Pay-per-click advertising can be one of the fastest routes to qualified leads, but it can also become one of the easiest places to waste budget.
A campaign that performed well six months ago may now be limited by rising costs, weaker search terms, outdated landing pages or tracking that no longer reflects the full customer journey.
That’s why a regular PPC audit is not just a technical exercise. It’s a commercial health check.
For business owners and marketing managers, the challenge is knowing where to look first.
Google Ads accounts contain campaigns, ad groups, keywords, assets, audiences, bidding strategies, conversion actions and reports. Without a clear process, an account audit can become a long list of observations rather than a practical plan for improvement.
The following PPC audit checklist gives you a structured way to review campaign performance, identify wasted spend and prioritise PPC optimisation actions that are likely to improve return on investment. It’s designed for lead generation campaigns, especially for expert-led businesses where every enquiry needs to be relevant, track-able and commercially valuable.
Why a PPC audit should form part of your regular marketing routine
A PPC audit helps you understand whether your paid search activity is still aligned with your business goals.
It’s not enough to know that campaigns are generating clicks. You need to know whether those clicks are from the right people, whether they become enquiries, and whether the cost of those enquiries is viable in terms of giving you a return.
Google has reported that businesses can achieve a strong return from well-managed Google Ads campaigns, although results vary considerably depending on the industry, competition and the quality of campaign management. That’s why regular audits are so important. They help ensure your budget is being spent effectively rather than simply generating clicks.
A good Google Ads audit should help you answer five key questions:
- Are campaigns structured around clear business priorities?
- Is spend going towards high-intent searches?
- Are conversions tracked accurately?
- Are ads and landing pages relevant enough to attract the right visitors?
- Is the account improving over time?
If you can’t answer any of these questions with confidence, it’s probably time for a PPC audit.
How often should you run a PPC audit?
For active accounts, a light campaign review should happen monthly, with a deeper PPC audit every quarter. A full audit is also useful whenever you inherit an account, launch a new website, change your service focus, see a sudden cost increase or suspect tracking issues.
Monthly checks should focus on performance movement, budget pacing and obvious waste. Quarterly audits should go deeper into structure, attribution, competitor activity, landing pages, search terms and strategic fit. The aim is not to change everything each time, but to make sure the account is still working hard for the business.
PPC audit checklist overview
Use this checklist as a practical framework:
- Business goals and conversion priorities
- Account structure
- Campaign settings
- Keyword and search term relevance
- Negative keywords
- Ad copy and assets
- Quality Score and landing page experience
- Conversion tracking
- Bidding and budgets
- Audience targeting
- Competitor analysis
- Reporting and decision-making
Each area affects campaign performance in a different way. Some checks can reveal wasted spend quickly. Others may uncover structural issues that limit long-term scalability.
1. Review business goals before platform settings
The first step in any PPC audit is to confirm what the campaigns are meant to achieve. Too many accounts are optimised around platform metrics such as clicks, impressions and average cost per click, rather than tangible business outcomes.
Start by asking:
- Which services are most profitable?
- Which locations matter most?
- What counts as a qualified lead?
- Which enquiries are low value or unsuitable?
- What is the acceptable cost per lead?
- What happens after a form submission or phone call?
This context changes how you interpret the data. A campaign with a higher cost per lead may still be valuable if it attracts high-value clients. A campaign with cheap leads may be under-performing if those leads rarely convert into sales.
At Figment Agency, we connect PPC performance to wider visibility and lead generation goals. Rather than treating paid search as a separate activity, we look at how it supports SEO, content, website conversion and sales follow-up.
2. Audit the account structure
Account structure affects control, relevance and reporting clarity. A messy structure can hide poor performance because budgets, keywords and ads are grouped too broadly.
It’s good practice to make sure campaigns are organised by clear themes such as service, location, buyer intent or funnel stage.
For example, a private health clinic may need separate campaigns for high-intent treatment searches, brand protection, local searches and remarketing. A professional services firm may need separate campaigns for different service lines, each with its own budget and landing page.
