PPC Audit: Is Your Google Ads Account Wasting Money?

Here’s a hard truth: Most Google Ads accounts are leaking money.

We’ve audited hundreds of Australian accounts, and the pattern is consistent. On average, unmanaged accounts waste 30–50% of their ad spend on:

• Irrelevant keywords that never convert
• Ad copy that doesn’t match what people search for
• Landing pages that don’t align with the ad message
• Broken conversion tracking (so no one knows what actually works)
• Bids set too high or too low (no middle ground)
• Audiences that are too broad or too narrow

The good news? Most of this waste is completely recoverable. A thorough PPC audit can identify these problems, quantify the waste, and tell you exactly how to fix it.

In this guide, we’ll walk through a complete audit checklist that you can use yourself (if you’re hands-on) or share with your agency.

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Why Most Accounts Waste Money

There are a few root causes:

1. Set it and forget it — Account is launched, then left alone for months. Market changes, competitors increase bids, CPCs creep up.

1. No conversion tracking — Without knowing what converts, you’re guessing. Budget flows to whatever looks good on the surface (clicks, impressions) but doesn’t actually make money.

1. Too broad keyword strategy — Bidding on 500 generic keywords instead of 50 high-intent keywords. Volume is high, efficiency is terrible.

1. Low Quality Score — Ad copy doesn’t match keywords or landing pages. Google charges you more.

1. Poor audience targeting — Showing ads to people who will never buy (geographic mismatch, wrong job title, wrong intent level).

1. No negative keywords — Clicks on irrelevant searches you didn’t think to block.

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The PPC Audit Checklist (9 Areas to Check)

1. Account Structure & Organisation

What to look for:

• Is the account organised into campaigns logically? (Not all keywords in one massive campaign)
• Does each campaign have a clear purpose? (Brand, Non-Brand, Competitor, Remarketing, etc.)
• Are ad groups tightly themed? (5–10 related keywords per ad group, not 100 random keywords)

Red flags:

• One campaign with 500+ keywords (impossible to manage)
• Ad groups named “Ad Group 1”, “Ad Group 2” (no strategy)
• Mixed intent keywords in one ad group (brand + non-brand together)

The fix: Restructure into:

• Campaign 1: Brand Search (your brand keywords)
• Campaign 2: Category (Non-Brand) (generic keywords like “accounting software”)
• Campaign 3: Competitor Targeting (competitor keywords, if relevant)
• Campaign 4: Remarketing (audience-based bidding)
• Each campaign has 3–5 tightly themed ad groups

Expected impact: 10–15% efficiency improvement (cleaner targeting = better Quality Scores = lower CPCs)

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2. Keyword Match Types

What to look for:

Are keywords using the right match type?

Match Type	When to Use	Risk
Exact Match [keyword]	High-intent, specific keywords	Limited volume
Phrase Match “keyword”	Mid-intent, category keywords	Some irrelevant clicks
Broad Match keyword	Awareness campaigns only	High waste, low efficiency

Red flag: Broad Match keywords dominating the account (especially on small budgets).

The audit:

1. Pull a keyword report
2. Count by match type
3. If Broad Match is more than 20% of keywords, you’re wasting money

The fix:

• Convert generic keywords to Exact or Phrase Match
• If you must use Broad Match, limit to high-LTV keywords (professional services, law, high-ticket ecommerce)
• Build a negative keyword list to control Broad Match overreach

Expected impact: 20–30% efficiency improvement (especially on small budgets)

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3. Negative Keywords

What to look for:

Does the account have a negative keyword list? If yes, is it active and comprehensive?

Red flags:

• No negative keyword list (dangerous)
• Negative list exists but hasn’t been updated in 6+ months
• Generic negatives missing (“free”, “DIY”, “job”, “how to”)

The audit:

1. Look at Search Terms Report (Google Ads > Campaigns > Keywords > Search Terms)
2. Identify clicks on irrelevant searches
3. Count wasted clicks (percentage of total)

Example finding: “Search term ‘free plumbing advice’ triggered our ads 50 times. Zero conversions. That’s $150 wasted on something a tradie can’t sell.”

The fix: Build a master negative keyword list:

• Add common irrelevant searches (found in Search Terms Report)
• Add generic awareness keywords (“how to”, “DIY”, “tips”, “tutorial”)
• Add cost-no-benefit keywords (“job”, “career”, “training” — if you’re a service business, not a recruiter)
• Update quarterly based on Search Terms Report analysis

Expected impact: 15–25% reduction in wasted clicks (huge improvement for small budgets)

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4. Quality Score & Ad Copy Alignment

What to look for:

Are keywords, ad copy, and landing pages aligned?

