A Google Ads audit checklist is 20 checks: wasted spend, search terms, Quality Score, RSA ad strength, assets (extensions), negative keywords, impression share, bidding strategy, audience coverage, ad testing, device performance, geo performance, match type mix, URL tracking, campaign structure, ad schedule, budget pacing, conversion tracking, performance against target, and Shopping and Performance Max. They are the 20 checks PaidSync's free Google Ads audit tool scores, each from 0 to 100, over the last 30 days. Run them by hand in Google Ads with the pass marks below, or connect PaidSync to Claude or ChatGPT and have run_account_audit score all 20 in one call.
Most Google Ads checklists stop at Quality Score and search terms. This one covers the whole account: where the money goes, what people searched, how the ads and structure hold up, how bidding and targeting are set, and whether conversions are recorded at all. Every pass mark below is the value at which PaidSync's audit gives that check full marks, so the list and the score agree.
Work through the table on the last 30 days of data, or this month for budget pacing. Copy it into a sheet and tick each row that passes. Money thresholds are in the account's own currency.
| # | Check | Passes when | Where to look in Google Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wasted spend | Keywords with zero conversions hold 5% or less of keyword spend | Keywords report, last 30 days, conversions equal to 0, sorted by cost |
| 2 | Search terms | Search terms with zero conversions hold 5% or less of search term spend | Search terms report, last 30 days, sorted by cost |
| 3 | Quality Score | Average Quality Score is 7 or higher | Keywords report with the Quality Score columns added |
| 4 | RSA ad strength | 80% or more of responsive search ads are rated Good or Excellent | Ads report, Ad strength column |
| 5 | Assets (extensions) | 90% or more of Search and Display campaigns carry sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets | Assets report, by campaign |
| 6 | Negative keywords | 90% or more of spending Search campaigns have negatives from the campaign, a shared list or the account | Negative keywords and the negative keyword lists in the shared library |
| 7 | Impression share | Average search impression share is 75% or more | Campaigns report with the search impression share and lost impression share columns |
| 8 | Bidding strategy | No campaign on manual CPC with 10 or more conversions a month, and none on Enhanced CPC | Campaigns report, bid strategy type column |
| 9 | Audience coverage | 90% or more of spending Search campaigns have an audience list, interest or segment attached | Audiences report, by campaign |
| 10 | Ad testing | 80% or more of ad groups run at least two active ads | Ads report, grouped by ad group |
| 11 | Device performance | Mobile cost per conversion is no more than 1.5 times desktop | Devices report |
| 12 | Geo performance | Locations that spent more than 5 with zero conversions hold 5% or less of spend | Locations report, matched locations |
| 13 | Match type mix | Broad match holds 50% or less of keyword spend | Keywords report, segmented by match type |
| 14 | URL tracking | 5% or fewer active ads lack both a tracking template and UTM tags | Ads report final URLs, and the tracking template in account settings |
| 15 | Campaign structure | No Search ad group holds more than 30 keywords or none at all | Ad groups report with the keyword count |
| 16 | Ad schedule | Midnight to 6am does not take more than 10% of spend with zero conversions | Ad schedule report, by hour |
| 17 | Budget pacing | 90% or more of campaigns sit between half and 1.3 times the share of monthly budget expected by today | Campaigns report, this month, cost against budget |
| 18 | Conversion tracking | Conversions were recorded in the last 30 days | Goals, Conversions summary |
| 19 | Performance against target | No campaign runs 50% above its target CPA or below 70% of its target ROAS | Campaigns report, target against cost per conversion or conversion value per cost |
| 20 | Shopping and Performance Max | No asset group is rated Poor, and Performance Max recorded conversions when it spent more than 10 | Asset groups report, Ad strength, and Performance Max conversions |
Want the 20 scores without the spreadsheet? The free Google Ads audit tool runs this checklist on your account.
Run the free audit All checklistsEach check scores from 0 to 100. It reaches 100 at the pass mark, 50 at the half-marks value, and falls in a straight line between them. The overall score is the average of all 20, graded A at 80 or more, B at 60, C at 40 and D below that.
Two limits matter when you read a score. Each check reads a capped slice of the account, most expensive first, so the score reflects where the money goes rather than every keyword or ad. And a check with no data, or one that cannot finish within 22 seconds, shows a neutral 50. Read a 50 as unknown.
