Welcome! In this blog post, we’ll guide you through our Google Ads audit cheat sheet, designed to help you identify optimization opportunities within your Google Ads accounts. We’ll walk you through an example campaign to illustrate how to use this powerful tool effectively.
Why You Need a Google Ads Audit Cheat Sheet
Auditing your Google Ads accounts is crucial for uncovering areas where you can make impactful optimizations. Whether you manage your own campaigns or oversee multiple client accounts, our cheat sheet provides a structured approach to ensure you cover all critical aspects of the audit.
Key Aspects of the Google Ads Audit Cheat Sheet
The cheat sheet is divided into several sections, each focusing on a different aspect of your Google Ads account. Here’s a detailed guide on how to use each section, illustrated with an example campaign for an online retail store.
1. Historical Data & Context
Example Campaign: Online Retail Store
- Check All-Time Graph & Data: Begin by selecting the “All Time” date range to review the performance trends over the life of the account. Look for significant changes in performance metrics like conversions and CPA.
- Understand Context: Ask the account owner or previous manager about any key changes that have occurred in the account. This will help you understand the reasons behind any performance fluctuations.
- Change History: If you don’t have information from the client or manager, review the Change History to identify any major changes that were made.
- Blips? Huge Changes?: Identify periods where conversions dropped or CPA increased significantly. Make a note to investigate the reasons behind these changes.
- Set Date Range: Once you have the context, select the date range (or separate ranges) to review consistently.
- Consistent Data Over Period?: Ensure that the data you are reviewing is consistent. For example, exclude periods where conversion tracking was not working to avoid skewed data.
2. Conversion Tracking
- Everything Being Tracked?: Ensure all valuable actions on the site, such as form fills, calls, sales, and chat features, are being tracked.
- Primary or Secondary?: Verify that conversions are set as Primary so they show in the conversions column.
- Status of Conversion Actions: Check if all conversion actions are working and have recent data.
- Attribution Model: Review the attribution model being used. Consider using data-driven attribution if available.
- GA4: Ensure conversions are being imported from GA4 if applicable.
3. Campaign Status
- Check Status Column: View the Status Column in the Campaigns view to identify any issues.
- Are Ads Limited: Check if ads are limited by policy, search volume, or if they are disapproved.
4. Budgets
- Sufficient?: Ensure the campaign budgets are sufficient to meet the desired monthly spend.
- Restricting Spend?: Check if the campaign is ‘Limited By Budget’ and if the daily spend is hitting or exceeding the daily budget.
- Shared Budgets: Review the performance of shared budgets in the Shared Library.
- Campaign Target Simulator: Use the target simulator (if available) to explore opportunities to expand the budget.
5. Bid Strategy / Settings
- Smart Bid Strategy In Use?: Confirm if smart bidding strategies like Target CPA, Maximize Conversions, or Target ROAS are being used.
- Correct Bid Strategy: Ensure the bid strategy aligns with the account’s goals, especially if conversion value tracking is in place.
- Bid Cap: Check if a bid cap is set for strategies like Target CPA to control bid amounts.
- Manual CPC: If using Manual CPC, ensure bids are optimized and Enhanced CPC is enabled.
- Portfolio Bid Strategies: Review any portfolio bid strategies in the Shared Library and assess their performance.
6. Keywords
- Top Spenders: Filter for top-performing keywords based on cost per conversion and total conversions.
- 80/20: Identify the top 20% of keywords bringing in 80% of revenue or conversions.
- Big Wasters: Filter keywords with high spend but low conversion rates or high cost per conversion.
- Not Serving: Identify keywords not serving due to low search volume.
7. Match Types
- Exact Match Being Used?: Ensure exact match is being utilized for precise targeting.
- Phrase Match Being Used?: Verify if phrase match is used for effective targeting expansion.
- Broad Match Being Used?: Check for excessive use of broad match to prevent targeting non-relevant terms and wasted ad spend.
8. Search Term Report Analysis
- Use Filter For Non-Relevant Terms: Filter for search terms with no conversions and match types excluding exact match.
- Add Keyword Column: Ensure search terms align with targeted keywords.
9. Negative Keywords
- Campaign Level: Check if negative keywords are added at the campaign level.
- Lists: Ensure negative keyword lists are applied to all campaigns.
- Match Type: Verify the match type used for negative keywords is appropriate.
10. Ads
- Responsive Search Ads?: Ensure the latest ad format is used exclusively.
