Most Google Ads accounts are leaking. We find where.

What we actually check

Every audit covers the same nine areas. Here is what we look at inside each one, and why it moves the number.

1. Account structure

We map how campaigns and ad groups are organized. Are keywords grouped by intent, or did someone dump two hundred keywords into one ad group? Does the account separate brand from non-brand, or does brand spend starve the campaigns that find new customers? We check for campaigns bidding against each other and see whether the structure gives Google clean signals or a mess.

2. Search term review

We pull sixty to ninety days of actual search terms and sort by spend, highest first. This is where waste hides in plain sight: what share went to terms that match what you sell, what share to research queries that never buy, and what share to terms with nothing to do with your business.

3. Match types

We check how much of your spend runs on broad match, and whether that broad match is fenced in with negative keywords or left wide open. Broad match is not the enemy. Broad match with no negatives is. We also check for exact match keywords being starved by their broad match twins.

4. Negative keywords

We review your negative lists for coverage and freshness: when was the last time anyone added one? Then we check for conflicting negatives, where an old negative quietly blocks a search term that was converting. Common, and almost nobody checks for it.

5. Geographic settings

We verify whether location targeting is set to "Presence" or left on Google's default "Presence or interest." Then we pull the geographic report and compare where your clicks came from against where your customers can come from. For local businesses, this gap is often embarrassing.

6. Conversion tracking setup

We check whether conversion tracking exists at all, what it counts, and whether it double counts. A thank-you page that fires twice. A "conversion" that is really a page view. Phone calls counted with no duration filter, so every wrong number looks like a lead. Google optimizes faithfully toward bad data, so broken tracking makes every efficiency number in the account fiction.

7. Landing page alignment

We compare the ad promise to the page it lands on. Does the headline match the search? Can a phone user see the phone number and form without scrolling? Does the page load fast on mobile? The ads are usually fine. The page is where the money dies.

8. Bidding strategy

We look at what the account optimizes toward, whether targets are realistic for the budget, whether bid limits throttle delivery, and whether the strategy has been changed so often the account never exits learning. A bid strategy is a commitment. Accounts that switch it every few weeks never learn.

9. Budget allocation

We check which campaigns are capped and losing impression share, and whether the capped ones are your best performers. We look at the brand versus non-brand split, and at campaigns that drive revenue versus campaigns that just make the account look busy. Budget is a vote. We read the votes.

What you receive

The audit ends with a written report you can act on, whether you hire us to fix it or hand it to your team.

• Written findings, organized by the nine areas above, in plain language. No jargon walls.
• A prioritized fix list: what to change first, second, and third, ranked by expected impact.
• A wasted-spend estimate: how much of your monthly budget goes to clicks that cannot turn into customers, broken down by cause.
• A 30-minute walkthrough call: we go through the findings and answer your questions straight.

The estimate is a range, not a magic number. Some accounts are healthy, and when we find one we say so. We would rather tell you the truth than invent a scary figure to sell a project.

Red flags we look for

We have read enough accounts to know the usual suspects. If several of these sound familiar, your account is leaking.

• No conversion tracking at all. The account is flying blind and optimizing toward clicks.
• "Conversions" that are really page views or button clicks with no business value.
• Search terms that have never been reviewed. No negative keywords added in months.
• Location targeting left on "Presence or interest," pulling clicks from outside your service area.
• A single campaign holding hundreds of keywords with no intent grouping.
• Broad match keywords running with no negative lists behind them.
• Brand campaigns eating the budget while non-brand campaigns that find new customers starve.
• An ad schedule set to 24/7 for a business whose phones are answered nine to five.
• Auto-apply recommendations turned on, letting Google quietly expand targeting and raise budgets.
• A bid strategy changed every few weeks, so the account never exits learning mode.

Who this is for, and who it is not for

An audit is not for everyone. Here is the honest filter.

This is for you if

• You run Google Ads and suspect waste but cannot see exactly where it is.
• You inherited an account from an agency or a previous hire and want an independent read.
• You are about to scale spend and want the foundation solid first.
• You want a second opinion before signing a management contract with anyone, including us.

This is not for you if

• You spend a few hundred dollars a month. At that level, fix your conversion tracking and come back when you scale. The audit would cost more than the waste it could find.
• You want a rubber stamp that everything is fine. We report what we find.
• You need it tomorrow. Reading sixty to ninety days of data properly takes a few days, and rushing it defeats the purpose.

How the audit runs

Five steps. No disruption to your live campaigns at any point.

If the audit finds waste worth fixing, our wasted-spend fix engagement implements the fix list in the right order. If tracking is the core problem, start with offline conversion tracking.

Questions

Straight answers, before you apply.