Red flags:

• Average Quality Score below 5 (should be 6–8 for most accounts)
• Ad copy vague or generic (“Visit our website”, “Learn more”)
• Ad copy doesn’t mention the keyword being bid on

The audit:

1. Pull Quality Score report by keyword
2. Note how many keywords have QS below 5
3. Sample 10 low-QS keywords and read their ads

Example finding: “Keyword ’emergency plumber Brisbane’ has QS 4. Ad says ‘Plumbing Services’. Too generic. Expected QS 7–8 with better ad copy.”

The fix: For each keyword, ensure:

• Ad copy mentions the keyword or its intent (e.g., keyword “emergency plumber” → ad says “24/7 Emergency Plumbing Service”)
• Headline is specific (e.g., not “Plumbing” but “Emergency Plumbing Brisbane”)
• Description emphasises differentiation (e.g., “Same-day service. Local team. 20 years experience.”)

Expected impact: 15–20% CPC reduction (Quality Score improvement directly lowers costs)

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5. Landing Page Relevance

What to look for:

Do ad copy and landing pages align? Or are you sending traffic to mismatched pages?

Red flags:

• All ads point to homepage (not specific to the keyword or ad message)
• Landing page is generic product/service listing, not specific to the ad
• Landing page has no clear call-to-action (form, phone number, “Add to Cart”)

The audit:

1. Pick 5–10 keywords at random
2. Click the ad
3. Ask: Does the landing page immediately make sense for this keyword?

Example finding: “Ad: ‘Best Risk Register Software for Australian SMEs — Free 14-day Trial’. Landing page: Generic product listing with 10 different software comparisons. Mismatch. User has to search for the trial CTA. Expected conversion rate is low.”

The fix: Create dedicated landing pages (even simple ones):

• For product keywords: Product-specific page (not category listing)
• For branded keywords: Brand comparison or why-us page
• For service keywords: Service-specific page (not homepage)

Each page should:

• Match the ad headline
• Feature a clear CTA (form, phone, “Buy now”)
• Build trust (testimonials, certifications, guarantees)
• Load fast (use Google PageSpeed to test)

Expected impact: 20–40% conversion rate improvement (landing page relevance is the #1 conversion driver)

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6. Conversion Tracking

What to look for:

Is conversion tracking installed, working, and measuring the right things?

Red flags:

• No conversion tracking set up (cannot measure what works)
• Tracking installed but not firing (check Google Tag Manager)
• Converting on the wrong metric (tracking form views instead of form submissions)

The audit:

1. Check Tools > Conversions in Google Ads
2. Are there any conversion actions? If no, you have no tracking.
3. Check conversion count: Are conversions happening? (If zero for 30 days, tracking is broken)
4. Verify Google Analytics 4 is linked and events are firing

The fix:

1. Install conversion pixel (Google Ads conversion tag via Google Tag Manager or direct)
2. Define conversions clearly:

• Ecommerce: Purchases (with value in dollars)
• Lead gen: Form submissions (specific form, not page views)
• Local services: Phone calls (via call tracking), form submissions

1. Test the pixel (fill a form yourself, check if it converts in Google Ads within 24 hours)
2. Link Google Analytics 4 (Tools > Linked Accounts > GA4 > Link)

Expected impact: 100%+ improvement in decision-making (you now know what actually works)

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7. Budget Allocation & Bid Strategy

What to look for:

Is budget allocated efficiently across campaigns? Are bids set strategically?

Red flags:

• Budget split equally across all campaigns (ignores performance)
• Campaigns running out of budget (impression share low)
• Bidding strategy is manual everywhere (should be automated if 50+ conversions/month)

The audit:

1. Review campaign-level spend and conversions for past 30 days
2. Calculate CPA by campaign
3. Identify best-performing and worst-performing campaigns

Example finding:

Campaign	Spend	Conversions	CPA	Efficiency
Brand Search	$2,000	15	$133	Excellent
Category Search	$3,000	6	$500	Poor
Remarketing	$2,000	8	$250	Moderate

The fix: Reallocate based on performance:

• Increase budget to high-performing campaigns (Brand Search, CPA $133)
• Decrease or pause low-performing campaigns (Category Search, CPA $500)
• Test and optimise before scaling (don’t immediately kill Category; it might need ad copy or keyword fixes)

Bidding strategy:

• Under 50 conversions/month: Manual bidding
• 50–150 conversions/month: Target CPA (for lead gen) or Target ROAS (for ecommerce)
• 150+ conversions/month: Maximize Conversions or Maximize ROAS

Expected impact: 10–25% overall efficiency improvement (money flows to what works)

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8. Audience Targeting Issues

What to look for:

Are audiences overly broad or overly narrow? Is targeting data complete?

Red flags:

• Location targeting includes entire Australia when business is local (Brisbane tradie bidding nationally)
• Device targeting shows equal performance on mobile/desktop, but bids are equal (should adjust)
• No audience segmentation (all traffic treated the same)
• Audience size too small (if under 1,000, can’t target effectively)

The audit:

1. Check location targeting (should match service area or customer geography)
2. Pull device performance report (mobile vs. desktop conversion rates)
3. Check if RLSA or custom audiences are implemented

Example finding: “Tradie bidding in entire Australia. 80% of spend comes from regional areas where they don’t service. Expected ROI is 1/3 of what it could be with geo-targeting.”