| Check | Full marks (100) | Half marks (50) | What the audit reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wasted spend | Keywords with zero conversions hold 5% or less of keyword spend | 20% | Enabled keywords with spend, top 200 by cost |
| Search terms | Search terms with zero conversions hold 5% or less of search term spend | 20% | Search terms with spend, top 500 by cost |
| Quality Score | Average Quality Score is 7 or higher | 5 | Enabled keywords with impressions, top 200 by cost |
| RSA ad strength | 80% or more of responsive search ads are rated Good or Excellent | 50% | Enabled responsive search ads |
| Assets (extensions) | 90% or more of Search and Display campaigns carry sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets | 60% | Campaign-level assets on enabled Search and Display campaigns |
| Negative keywords | 90% or more of spending Search campaigns have negatives from the campaign, a shared list or the account | 50% | Enabled Search campaigns with spend |
| Impression share | Average search impression share is 75% or more | 40% | Enabled Search campaigns, up to 20 |
| Bidding strategy | No campaign on manual CPC with 10 or more conversions a month, and none on Enhanced CPC | Scored by the share of campaigns without either | Enabled Search and Display campaigns |
| Audience coverage | 90% or more of spending Search campaigns have an audience list, interest or segment attached | 50% | Enabled Search campaigns with spend |
| Ad testing | 80% or more of ad groups run at least two active ads | 50% | Enabled ad groups with enabled ads |
| Device performance | Mobile cost per conversion is no more than 1.5 times desktop | 60 points up to 2.5 times, 30 above | Spend and conversions by device |
| Geo performance | Locations that spent more than 5 with zero conversions hold 5% or less of spend | 15% | Locations with more than 1 in spend |
| Match type mix | Broad match holds 50% or less of keyword spend | 65 points up to 70%, 40 above | Enabled keywords |
| URL tracking | 5% or fewer active ads lack both a tracking template and UTM tags | 25% | Enabled ads with spend, top 200 by cost |
| Campaign structure | No Search ad group holds more than 30 keywords or none at all | Scored by the share of clean ad groups | Enabled Search ad groups |
| Ad schedule | Midnight to 6am does not take more than 10% of spend with zero conversions | 40 points when it does | Spend and conversions by hour |
| Budget pacing | 90% or more of campaigns sit between half and 1.3 times the share of monthly budget expected by today | 60% | Enabled campaigns, this month |
| Conversion tracking | Conversions were recorded in the last 30 days | 40 points with actions but no conversions, 0 with no actions | Enabled conversion actions and account conversions |
| Performance against target | No campaign runs 50% above its target CPA or below 70% of its target ROAS | Scored by the share of campaigns on target, and 50 when no targets are set | Campaigns with a target CPA or target ROAS |
| Shopping and Performance Max | No asset group is rated Poor, and Performance Max recorded conversions when it spent more than 10 | 40 points on any issue | Performance Max and Shopping campaigns |
Connect PaidSync at paidsync.ai/signup, authorize Google Ads, and add the MCP endpoint https://mcp.paidsync.ai/mcp to your assistant. The setup for each assistant is in the Claude and ChatGPT guides.
Ask the assistant to run run_account_audit on the active account. It returns the overall score, the 20 check scores and each finding with its money impact, in one call. Then drill into the weakest checks: get_wasted_spend_report and get_search_terms_report for checks 1 and 2, analyze_search_term_ngrams for the word patterns behind them (the n-gram template shows how to read it), and get_keyword_performance for Quality Score and match types.
Fixes run in the same conversation. Google Ads creates, such as new negative keywords, are previewed with dry_run first, and destructive operations need confirm_destructive. Over MCP, your assistant's own confirmation is the check before a change runs, and applied changes are logged, on a best-effort basis, with a 7-day before-and-after outcome.
The 20 checks read the Google Ads account. They do not see how tags fire on your site, so duplicate conversion events, consent mode and enhanced conversions need the GA4 audit checklist and the Tag Manager audit checklist. Performance Max search themes, placement exclusions and offline conversion imports are outside the list too. For Facebook and Instagram, use the Meta Ads audit checklist.
20 checks: wasted spend, search terms, Quality Score, RSA ad strength, assets (extensions), negative keywords, impression share, bidding strategy, audience coverage, ad testing, device performance, geo performance, match type mix, URL tracking, campaign structure, ad schedule, budget pacing, conversion tracking, performance against target, and Shopping and Performance Max. Each has a pass mark, and the table on this page lists where to find it in Google Ads.
Each check scores from 0 to 100 on the last 30 days of data, or this month for budget pacing. A check reaches 100 at its pass mark, 50 at the half-marks value in the scoring table, and falls in a straight line between them. The overall score is the average of the 20, graded A at 80 or more, B at 60, C at 40 and D below that.
50 is the neutral score. A check shows it when the account has no data for it, for example no responsive search ads or no Search campaigns with impression share, or when that check could not finish within its 22-second limit. Treat a 50 as unknown, not as half good.
Run the full 20-check list once a month. Search terms, wasted spend and budget pacing move faster, so check those weekly. Re-run the full list after any big change, such as a new bid strategy, a new campaign type or a tracking change.
Only from the Google Ads side: check 18 confirms conversions were recorded. Duplicate events, consent and tag setup live in GA4 and Tag Manager, so run the GA4 audit checklist and the Tag Manager audit checklist alongside this one.
Yes. The Meta Ads audit checklist covers twelve checks for Facebook and Instagram. PaidSync's free audit tool scores Google Ads only, so the Meta checklist is run by hand or from Claude or ChatGPT with PaidSync's Meta read tools.