PPC Audit: A Step-by-Step Checklist for Finding Wasted Spend

What Is a PPC Audit and Why Do You Need One?

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A PPC audit is a comprehensive review of a Google Ads (or broader paid search) account that identifies inefficiencies, structural problems, wasted spend, and optimization opportunities. It is both a diagnostic exercise (what is wrong?) and a strategic planning tool (what should we fix first?).

Even well-managed accounts benefit from periodic audits. Campaign settings drift, keyword lists expand unchecked, landing pages degrade, and bidding strategies become misaligned with current performance data. An audit surfaces issues that ongoing management sometimes misses due to familiarity or scope limitations.

For accounts that have never been professionally reviewed, audits frequently reveal 20–40% budget waste — spend going to irrelevant search terms, underperforming keywords with no negative-keyword control, or campaigns with tracking that is recording inflated or inaccurate conversions.

This checklist covers the eight critical audit areas in sequence. Work through each area, document findings, and prioritize fixes by potential impact.

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Audit Area 1: Conversion Tracking Verification ve Ppc Audit

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Conversion tracking is the foundation. Before evaluating campaign performance, verify that the data you are looking at is accurate.

Checklist:

• [ ] Is the Google Ads conversion tag (or GA4 import) firing correctly? Verify using Tag Assistant or GTM Preview

• [ ] Are conversions being counted multiple times? Check for duplicate conversion actions for the same business event

• [ ] Does the Count setting match the business goal? (Every vs. One — purchases should be Every; leads should be One)

• [ ] Are micro-conversions (page views, scroll depth) mistakenly included in the primary Conversions column?

• [ ] Are internal company visits filtered from conversion data? (IP exclusions in GA4 and Google Ads)

• [ ] Has enhanced conversions been configured to capture conversions missed by standard cookie tracking?

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If conversion tracking is compromised, fix it before making any other changes. Campaign performance decisions made on inaccurate data compound the damage.

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Audit Area 2: Account and Campaign Structure

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Checklist:

• [ ] Are Search and Display campaigns in separate campaigns (not combined in the same campaign)?

• [ ] Are brand campaigns separate from generic campaigns?

• [ ] Are campaign budgets allocated proportionally to campaign performance (not equally)?

• [ ] Do ad groups contain fewer than 15 keywords? Do keywords within each group share the same theme?

• [ ] Is there at least one Responsive Search Ad per ad group?

• [ ] Do ad groups have matching landing pages rather than all pointing to the homepage?

• [ ] Is there a naming convention that makes accounts navigable?

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Account structure problems are foundational. They cannot be fully resolved by bid adjustments or keyword additions — they require restructuring work that should be planned and sequenced carefully.

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Audit Area 3: Keyword Analysis

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Checklist:

• [ ] Does the account have adequate negative keyword coverage? Review the shared negative keyword lists and campaign-level negatives

• [ ] Is the search terms report reviewed regularly? Are there irrelevant queries consuming budget?

• [ ] Are very low Quality Score keywords (1–3) paused or removed?

• [ ] Are there keywords with zero conversions and spend above 2× the target CPA? (Candidates for pause)

• [ ] Are high-CPC, low-volume exact match keywords being wasted on impression-share limitations?

• [ ] Is broad match used without robust negative keyword protection?

• [ ] Are duplicate keywords running in multiple campaigns, potentially bidding against each other?

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The search terms report is the most impactful single item in this section. If it has not been reviewed in the last 30 days, expect to find significant wasted spend.

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Audit Area 4: Quality Score Analysis

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Checklist:

• [ ] Add Quality Score columns to the Keywords view (Quality Score, Landing Page Exp., Ad Relevance, Exp. CTR)

• [ ] Identify keywords with Quality Score ≤ 4 — these inflate CPCs disproportionately

• [ ] Check that ad group themes are tight enough to support above-average Ad Relevance scores

• [ ] Review Expected CTR for all high-spend keywords — below average CTR in high-volume ad groups is a priority fix

• [ ] Verify Landing Page Experience scores — below average indicates page speed, relevance, or UX issues

• [ ] For keywords with QS ≤ 6, document whether the issue is CTR, Ad Relevance, or Landing Page Experience so fixes can be targeted

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Quality Score improvements generate compounding benefits: lower CPCs, better impression share, and higher Ad Rank all result from systematic QS improvement.