Check for these common issues:
- Too many unrelated keywords in one ad group
- Brand and non-brand traffic mixed together
- Multiple services competing for the same budget
- Search, display and Performance Max activity blended without clear reporting
- Campaign names that make performance hard to understand
A well-structured account makes PPC optimisation easier because you can see what’s working and what isn’t.
3. Check campaign settings carefully
Campaign settings are easy to overlook, but they can have a significant impact on performance. Review each campaign’s location targeting, language settings, ad schedules, networks, device performance and bidding strategy.
Location settings are particularly important for local or regional businesses. Check whether your campaigns target people who are physically in your service area or people who have simply shown an interest in it. Choosing the wrong setting could result in your ads being shown to people who are unlikely to become customers.
It’s also worth reviewing Search Partners and the Display Network. They can be valuable in the right circumstances, but they often perform very differently from Google Search campaigns. Assess their results separately so you can see whether they’re contributing to your goals or simply increasing your advertising spend.
4. Review keywords and search terms
Keyword targeting tells Google what you want to appear for. Search terms show what users actually typed. Both matter, but search terms often highlight areas where campaigns can be improved.
Look for searches that are irrelevant, too broad, informational rather than commercial, or linked to services you don’t offer. For example, a clinic advertising for private treatment may not want to pay for searches containing “NHS”, “free”, “jobs”, “training” or symptoms only, depending on the campaign goal.
Your PPC audit should identify:
- Search terms that have generated clicks but no conversions
- High-converting search terms that may justify additional budget
- Search terms that should become exact match keywords
- Search terms that should be added as negative keywords
- Keywords that attract clicks but show little commercial intent
Reviewing search terms is often one of the quickest ways to improve campaign performance. Even well-managed accounts can accumulate irrelevant searches over time.
5. Build and refine negative keyword lists
Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing for unsuitable searches. They’re essential for keeping spend focused.
Audit negative keywords at both campaign and account level. Look for gaps, duplicates and overly restrictive negatives that may block valuable traffic. Shared negative keyword lists can be useful for common exclusions such as jobs, careers, free, PDF, template, definition or training, but they should always be tailored to the business.
The best negative keyword strategy balances efficiency with learning. If you exclude too aggressively, you may miss an opportunity. If you don’t exclude enough, you pay for searches that were never likely to convert.
6. Audit ad copy and assets
Your ads should make it immediately clear who you help, what you offer and why someone should choose you. During a PPC audit, review whether the ad copy reflects the landing page, the search intent and the business differentiators.
Check that responsive search ads include a strong mix of:
- Service-specific headlines
- Location or audience references where relevant
- Trust signals such as reviews, accreditations or experience
- Clear calls to action
- Benefit-led messaging
- Proof points that are accurate and up to date
Also review assets such as sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call assets and lead form assets. Keeping them accurate and relevant makes your ads more useful to potential customers. Outdated promotions, broken links or generic sitelinks can create a poor first impression and reduce the likelihood of someone clicking through.
7. Review Quality Score and landing page experience
Quality Score is not the only metric that matters, but it is a useful signal. It reflects expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Low Quality Scores often point to poor alignment between keyword, ad and page.
During the audit, check whether each important keyword has a relevant landing page. Sending all traffic to the homepage is rarely the best approach. A user searching for a specific service expects a page that answers their question, explains the offer and gives them a clear next step.
Landing page checks should include:
- Page speed and mobile usability
- Clear headline matching the search intent
- Trust signals such as reviews, case studies and accreditations
- Clear form or phone call options
- Relevant content that supports the ad promise
- No distracting navigation or unclear next steps
This is where PPC connects directly with web design and development, and technical SEO and content marketing. Better landing pages often improve both paid and organic performance.
8. Audit conversion tracking
Conversion tracking is one of the most important parts of a Google Ads audit. If tracking is wrong, every optimisation decision becomes less reliable.
