Paid Search
Your Google Ads account has grown, and nobody remembers why
An account audit answers three questions: what are you spending money on, what is being optimized for, and which of it moves your business. The first look therefore goes not to the bids but to the conversion actions and their values, because every automated strategy bids on them g-gebote. After that come structure, search terms, exclusions and overlap between campaign types, say between search and Performance Max g-pmax. The result is a work list sorted by impact, not a list of defects.
What we do: We check measurement first, sort the money by brand, existing customers and new business, bundle hundreds of findings into a few causes and rebuild in steps; you get a work list sorted by impact with the effort next to it, not a list of defects.
By Robin Kardinal, Chief Operation Officer (COO)
Last updated on
What it is about and when it becomes relevant
What this is about
Accounts that have grown over years carry decisions nobody remembers the reasons for. An audit makes visible what still holds today: which campaigns bring revenue, which merely shift it, which search terms cost money and which audiences overlap.
When it becomes relevant
Before an agency change, before a budget increase, and whenever results have been flat for months. Also after a relaunch, because tracking and landing pages often drift apart quietly then.
What an audit is not
Not a list of 200 individual findings. Most of them are symptoms of two or three causes, and whoever works through them one by one stays busy for a quarter without anything changing.
Common mistakes and how you spot them
Brand and new business in one pot
How you spot itBlended ROAS looks good because brand queries carry it. Strip them out and little new business remains.
Conversion actions counted twice
How you spot itThe same order shows up as a purchase and as a thank-you page view. The metrics then look better than they are, and the automation bids too high.
Campaign types competing against each other
How you spot itSearch campaigns lose share to a Performance Max campaign in the same account while the total stays flat g-pmax.
Exclusion lists unchanged for years
How you spot itThe search terms report shows queries that obviously do not fit and still collect clicks regularly.
How we go about it
Measurement first
We review conversion actions, values and double counting before judging anything in the account. If the underlying number is wrong, every further statement is a guess.
Sort the money by purpose
Brand, existing customers and new business are reported separately. Only then can anyone say what a euro actually did.
Bundle causes
The individual findings become a list sorted by impact with a few causes. Next to each item, what it costs to fix it.
Rebuild in steps
We change things in sequence and document them, so afterwards it is clear which step achieved what. Rebuilding everything at once makes the comparison impossible.
Further reading
This topic belongs to SEA.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a Google Ads audit take?
That depends on account size and number of channels. It becomes reliable once the conversion data is checked; without that step, any statement about it is a guess.
What do you need from me for an audit?
Read access to the ad account, Merchant Center and web analytics, plus an idea of what each type of deal is worth to your business.
Do I get a list of every single error?
You get a list sorted by impact, not by completeness. 200 individual findings are usually two or three causes, and those sit at the top.
Is an audit worth it on a small budget too?
Especially then, because on a small budget a single error costs a larger share. Double-counted conversions hit a small account exactly like a large one.
Is this exactly where you are stuck?
Write to us about where it is stuck. Robin Kardinal and the team will look at what is concretely behind it in your case, and tell you where the biggest lever sits.
Sources
Every statement about ad products comes from the official documentation of the respective platform, with the date we retrieved it. Products change; if something looks outdated to you, write to us and we will check it.
- g-geboteGoogle Ads-Hilfe, Automatische Gebotsstrategienretrieved on 21.9.2026
- g-pmaxGoogle Ads-Hilfe, Performance Max-Kampagnenretrieved on 21.9.2026
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