Google Ads account audit: where the budget really goes
A Google Ads account audit is a breakdown of spending over recent periods and a list of what's working against you in your settings. We look at the advertising account and the analytics at the same time: the account shows credited conversions, GA4 and your accounting system show whether there were orders behind them. We do the basic part for free, the document remains with you in any case. The term is three to five working days, on accounts with dozens of campaigns up to ten.
Google Ads account, GA4, Tag Manager, Merchant Center — together, not separately
after a free audit
Price
30
Guarantee
days after project sign-off
Google Ads account, GA4, Tag Manager, Merchant Center — together, not separately
What are we watching?
3-5
The term of the basic audit
working days; an account with dozens of campaigns — up to 10
a document with defects, a list of edits by priority, an hour of analysis
On the way out
free; the document remains with you, even if we do not continue to work
Basic audit
remotely, reading access; We do not make changes to the account
Format
out of 33 measured sites, six without a single meter, measurement 07/31/2026
Measurements in our sample
Who it's for
Situations where this service delivers results
Scenario 1 of 5
You pay the contractor every month and you can't check the report
The report shows clicks, impressions and "conversion growth", but this increase is not visible in the box office. The audit combines two pictures into one: what was counted as a conversion in the account and what from it reached your accounting system. Next, you talk to the contractor not about impressions, but about specific expense lines.
We'll review your situation in a free audit
Scenario 2 of 5
You run campaigns yourself, costs grow faster than orders
An account that has been run on its own for years is overgrown with competing campaigns and conversions that have all been put together in a row. It's not carelessness, it's hoarding. Looking from the side here is faster than independent analysis: you see the account every day, and that's why you don't notice some things in it anymore.
Scenario 3 of 5
You started Performance Max and you don't understand what it does
Spending flowed into one campaign, reporting became less, and the cost of conversion seemed to fall. The question we're answering is how many of these conversions are brand inquiries that would have come without ads. Without separating the brand and the rest, it is impossible to evaluate PMax.
Scenario 4 of 5
You inherit an account: the contractor or marketer has changed
Before changing something, you need to know the starting point. The document records the state of the account as of the date: structure, conversions, strategies, negative keywords, history of changes. After a quarter, there will be something to compare with, and disputes "that's how it was before us" cease to be disputes.
Scenario 5 of 5
Advertising goes to a site where the measurement is broken
The most expensive case, because everything looks working from the outside. In the cosmetics store we measured, the Google Ads tag is on, and the analytics counter is Universal Analytics, turned off back in July 2023. The algorithm in such an account learns in a vacuum, and no amount of editing in campaigns can compensate for this.
What's included
Complete list of work and what you get as a result
Breakdown of costs by campaigns, groups and searches: you can see the share of the budget that went to places where there was no conversion during the period
Checking what is counted as a conversion: whether the contact view, scroll and button click are not included in the same counter
Double check: One action counted twice makes the conversion cost twice as good as it is
Account Reconciliation with GA4 and Tag Manager: Does the data arrive and is it not cut off by consent mode
Analyzing the search report and negative keyword status is the fastest way to reduce costs without losing orders
Intersection Search: Are your same campaigns competing for the same query and how much branded traffic did Performance Max take?
Checking the product feed and linking to Merchant Center if there are product campaigns
Evaluation of bidding strategies against the actual number of conversions per month
Verification of landing pages: relevance of the request, speed of response, redirects, form on the phone
A list of changes based on the ratio of effect and labor intensity - you can go to the current contractor with it
Conversation for an hour: we go through the document point by point and answer questions
When this service isn't right
What's not included — so there are no surprises at delivery
Making changes to the account is a separate volume at your discretion
Evaluation of the performance of the previous contractor as an individual or company
Forecast of the recovery after the corrections
Account audits on other advertising platforms are separate services
Access to financial data that you are not prepared to share
Free Google Ads account audit
An audit is not a list of tips from general articles, but an answer to a simple question: what did you pay for last month and what did you get out of it. We look at the account and the analytics at the same time, because neither one nor the other shows the truth separately.
What we measure
What counts as a conversionThe most frequent defect is that everything is in a row in conversions: viewing contacts, scrolling, clicking a button. The algorithm honestly optimizes for this and gives exactly what it was taught.