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Audit Area 5: Ad Copy Review

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Checklist:

• [ ] Does every ad group have at least one Responsive Search Ad with at least 8–10 headlines?

• [ ] Are RSA ad strengths at "Good" or "Excellent" in the Ads view?

• [ ] Are any assets rated "Low" in the Assets report? (These need to be replaced)

• [ ] Do ad headlines include the focus keyword for each ad group?

• [ ] Are descriptions benefit-focused rather than feature-listing?

• [ ] Is there any CTAs in descriptions and headlines? (action verbs, offer specifics)

• [ ] When were the ads last updated? If over 6 months, creative refresh is likely due

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Audit Area 6: Bidding Strategy Assessment

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Checklist:

• [ ] Is the bidding strategy appropriate for the conversion volume available? (Target CPA requires 30+ conversions/month)

• [ ] Is there a Target CPA or Target ROAS set, and are they based on actual historical performance or arbitrary guesses?

• [ ] Are campaigns in "Limited by budget" status? If so, are they your best-performing campaigns?

• [ ] Are campaigns in learning mode for extended periods? What changes triggered re-entry?

• [ ] Is impression share lost to budget or rank? (Diagnose to determine whether budget increase or Quality Score improvement is the correct intervention)

• [ ] Are there campaigns still using manual CPC bidding that have sufficient conversion data for smart bidding?

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Audit Area 7: Extensions (Assets) Coverage

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Checklist:

• [ ] Are sitelink extensions configured at account or campaign level with at least 6–8 sitelinks?

• [ ] Are callout extensions in use with at least 4 callouts per campaign?

• [ ] Are structured snippet extensions configured with relevant header and value lists?

• [ ] Are call extensions enabled and scheduled to match business hours?

• [ ] Are promotion extensions active during sale periods?

• [ ] Is image extension enabled for eligible campaigns?

• [ ] Are location extensions linked if the business has physical locations?

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Missing extensions are low-hanging fruit — adding them takes less than an hour and immediately improves ad visibility and CTR.

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Audit Area 8: Performance Benchmarking and Opportunity Sizing

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The final section of the ppc audit focuses on opportunity identification rather than problem-fixing.

Checklist:

• [ ] What is the account's average impression share? Are profitable campaigns limited by budget?

• [ ] Are there untapped keyword opportunities in the search terms report? (High-converting queries not explicitly in the keyword list)

• [ ] Are remarketing campaigns in place? Is there potential to recover more cart abandonment revenue?

• [ ] Is Auction Insights showing competitive threats you should address?

• [ ] Are there new campaign types (Performance Max, YouTube) that could expand reach without cannibalizing existing performance?

• [ ] Are there seasonal opportunities (upcoming holidays, industry events) that budget planning should account for?

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Prioritizing Your Audit Findings

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After completing all eight areas, you will have a list of issues. Prioritize by:

1. Impact × Effort: High-impact, low-effort fixes first (conversion tracking verification, adding negatives, enabling missing extensions)

2. Budget waste first: Stop the bleeding before optimizing for growth

3. Foundation before optimization: Fix structural issues before fine-tuning bids

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Build a prioritized fix list with estimated impact ("could recover £X/month in wasted spend") and implementation timeline. This becomes your optimization roadmap.

Blakfy offers free PPC audits as the first step in any new client engagement — because identifying specific issues and quantifying their financial impact is far more valuable to clients than a generic proposal of "we'll optimize your campaigns."

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Q: How often should a PPC account be audited?

A: A full structural audit every 6–12 months. Smaller performance reviews monthly. For accounts managed in-house without external review, annual professional audits from a third party catch issues that internal managers are too close to the account to see clearly.

Q: How long does a full PPC audit take?

A: For a typical mid-size account (5–20 campaigns), a thorough audit takes 3–8 hours. Larger accounts with hundreds of campaigns take proportionally longer. Focus first on the areas with the highest expected impact for your specific account type.

Q: What are the most common findings in a PPC audit?

A: The most common issues across accounts of all sizes are: no or partial negative keyword lists, poor search term monitoring leaving irrelevant traffic uncontrole, missing extensions (particularly call, sitelink, and structured snippet), suboptimal bidding strategies for current conversion volume, and conversion tracking inaccuracies (duplicate counting, incorrect conversion windows, or missing actions). Fixing these five areas alone often delivers 20–35% efficiency improvements.