Google Ads Audit Checklist for Australian Service Firms

This checklist walks you through the checks to run on your Google Ads account to find tracking gaps and wasted spend. It covers conversion tracking, account structure, keywords, bidding, creative and a short action list that shows what to fix first.

Before you open a report

Get access sorted and write your goal down. An audit with no target is a pile of notes with no way to rank them. Many delays are access delays, not analysis delays. You will need:

• Admin access to Google Ads, so you can see change history and billing
• Google Tag Manager access to check tags and triggers
• GA4 access to compare conversion events with Google Ads
• CRM export or import access to confirm offline conversions are flowing

Then state the goal in plain words: more booked calls, more qualified leads or a lower cost per sale. Pick your date range with care. Leads take time to turn into sales, and a short window on a long sales cycle understates results. Last, read the change history. A recent bid change or tracking edit can look like a structural problem when it is not.

Tracking and conversions come first

Every other finding depends on the data being right. If conversions are missing, doubled or late, bidding will chase the wrong signal, however tidy the campaigns look.

1. Confirm enhanced conversions for leads are on for your form or call tracking. Check that offline imports use a current supported integration. Google says offline conversion imports and enhanced conversions for leads have moved to the Data Manager API, and older set-ups can silently lose data.
2. Open the enhanced conversions diagnostics and look for flagged problems, such as badly formatted data.
3. Check that the conversion action in Ads matches the CRM stage you want to chase. That is usually a qualified lead or a sale, not a raw form fill.
4. Check the attribution window on each action against your real sales cycle, not the default from set-up.
5. Look for doubled events between Tag Manager, the Google tag and any server-side set-up.
6. Check that imported GA4 conversions do not duplicate an Ads conversion action.

After any tracking fix, wait several full conversion cycles before touching bidding. Our post on common ad tracking mistakes covers the errors that hide in CRM mappings. Tracking checks feel dull next to campaign tweaks. They are also the cheapest fixes in the whole audit.

Account structure

A messy structure does not burn cash like a broken tag. It hides problems. If you cannot tell which campaign caused which result, you cannot rank the fixes.

• Match each campaign type to its goal: Search for high-intent terms, Performance Max for broad reach, Display only where it is deliberate
• Find campaigns that overlap on the same keywords, which splits budget
• Check naming across campaigns, ad groups and labels, so you can report by region or service
• Split ad groups with loosely related keywords, which weakens relevance
• Review your account-level negative keyword lists. Google explains how they work on its help page for account-level negative keywords

Keywords and search terms

The search terms report is where wasted spend hides. Read it with care.

1. Pull the report for the full period and sort by cost.
2. Add every costly query with no conversions as a negative, at campaign or account level.
3. Review your match types. Broad match needs strong negatives and a well-tagged conversion action.
4. Check for negatives that block queries that would convert.
5. Add high-intent queries that are not yet their own keyword.

Negative keywords take minutes to add, and the savings show within days.

Bidding and Performance Max

Audits go wrong here most often. Someone judges a short snapshot against a sales cycle that runs for weeks.

• Check that the bid strategy points at the conversion you care about, not an old action
• Check CPA and ROAS targets. Set too tight, they choke volume on a healthy campaign
• Open the Performance Max Insights page and channel report, not just the blended number
• Leave out the conversion delay period when you compare results
• Use change history as context for any shift in the optimisation score

Creative and landing pages

• Fill the gaps in asset groups: images, video and text
• Refresh ads that have lagged for a long time
• Check the landing page matches the ad, loads fast on mobile and fires its tags
• Give every test a clear success measure and an end date

A strong ad with a weak landing page still gives a poor booked-call rate. Our piece on great ads with a terrible booked-call rate shows how to spot it. If you are not sure ads are the right move yet, read is your business ready for paid advertising.

Quality Score, audiences, budget and policy

Quality Score is a clue, not a lever. A low score usually means the ad does not match the search, the landing page does not deliver on the ad, or expected click-through is weak. Start with your highest-spend keywords.

For audiences, check which segments sit on each campaign and whether your customer list is fresh. A stale list built from people who are now customers feeds bidding the wrong signal. For budget, compare spend with conversions by campaign. Look for campaigns that run out of budget at peak times, and for shared budgets where one campaign takes most of the pool. Use auction insights to see whether you lose impressions to budget or to rank. The fixes differ. Finally, check the policy centre for disapproved ads. A policy block can silence a campaign without warning.

Turn findings into a short action list

1. List every finding with a rough dollar impact.
2. Give each one an owner: whoever runs the CRM for tracking, the account manager for structure and bids, and the page owner for creative.
3. Estimate the time to fix each one. A quick win can beat a slow, bigger fix.
4. Set a re-check date based on the conversion cycle for that action.

How Njin helps you act on the findings

The checklist shows what is broken. Fixing it is where most teams run short of time. Our Ads Audit and Conversion Review ties the findings to your CRM and lead handling. A tracking fix with no follow-up behind it still leaves leads going cold. Where it fits, we build the fix, from a Lead Qualification Agent to a Follow-Up Call Agent that catches leads your set-up is dropping.

Common questions

What is the first thing to check in a Google Ads audit?

Tracking. Every bid and budget choice rests on that data. Confirm enhanced conversions for leads and offline imports run on the current supported integration before you review anything else.

How long should I wait to change bidding after a tracking fix?

Wait through several full conversion cycles. Use the diagnostics report to confirm the fix works and let the data settle first.

How often should I audit my Google Ads account?

Spot check tracking and spend each week. Review structure and creative each month. Run a full audit each quarter.

Should I judge Performance Max by average return per channel?

Not on its own. Read the Insights page and channel report together, and allow for conversion delay before you move budget.

Take the AI Consulting Fit Scorecard to see which lead handling fixes suit your business after the audit. It takes five minutes.