Are the analytics working?Of the 33 sites we measured, six had no counter at all, four had Universal Analytics turned off on July 1, 2023, and one had a GTM snippet that was self-blocking: the exit condition compared the ID to itself.
Where did last month's budget go?Breakdown by campaign, query and product group: how much was spent where there was no conversion.
Search queries and negative keywordsLet's see when the request report was last cleaned. In neglected accounts, this is the fastest way to reduce costs without losing sales.
Crossovers between campaignsAre your same campaigns competing for the same query and is Performance Max taking away branded traffic that was free.
Bidding structure and strategiesDoes the strategy match the number of conversions? Automated strategies on a single conversion account perform worse than manual strategies, and it shows in the numbers.
What you get
A document with a breakdown of costs and a list of defects found, each with an estimate of the impact on the budget.
List of edits, ordered by the ratio of effect and labor intensity.
A separate section on measurement: what is now considered wrong.
A conversation for 60 minutes, where we go through the document point by point and answer questions.
Timeline: 3-5 working days
Why is it free
Because the audit is our way of showing how we work, not a separate product. If after it you decide not to change anything or give the corrections to your contractor, the document still remains with you.
What's next
If our participation in the correction is required, we give an estimate for specific items from the list. You can only take a part.
Short form: your contact and site URL
Contract, act and 30-day warranty
Every project gets a written contract: scope, deadlines, amount, acceptance procedure. After delivery — act and invoice, then 30 calendar days of warranty.
Sole proprietor & bank transfer
The contractor is a registered sole proprietor. Payment by invoice with closing documents.
Rights & access — yours
Code, design and materials transfer to you after full payment. Domain, hosting, repository and analytics are registered to you.
Client portal instead of email chains
During the project you get access to a portal: contracts, invoices, acts and project status in one place.
European clients
Among our work — projects for Norway, Bulgaria, Moldova and Spain.
Verifiable numbers
Every case in the portfolio comes with a link to a live site and a technical measurement.
Audit first, then pricing
There is no price list on the site intentionally: the scope of the same work differs multiples between clients.
We say "no" when unsure
If the task isn't ours or the deadline is unrealistic — we tell you upfront.
What affects the price
Why two seemingly identical tasks are priced differently
Account sizeA dozen campaigns are distributed per day. A few dozen with product groups and regions are the same pass through each slice separately, and this is where the deadline reaches its upper limit.
Campaign typesThe search is read quickly: there are queries, there are minus words, there are bids. Performance Max gives less to the outside, so it is checked in roundabout ways - asset groups, channel slices, comparison with the period before the launch.
Access to analyticsWith access to GA4 and tags, findings are verified by a second source. Without it, the account itself remains, and part of the document goes with the "could not be verified" mark. We do it anyway, but that's half the job.
Product campaigns and feedsMerchant Center adds a separate layer: rejected products, price and availability discrepancies between the site and the feed. A store without product campaigns does not have this layer, and the audit is shorter for it.
State of change historyAn account with hundreds of edits by several people in six months requires a separate history. Without it, it is impossible to distinguish a defect from a conscious decision made a year ago in a different situation.
Process steps
Transparent stages with approval at every step
Total duration:3–10 days
1
Access and result determination
0.5 working days
You grant read access to the account, GA4, and tag manager. We agree on what is considered a result - an order, a request or a call - and what price is acceptable for you. Without this figure, the audit turns into a list of observations.
2
Cost breakdown
0.5-3 working days
Spending by campaigns, ad groups, searches and product groups for recent periods. Separately, we count the share of the budget that went to places where there was no conversion during the period.
3
Checking the measurement
0.5-3 working days
What is counted as a conversion, whether it is not duplicated, whether it comes from tags to the account, or a live analytics counter. There is also a consent mode and a product feed. The longest stage: when it breaks, the rest of the numbers in the account are also false.
4
Structure, intersections, rates
0.5–2 working days
We look for campaigns competing for the same query, check the status of negative keywords and the appropriateness of bid strategies for the number of conversions. Along the way, we open the history of changes: when the account was last touched and what exactly was changed.
