The 14-day Google Ads audit we run on every new account

Every new Google Ads account we take over gets the same 14-day audit before we touch a bid. It’s boring on purpose. The same five problems show up in almost every account, and fixing them usually frees 20–35% of spend.

Days 1–3: tracking

We check that conversions fire once, on the right page, with the right value. Duplicate form-fill tags and “page view” conversions are the most common reasons smart bidding optimizes for the wrong thing.

Days 4–7: search terms

We export 90 days of search terms and tag every query by intent. Broad match without a shared negative list is where most waste hides: job seekers, competitors’ support queries and DIY searches that will never buy.

Days 8–11: structure and assets

• Campaigns mixing brand and non-brand traffic, which inflates ROAS.
• Performance Max cannibalizing branded search because brand exclusions are missing.
• Ad groups with one tired responsive search ad and no extensions.

Days 12–14: landing pages and the report

We run the top landing pages through PageSpeed and a five-second test, then write a wasted-spend report with the dollar value of each fix. Clients get it on day 10 to 14, before any rebuild starts, so they can see exactly what they were paying for.