Systematic 70+ checkpoint audit covering tracking, structure, keywords, ads, bidding, budgets, audiences, and competitive positioning — with ICE-prioritized recommendations.
Google Ads Account Audit applies a practitioner-grade checklist of 70 or more checkpoints across structure, settings, targeting, keywords, ads, extensions, conversions, bidding, budgets, and Shopping or Performance Max configurations. It mirrors how senior PPC auditors review accounts before taking over or before quarterly strategic resets—not a superficial health score from Google's recommendations tab.
Each checkpoint includes what to inspect, why it matters for wasted spend or missed volume, severity guidance, and fix patterns. The audit covers account-level defaults, campaign type-specific pitfalls, negative keyword hygiene, search term review cadence, conversion action duplication, and alignment between business goals and campaign architecture.
Agencies onboarding new Google Ads clients, in-house managers inheriting legacy accounts, and consultants selling audit-led engagements. Critical before major budget increases, replatforming tracking, or migrating from manual CPC to Smart Bidding at scale.
Also valuable for accounts that "work" but haven't been reviewed since Performance Max or consent mode changes reshaped measurement.
Gather account access or structured exports: campaign list, conversion settings, change history notes, and business context (SKUs, margins, lead vs ecommerce). Walk checkpoint categories sequentially or by priority tier (tracking and conversions first, then structure, then creative). Document pass/fail/partial with evidence.
Produce prioritized remediation roadmap: quick wins this week, structural projects this quarter, and monitoring items. Map findings to owner roles (media buyer, web dev, analytics). Optional comparison to industry benchmarks when data allows.
Auditors ask how this differs from Google's optimization score—the checklist is independent, skeptical of auto-applied recommendations, and emphasizes profit not click volume. Another question is Performance Max opacity; dedicated sections address asset group coverage, search themes, brand exclusions, and feed quality dependencies.
Teams with limited dev resources get triaged fixes separating platform-only changes from site or GTM work.
Enable the audit skill and describe account type, monthly spend, primary KPIs, and known pain points. Paste settings summaries or answer guided questions. Receive categorized findings suitable for Artifact Composer client reports. Re-run after remediation to verify closure.
Audit output categorizes findings into tracking integrity, waste reduction, volume opportunity, and reporting hygiene so teams parallelize fixes across analytics and media roles. Historical change log interpretation helps distinguish structural debt from recent mis-clicks in Ads Manager. Shopping and lead gen accounts receive variant checkpoint weighting—feed-linked disapprovals rank above cosmetic ad strength suggestions when revenue is at stake.
For broader context, see our roundup of claude skills marketing, and read Claude skills for Google Ads for related setup guidance.