5
Landing pages
0.5–1 working day
We look at where the ads lead: whether the page responds to the request, how quickly the first response is given, whether there is no redirect from https to http, and whether the form works on the phone.
6
Document and conversation
0.5–1 working day
We summarize what we found: each defect with an estimate of the impact on the budget, the corrections are ordered by the ratio of effect and labor intensity. Then an hour of conversation, where we go through the document point by point.
Did not find your case?
Describe how it works on your side — we will tell you whether “Google Ads account audit” fits and what it means in your situation. No brief and no call: one question, one answer.
Technologies & integrations
What we build on and what it connects to
Stack
Google Ads and the report on search queries - you can see what was paid for; whether clicks became orders is not visible here
Account change history — distinguishes a defect from a solution; is preserved for a limited period, the ancient is restored indirectly
GA4 — verification of conversions by a second source; shows the trend, not the box office: consent and blockers eat up some
Google Tag Manager - you can see how the conversion is collected technically; the published version may not be the one you are viewing
Google Merchant Center - rejected products and price discrepancy with the site; without it, product campaigns are read blindly
Google Ads Editor — account download in one file to compare campaign settings with each other
Placement report — where the impressions went; for Performance Max, the list is incomplete by construction
Your accounting system or CRM is the only place where conversion becomes money; no access - this is indicated in the document
Integrations
GA4
Google Tag Manager
Google Merchant Center
Google Search Console
CRM
Independent audit vs. embedded performance evaluation
How this option differs from the alternative
Recommendations and performance evaluation within the accountOur approach
Whose interestthe estimate grows mostly from increasing coverage and spendingwe don't get paid for showings - there's no reason to recommend a bigger budget
What coverssettings within the account; does not go beyond itaccount, analytics, tags, feed and landing pages together
Verification of conversionsaccepts credited conversions as fact, even when there is a scroll in themcheck with GA4 and your accounting system
Result formata list of similar tips that are applied in one clicka document where each defect has an impact rating, and the revisions have an order of execution
Who approves the changesome of the recommendations apply themselves if auto-apply is enabledyou: we can advise you to wait or not to change anything
Cases
Tasks and results in numbers — all metrics measured by us
the online store of natural cosmetics is our technical dimension of the current website
Task
Understand why the numbers from the advertising office do not match anything else.
Solution
We analyzed what exactly is connected on the site: advertising tags, analytics counters, site map, response speed.
Result
Google Ads Tag (AW-692193698), Meta Pixel and Tag Manager in place - Ads are running. The measurement is dead: Universal Analytics UA-148400680-1 remains in the markup, disabled by Google on July 1, 2023, and there is no GA4 identifier (G-…) at all. Checking ad conversions with a second source is useless here. By the way: the site map has 271 entries for 116 unique addresses, individual products are duplicated 2-4 times. At the same time, the page itself is the fastest among those measured — 126.3 ms to the first byte. Measured on 07/31/2026.
plastic surgery clinic — our technical dimension of the current site
Task
Find out why the analytics is empty, although the tags seem to be there.
Solution
We read the page markup line by line: counter snippets, consent mode, server responses to various user-agents.
Result
The inline GTM snippet is self-blocking: the variable GTM_ID = 'G-XCE3BLJBSP' and the exit condition checks GTM_ID === 'G-XCE3BLJBSP' — return fires every time, the container doesn't load at all. Plus confused IDs: G-… is GA4, not a GTM container. v2 consent mode is in default denied. That is, conversions were never collected through this container. The rest of the site is done neatly: pre-rendered HTML is given to the bot in 145 ms, ten types of JSON-LD. Measured on 07/31/2026.
professional tool store, catalog of more than 6,000 items — our technical dimension of an operating store
Task
Check where paid traffic from ads is landing.
Solution
Addresses from the root of the domain were passed, responses were measured, the site map was listed, and a list of counters was collected.
Result
GA4 (G-0SHJ2RBQ2T) and Google Ads (AW-11011280934) are connected, measurements are available. But https://<domain>/ returns a 301 to http://<domain>/uk: whoever goes to the bare domain ends up on insecure HTTP, although the certificate is valid and the internal HTTPS addresses work. Ads leading to the root pay for just such an entrance. The first response is 671.2 ms with 407.8 KB of markup. Another flaw: the sitemap takes 34.2 seconds to generate and contains each product an average of 3.9 times. Measured on 07/31/2026.
