How Often Should You Audit Your Google Ads Account?

Most accounts need a full outside audit about once a year, a lighter check every quarter, and an extra audit whenever something big changes, such as a new agency, a new website, a jump in cost per lead, or a new bidding strategy. In between, someone should be reading the search terms report every two weeks. That schedule catches the slow leaks before they cost you a year of budget.

1. Why audit at all if someone already manages the account?

The person managing an account sees it every day, which makes it hard to see what has drifted. Settings that made sense two years ago stay in place. Conversion actions get added and never cleaned up. Performance Max quietly takes more of the budget. An audit is a fresh read of the whole account by someone who did not build it and has no stake in defending it.

2. What should happen every two weeks?

Someone should review the search terms report, add negative keywords, and check that conversions are still recording. This takes an hour or less on most accounts. If nobody is doing it, that is the first thing to fix, and it does not require an audit.

3. What should a quarterly check cover?

Once a quarter, look at the bigger picture. Compare the conversions Google reports with the leads or sales in your CRM or store. Check which campaigns are getting more budget and whether they deserve it. Look at impression share lost to budget versus ad rank. Review landing pages for speed and message match. A quarterly check can be done in-house with a checklist like the free Google Ads Efficiency Scorecard.

4. When do you need a full audit?

A full audit goes deeper: tracking, structure, search terms, bidding, ads, landing pages and reporting, with a prioritized list of fixes. I recommend one at least once a year, and right away in any of these situations:

• Cost per lead or sale has climbed for two or three months and nobody can explain why.

• You are about to hire a new agency, or you just did.

• You launched a new website or changed your checkout or lead form.

• You switched to a new bid strategy or added Performance Max.

• Leadership is asking whether the ad budget is worth it, and the answer is a dashboard full of clicks.

5. Does a bigger budget mean more frequent audits?

Usually, yes. A small account can go a year between full audits. An account spending tens of thousands of dollars a month loses more money each month that a tracking problem goes unnoticed, so twice a year often pays for itself. The deciding question is how much it would cost you if something had been wrong for six months.

6. How do I get started?

If you have never had an outside audit, start there. My Google Ads audit starts at $3,500 as a flat fee, and multi-channel audits start at $5,500. If you want to check the account yourself first, use the free scorecard, then book a free 30-minute call if you want a second set of eyes.