outside set of eyes, we offer free Google Ads audits using the same framework above, but more detailed. We share findings with no obligation to use us as a manager. If you decide our PPC management makes sense, the audit becomes part of onboarding.
Brett Dixon
Founder & Managing Director of DPOM. Brett founded DPOM nearly 15 years ago after a career in marketing working with Harvey Nichols, BBC Top Gear, Formula One circuits, and UK Trade and Investment. His passion became helping smaller businesses grow, with honest advice, no jargon, and realistic expectations.
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