The fix:

• Local businesses: Target 5–15 km radius or specific suburbs
• Remote businesses: Target by state or region, not nationwide
• Device adjustments: If mobile converts 2x better than desktop, increase mobile bid +20–30%
• Audience segmentation: Use RLSA for returning visitors, create lookalike audiences for cold traffic

Expected impact: 20–40% efficiency improvement (money no longer flows to unserving geographies)

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9. Impression Share & Competitive Opportunities

What to look for:

Are there keywords where you’re not showing (impression share below 80%)?

Red flags:

• Impression share below 50% on branded keywords (you’re losing to competitors)
• Impression share below 70% on high-intent keywords (missed opportunity)
• Budget capped every day (hitting daily budget, missing auctions)

The audit:

1. Pull Impression Share report (Google Ads > Campaigns > Segment by > Impression Share)
2. Note keywords with <80% share
3. Check if “Budget” is listed as a reason (you don’t have enough money) or “Rank” (your bids or quality are low)

Example finding: “Keyword ‘accounting software Australia’ has 35% impression share. Reason: Rank. We’re losing 65% of auctions because competitors are bidding higher or have higher Quality Score. Fixing QS and increasing bid could recapture 50% of lost auctions.”

The fix:

• If reason is Budget: Increase daily budget for that campaign
• If reason is Rank: Improve Quality Score (ad copy + landing page alignment) OR increase bid
• For high-value keywords: Invest to win (impression share should be 90%+)

Expected impact: 10–30% volume increase (without proportional cost increase if you fix QS)

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Putting It All Together: The Audit Score

Rate each of the 9 areas on a scale of 1–5:

Area	Score	Weight	Weighted Score
Account Structure	2	1x	2
Keyword Match Types	2	2x	4
Negative Keywords	1	2x	2
Quality Score & Ad Copy	3	2x	6
Landing Page Relevance	2	2x	4
Conversion Tracking	1	3x	3
Budget & Bids	3	1.5x	4.5
Audience Targeting	2	1.5x	3
Impression Share	3	1x	3
Total Score	—	—	31.5 / 60

Score interpretation:

• 50–60: Account is healthy, minor optimisations only
• 35–49: Account has significant waste, 20–30% ROI improvement possible
• 20–34: Account is leaking money, 30–50% ROI improvement possible
• Below 20: Account needs major restructuring, 50%+ ROI improvement likely

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Sample Audit Findings (Real Example)

Account: Ecommerce business, $5,000/month budget, $3,000 ROAS

Audit findings:

Finding	Estimated Waste	Fix	Potential Recovery
200 Broad Match keywords wasting 25% of clicks	$1,250	Convert to Exact/Phrase	$1,250
No negative keywords (10% irrelevant clicks)	$500	Build negative list	$500
Quality Score 4.2 (should be 7.5)	$800	Improve ad copy alignment	$800
All traffic to homepage (2% conversion, should be 4%)	$500	Create product-specific landing pages	$500
40% of budget on low-intent keywords	$1,000	Reallocate to high-intent	$1,000
Total estimated monthly waste	$4,050	Combined fixes	Up to 30% ROI improvement

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After the Audit: Implementation

Audit findings are worthless if you don’t implement fixes.

Prioritise by impact:

Immediate (Week 1):

• Fix conversion tracking if broken
• Implement negative keywords (quick, high impact)
• Pause obviously bad keywords (QS 2–3, zero conversions)

Week 2–4:

• Reallocate budget to high-performing campaigns
• Improve landing pages (redirect to specific, relevant pages)
• Fix Quality Score (rewrite ad copy, ensure alignment)

Week 5–8:

• Restructure account if needed
• Implement audience targeting
• Test new bidding strategies

Ongoing:

• Review Search Terms Report monthly
• Update negative keywords
• Monitor Quality Score trends

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Summary

A PPC audit is like a financial audit for your ad spend. It finds the waste, quantifies it, and tells you exactly how to recover it.

Most accounts leak 30–50% of their budget. That’s not catastrophic—it’s fixable.

The audit checklist:

1. Account structure
2. Keyword match types
3. Negative keywords
4. Quality Score & ad copy
5. Landing page relevance
6. Conversion tracking
7. Budget allocation
8. Audience targeting
9. Impression share

Run through all 9, score each area, identify the biggest waste, and fix the highest-impact items first.

Done right, a PPC audit pays for itself 5–10x over.

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Anitech offers free PPC audits for Google Ads accounts spending $1,500+/month. We’ll identify your waste, score your account, and show you exactly how to improve. No obligation. Claim your free audit today.

Internal links:

• PPC Advertising Australia
• Google Ads Australia
• PPC Management Pricing Australia