Business question
Evidence review
Prioritized findings
Implementation plan

Define the question and the review boundary

Begin with the result that concerns the owner. Fewer leads, lower lead quality and fewer booked jobs are different symptoms. A retailer may be seeing more revenue but less contribution after discounts. The audit needs a clear question so the findings address the business problem rather than merely describing the interface.

Agree which accounts, campaign types, dates and destinations are included. A Search-only review cannot establish the condition of an unexamined Shopping feed. A screenshot cannot provide the same evidence as appropriate account access. The report should state those limits plainly.

Collect relevant context before interpreting a chart. Changes in pricing, staffing, stock, service territory or the website can affect results without appearing as a campaign edit. Ask the owner for a short timeline of material changes and the definitions used in internal reporting.

Check measurement before judging performance

Inspect the conversion actions and the goals used for bidding. Determine what each event actually represents and where it originates. A button click may indicate intent, while a successfully received form indicates a different event. Neither automatically proves a qualified prospect or completed sale.

Follow representative journeys using controlled tests where appropriate. Check whether forms reach the correct destination, purchases carry the intended value and transaction identifier, and duplicate implementations can count the same outcome more than once. Google's conversion guidance distinguishes primary and secondary actions and warns about duplicate tags.

Compare platform totals with business records at a sensible level. Exact equality may not be expected because timing, attribution and data availability differ. The audit should explain the discrepancy and identify which source answers which question, rather than silently choosing whichever number looks better.

If measurement is unreliable, prioritize correction before making strong efficiency claims. A campaign that appears to have doubled conversions may simply be counting an additional event. Conversely, an apparent decline may follow a broken tag while actual inquiries remain stable.

Examine where demand and spend are going

Review campaign structure, budgets, bidding goals and the products or services being promoted. Look for decisions that conflict with the business brief, such as a low-priority offer receiving most of the spend or a shared goal treating very different outcomes as equal.

For Search activity, examine available search-term evidence alongside keywords and match behavior. A keyword is an advertiser input; a search term is what a person searched. Google's detailed report omits some low-activity queries for privacy, so the audit cannot claim to inspect every individual search.

Evaluate irrelevant or unsuitable themes in context. A phrase that appears broad may generate valuable work, while a precise phrase may attract people seeking something the business does not provide. Use actual outcomes where available and distinguish evidence from a hypothesis requiring a test.

Location settings also need interpretation. The selected places and the presence-or-interest options can produce different reach. Review them against the service model, then inspect available geographic reporting. Location targeting is not a guarantee that every user is physically where the advertiser expects.

Read the ads and the destination as one promise

Check whether the ad accurately describes the offer on the landing page. Review dates, prices, qualifications, service areas and calls to action. A page may function technically while contradicting a promotion or hiding conditions that matter to a buyer.

Use a phone as well as a larger screen. Look for fields that are hard to complete, confusing errors, missing confirmation and call links that reach the wrong number. The objective is to identify a specific obstacle and its likely consequence, not assign a subjective design score.

For automated campaigns, review eligible destinations and generated or combined assets where available. A technically valid URL may still be unsuitable for paid traffic. For Shopping, include product-data and variant checks only when that work is part of the audit scope.

Creative findings should be actionable. Instead of saying the copy is weak, identify the missing decision information: who the offer is for, why the product fits or what happens after submission. A proposed revision should remain within the business's substantiated claims.

Use history to explain changes without inventing causation

Google's change history can help connect edits with the performance timeline. Review material budget, goal, bidding, targeting and creative changes around the period in question. Note automated or external-system changes where the available history identifies them.

A change occurring near a result does not prove that it caused the result. Promotions, competitor activity, seasonality and conversion delays can overlap. State the strength of the evidence and propose a test when the account history cannot resolve the question.

Google's optimization score and recommendations can provide diagnostic prompts. They are not a business-profit score or a requirement to accept every suggested action. Evaluate a recommendation against the account's objective, measurement quality and operating constraints before including it in the action plan.

Deliver a prioritized plan with evidence

Each finding should name the observation, the affected scope, its practical implication and the recommended next action. Include enough supporting evidence for the account owner to verify it. A finding based on incomplete access should be labeled as such.

Prioritize by consequence and dependency. A broken inquiry destination or duplicate purchase event may need attention before a creative test. A budget experiment may depend on corrected conversion goals. The sequence matters because implementing isolated suggestions in the wrong order can make the account harder to evaluate.

Separate confirmed defects, plausible opportunities and unanswered questions. A confirmed broken form needs repair. A proposed audience or bidding test needs an experiment and a success criterion. An unknown margin requires business input. These should not be presented with the same certainty.

The handoff can include a summary for the owner, detailed findings, a proposed implementation order and a list of information still needed. The agreed scope determines whether a review meeting, implementation or follow-up measurement check is included.

Scope and pricing depend on the account

An audit can remain an assessment or lead into a separately defined implementation engagement. Access for review does not itself authorize changing budgets or campaigns. The proposal should make that distinction clear so the owner knows what will happen.

The workload depends on account complexity, campaign types, measurement architecture and the depth of landing-page or feed review. Media spend is separate from audit fees. Dappr can quote the review after understanding those inputs rather than offering a fabricated fixed price.

Bring the account question, relevant access arrangements and the business outcomes you use to judge success. A useful audit leaves you with fewer unanswered questions and a clear order of work, including an honest account of what the available evidence cannot establish.

Questions before you begin

Can an audit be completed from screenshots?

Screenshots can support a limited preliminary discussion, but they omit settings, history and evidence needed for many findings. The scope should distinguish a snapshot review from an account audit and state what could not be verified.

Will you change the campaigns during the audit?

Only when implementation is expressly included and authorized. An assessment can document recommendations without altering budgets, ads or settings. The proposal should identify the access and actions required.

Does a low optimization score mean the account is failing?

No. It reflects Google's recommendation system, not the company's profit or lead quality. Examine the underlying suggestions and the business outcomes before deciding whether a change is appropriate.

Can you identify every wasted search query?

No audit can promise complete individual-query visibility. Google omits some terms from detailed reporting for privacy. Available search terms, grouped insights and business outcomes can still reveal useful patterns.

What should happen after the report?

Assign owners to the prioritized actions, confirm any missing business inputs and define how results will be checked. Measurement repairs often precede growth tests. Implementation can be handled by the existing team or separately scoped with Dappr.

Google Ads Audit