- Two Ads Per Ad Group?: Implement A/B testing with two ads per ad group.
- Headlines x15 – 30 Characters: Use maximum headlines with 20-30 characters.
- Descriptions x4 – 90 Characters: Use four descriptions with 80-90 characters.
- Path 1 & 2: Include a path in the ads.
- Any Ads Disapproved: Filter and check reasons for disapproved ads.
11. Location Targeting
- Location Targeting Settings: Ensure ‘People In Or Commonly In’ is selected as the targeting setting.
- Target Location/s Performance: Review performance in the Reports Section.
- Can Locations Be Segmented?: Segment locations by states, regions, or cities for detailed analysis.
- User Location Performance Data: Identify standout performing locations.
- Targeted Location Performance Data: Check targeted location performance in the Reports Section.
- Bid Adjustments: Adjust bids based on location performance.
- Negative Locations: Block non-relevant or poor-performing locations.
12. Device Targeting
- Desktop Performing Well?: Identify opportunities to improve site performance.
- Mobile Performing Well?: Ensure the site is responsive.
- Tablet Performing Well?: Consider excluding tablets if performance is poor.
- Bid Adjustments?: Adjust bids for different devices as needed.
- Be Aware of Attribution: Consider that conversions might be assisted by other devices.
13. Age Demographics
- All Ages Targeted?: Ensure no age groups are excluded.
- What Is The Target Market/Persona?: Compare targeting to the target market/customer.
- Compare Ages: Review age performance in the age report.
- Bid Adjustments: Adjust bids for age groups based on performance.
14. Gender Demographics
- Both Genders Targeted?: Ensure both genders are targeted.
- What Is The Target Market/Persona?: Compare targeting to the target market/customer.
- Compare Genders: Review gender performance in the gender report.
- Bid Adjustments: Adjust bids for genders based on performance.
15. Schedule
- Showing 24/7?: Check if ads are served 24/7 or on specific days/times.
- Day Parting Analysis: Identify days/times with better performance.
- Bid Adjustments: Adjust bids based on day parting performance.
16. Quality Score
- Any Low Scores?: Identify keywords with low Quality Scores.
- Impression Weighted: Consider impressions when reviewing Quality Scores.
- Historical Score: Check if the score was previously higher.
- Expected Click Through Rate: Improve CTR with engaging ad copy.
- Ad Relevance: Enhance relevance by adding keywords to headlines and descriptions.
- Landing Page Experience: Improve landing page speed, layout, and content.
17. Network
- Search Partners: Assess performance of search partners versus Google.
- Display: Ensure the Display Network is not targeted by search campaigns if sub-optimal.
18. Final URL / Landing Pages
- Check Landing Page Selection: Use relevant pages instead of the homepage.
- A/B Testing: Test different landing pages to identify top performers.
- 404 Pages: Ensure there are no 404 pages in extensions.
19. Ad Extensions
- All Relevant Extensions: Use sitelink, callout, call, structured snippet, logo, image, price, location extensions.
- Final URLs: Verify the URLs of sitelinks.
- Segment By Click Type: Identify best-performing extensions and replace low performers.
20. Search Impression Share
- Overall Score: Assess potential for growth based on impression share.
- Lost to Budget: Keep lost impression share due to budget below 10%.
- Lost to Rank: Identify opportunities to increase bids and improve ad rank.
21. Auction Insights
- Competitors: Identify competitors and compare performance metrics.
- Impression Share: Compare your impression share with competitors.
- Top of Page Rate: Assess how often your ads appear at the top versus competitors.
- Outranking Share: Determine how often your ad outranks competitors.
- Objective: Align the objective with the client’s business goals.
22. Bulk Operations
- Scripts: Check if any scripts are running and make changes to the account. These scripts can automate tasks and optimizations but need regular monitoring to ensure they are functioning as intended.
- Automated Rules: Review any automated rules that are active. These rules can help manage bids, budgets, and other settings but must be configured correctly to avoid unintended consequences.
23. Recommendations
- Google Recommendations: Regularly check the Recommendations tab in Google Ads for useful insights. Google’s AI can suggest improvements based on the latest data and trends.
- Auto Apply: Ensure no recommendations are set to run automatically unless you’ve thoroughly reviewed and approved them. Automated recommendations can sometimes lead to unexpected changes.
Getting Started
To get started with your audit, download the cheat sheet here.
Need Help?
If you have any questions or need assistance with your audit, contact us. We’re here to help you maximize your Google Ads performance.