What we need from you
We can't start without this — best to prepare in advance
1Read access to the Google Ads account is a "view only" level, without the right to change bids or see payment data.
2Read access to GA4 and the tag manager: without them, half of the findings are nothing to check.
3Your definition of the outcome: order, request or call - and what price is considered acceptable.
4Access to Merchant Center if there are product campaigns.
5Knowing which campaigns you ran yourself and which were run by a contractor, so you don't confuse the reasons.
6One person from your side who will answer business questions: seasonality, margin, delivery regions.
If something is missing — let us know, we'll help you gather it or do it as a separate task.
FAQ
Most frequently asked questions — with concrete answers
Why is the audit free? Where is the trick?
There is no subterfuge, there is a calculation. The audit takes us three to five days and shows how we think: concretely and with numbers. After that, some clients give the corrections to their contractor — this is a normal result, the document remains with them. We pay for this opportunity with our time, and it is cheaper than any advertising of our own services.
What will you find that our contractor does not see?
Most often, it is not hidden, but common. Conversions in which everything was put together for years. Campaigns competing for a single query. Spending on searches where there was no conversion in six months. Dead analytics: In the sample we measured, four sites had Universal Analytics, which Google disabled in July 2023. It's not secret knowledge, it's something you don't notice when you look at it every day.
Is it possible to do an audit without access to analytics?
You can, but that will be half the job. The account will show how much was spent and how many conversions were counted. Whether these were real orders is visible only in analytics and in your accounting system. We also deal with partial access, but we clearly indicate in the document which conclusions were made without verification.
Would you say that the previous contractor did a poor job?
We will tell you exactly what is configured this way, and what is different, and how much it costs in money. There are no people's evaluations in the document: some of the defects do not arise due to negligence, but due to changes in the system itself or due to decisions made several years ago in a different situation. Our task is a list of corrections, not a verdict.
How long will the audit take?
Three to five business days for a medium-sized account. Large accounts with several dozen campaigns and product groups — up to ten days. We name the term after we see the account in reading mode: it takes a few minutes and does not commit to anything.
What to do with the document next?
The easiest way is to give it to the one who keeps the account now and ask to go through the points. The list is ordered by the ratio of effect and labor intensity, so the first three or four points usually give the largest part of the result. If our participation is required, we name the cost by specific points, and you can take only a part.
Does it make sense to audit if the ad has just been launched?
A week after the launch - no, there is still nothing to look at. A meaningful minimum is a month of spending or a few hundred clicks, otherwise the conclusions will be about the settings, and not about the result. If the campaigns are completely fresh, we would honestly advise you to wait and come back, rather than doing work for work's sake.
Is it safe to give you access to the account?
We ask for read access: in Google Ads it's "view only" level, in GA4 it's "Viewer". With it, it is impossible to change the bid, disable the campaign or see the payment data. Access is issued as a standard invitation to our mail and can be revoked by you with one click at any time. We do not need an account password, and we do not ask for it - if the contractor asks for a password, this is a separate reason for the conversation.
We have Performance Max - will you watch it too?
Let's see, but immediately about the limits: PMax gives out less data than search. There is no list of requests in the usual form, the layout by placements is incomplete. Therefore, we look in roundabout ways: asset groups, channel sections, comparison with the period before the launch of the campaign, and separately - how much brand traffic flowed into it. Our typical recommendation is to move branded queries into a separate search campaign and see what happens to the conversion value. This does not always give a profit, but without such a separation it is impossible to honestly estimate PMax.
It takes a few minutes to look at the account in the viewing mode and does not oblige you to do anything: after that, we name the period and show what is visible at first glance. The basic audit is free, the document remains with you.
From measured casesGoogle Ads Tag (AW-692193698), Meta Pixel and Tag Manager in place - Ads are running
There is no price list on the site on purpose: the same work differs several times over between two clients, and a “from” figure explains nothing in that case. First a free audit — we count your pages, duplicates and speed — then we name the sum and the deadline and fix both in the contract.