Google Ads account audit – find out why your ads are not working

Signs your Google Ads account needs an audit

A Google Ads account audit checks, without pausing your campaigns, where spend is wasted and whether results are measured correctly. If any of these sound familiar, review the whole account before touching bids or budgets.

• You get clicks, but inquiries or sales hardly increase
• Conversions in Google Ads do not match the inquiries you actually receive
• A former employee or agency set the account up and nobody knows what is inside
• Auto-applied recommendations have been changing settings in the background
• Results swing month to month and nobody can explain why
• Ads send people to the home page or an outdated page

The most common case is smart bidding running on broken tracking. If the numbers underneath are wrong, no amount of fine-tuning will fix performance. Count how many of the points above apply to your account.

Three reasons Google Ads stop working

When Google Ads underperform, the cause usually falls into one of three groups. Which one dominates decides where you start.

• Wasted spend: irrelevant search terms, the wrong locations, or budget flowing to search partners and the Display Network
• Tracking gaps: calls and form submissions not tracked, page views counted as conversions, or GA4 and Google Ads counting the same action twice
• Structure problems: dozens of keywords in one ad group, so ads and landing pages do not match what people searched for

These problems feed each other. With faulty tracking, smart bidding keeps paying for search terms that never convert. That is why an audit checks tracking first, then wasted spend, then structure.

A Google Ads audit checklist

To review the account yourself, go through these areas in order. Looking at the last 90 days or so smooths out seasonal swings.

• Conversion actions: only real outcomes – completed inquiries, purchases, calls – are set as primary conversions
• Search terms report: terms with spend and zero conversions, or terms unrelated to your business; negative keywords in place
• Match types: broad match is paired with smart bidding and accurate tracking
• Locations and networks: location targeting focuses on people in your area, and search campaigns are not quietly running on Display
• Ads and assets: responsive search ad headlines match the searches; sitelinks and call assets are set up
• Landing pages: easy to read on a phone, consistent with the ad, with a clear path to the form
• Ownership: the ad account and billing are in your name, and you hold admin access

For the tracking side in detail, see our guide to conversion tracking setup. Fix what the checklist uncovers in the order described next.

What to fix first, and how

Change everything at once and you will never know what worked. Start with the biggest levers and give each change two to four weeks.

• 1. Fix tracking: keep only real outcomes as primary conversions and remove duplicates
• 2. Stop the waste: add negative keywords and correct location and network settings
• 3. Rebuild structure: split ad groups by service or area so search terms and ad copy line up
• 4. Improve landing pages: send each ad to a matching page and shorten the path to an inquiry
• 5. Revisit bidding: once enough conversions are recorded, adjust target CPA or other smart bidding

Each bidding change triggers a new learning period, so frequent edits make results less stable. Our page on CPA improvement covers lowering cost per lead, and search ads management explains what to look for if you want ongoing help.

What to prepare before an audit

An audit is far more accurate when the account data can be compared with real business results. Having these ready speeds things up.

• Access to your Google Ads account – read-only access is enough
• Read access to GA4 and Google Tag Manager, if you use them
• Rough figures for actual inquiries or sales over the last few months
• The one outcome you most want more of: inquiries, bookings or online sales
• The products or services you advertise and the areas you serve

With read-only access nobody can change your settings or billing, and you can remove the access yourself at any time.

How UNANOBO runs a Google Ads account audit

With read-only access, UNANOBO reviews your account and sends you a prioritized summary of wasted spend, tracking gaps and structure problems. Alongside it, we build a free demo of an improved landing page for your ads, which you can click through on a computer and a phone.

The process is simple: free demo, feedback, launch, growth. The founder handles every project personally, so you keep one contact from the audit to ongoing optimization. Everything runs by message, in Japanese or English, and the ad account and billing stay in your name.