Guides / Fix the account
How to audit a Google Ads account
Audit conversions before you audit keywords. If the account cannot see a sale, every other opinion about bids and ads is a guess. Then search terms, then structure, then the ads, then the bid strategy.
About 210 US searches a month for “google ads audit”. Updated October 4, 2026.
- 1ConversionsPrimary actions fire, and they are the actions you would pay for.
- 2Search termsSort by cost. Negate what spent and could not buy.
- 3StructureOne theme per ad group. Brand separated from prospecting.
- 4Ads and pagesThe headline matches the query. The page matches the headline.
- 5BidsOnly after the four above. A smart strategy on bad conversions bids confidently wrong.
Start where the money is recorded
About 210 US searches a month are for a Google Ads audit. The ones that save money open conversion actions first: which are primary, when they last fired, and whether a purchase and a pageview are both set to primary. Two primaries teach the bidder two different successes.
Inactive and unverified actions are catalogued on Google Ads conversion tracking.
Then the queries you actually bought
Pull search terms for the last 30 days, sort by cost, and mark every row that is not the offer. Those negatives are the audit’s first change. They do not need a new strategy.
How match types create those rows is on fix Google Ads. A clean structure so the next ones are easier to see is on campaign structure.
What the audit hands you
A short list: negatives to add, ad groups to merge, a landing page that does not match, a bid strategy to leave alone until conversions are trustworthy. A 40-page deck of observations is not an audit.
Sprites reads the account and stages those changes for approval, which is the same list with the clicks done. Competitor queries, a different audit, are on competitor analysis.
Questions
How often should I audit Google Ads?
Search terms every week, because the waste arrives every week. The full pass, conversions through bids, once a month or when CPA moves and stays moved.
Can I audit an account I do not manage yet?
Read-only access is enough for the five steps. You need the ability to see conversion actions and search terms. A screenshot of the campaign table is not an audit.
What is the first change I should make?
Negatives on queries that spent and cannot buy, after you have confirmed conversions are real. Pausing campaigns before you understand them throws away the only evidence you have.
Keep going
Put it in the account
Connect the ad account. Sprites reads it, drafts the change, and waits for your approval before anything spends.
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