Review which conversion actions are being counted and whether they reflect meaningful business outcomes. Common conversion actions include contact forms, phone calls, appointment bookings, quote requests, downloads and live chat enquiries. Not all of these should necessarily be treated equally.
Check for:
- Duplicate conversion actions
- Old goals from previous websites
- Forms that submit but don’t record
- Phone calls counted even if they are very short
- Imported analytics goals that no longer work
- Missing thank-you pages or event tracking
- Primary conversions that include low-value actions
For lead generation, quality matters as much as volume. Where possible, connect offline sales data to campaign activity so Google can learn which leads become real customers.
9. Review bidding and budget allocation
Bidding strategy should match the amount and quality of conversion data available. Automated bidding can work well when tracking is reliable and there’s enough data. But it can amplify problems if the account is optimising towards poor-quality conversions.
Review whether campaigns are limited by budget, whether high-performing campaigns are constrained, and whether poor performers are still spending heavily. Compare cost per lead, conversion rate and lead quality by campaign.
Ask:
- Are budgets aligned with business priorities?
- Are campaigns competing against each other?
- Is the account over-reliant on one campaign type?
- Does bidding reflect lead value, not just lead volume?
- Is there a sensible testing budget for new opportunities?
PPC optimisation isn’t just about reducing cost. It’s about reallocating your spend on the campaigns that are most likely to generate profitable growth.
10. Review competitors and auction insights
Competitor analysis helps explain performance changes. If cost per click has risen or impression share has dropped, auction insights may show whether new competitors have entered the market or existing competitors have become more aggressive.
Review impression share, overlap rate, position above rate and top of page metrics. Then look at competitors’ landing pages and ad messaging. You’re not trying to copy them. You’re looking for gaps in positioning, proof, pricing, trust signals or service clarity.
For example, if competitors are emphasising fast appointments, specialist expertise or strong reviews, your ads and landing pages need to communicate why your offer is credible and relevant.
11. Turn the audit into an action plan
A PPC audit is only valuable if it leads to action. Prioritise your findings based on their potential impact and the effort needed to address them. Some changes, such as removing irrelevant search terms or pausing under-performing keywords, can be made quickly. Others, such as restructuring campaigns or improving landing pages, require more planning.
A simple priority model works well:
- Fix first: tracking errors, unnecessary spend, broken landing pages and irrelevant search terms
- Improve next: ad copy, assets, landing pages and budget allocation
- Test later: new campaign types, audiences, offers and creative approaches
End the audit with a clear list of recommended changes, why each one is needed and the metric you expect it to improve.
PPC audit takeaways
If you’re short on time, start with these five checks:
- Check that every primary conversion is still being tracked correctly.
- Review search terms from the last 30 to 90 days.
- Add negative keywords where they’re needed.
- Compare advertising spend with the quality of the leads generated.
- Review landing pages for relevance, speed and trust.
These checks won’t replace a full PPC audit, but they can help you identify the areas most likely to benefit from further investigation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a PPC audit?
A PPC audit is a structured review of a paid advertising account. It checks campaign structure, keywords, search terms, conversion tracking, bidding, budgets, ad copy and landing pages to find wasted spend and improve performance.
How often should I run a PPC audit?
Most active accounts should have a light review every month and a deeper PPC audit every quarter. You should also audit campaigns after a website launch, tracking change, service change or sudden performance drop.
What should a Google Ads audit include?
A Google Ads audit should include account structure, campaign settings, search terms, negative keywords, Quality Score, ad assets, conversion tracking, bidding strategy, budget allocation and competitor analysis.
Can a PPC audit reduce wasted spend?
Yes. A PPC audit often identifies irrelevant searches, poor-performing keywords, weak landing pages and tracking errors that cause budget to be spent without generating qualified leads.
Should PPC and SEO be reviewed together?
Yes. PPC and SEO both depend on search intent, landing page quality and website trust. Reviewing them together helps you build a stronger search strategy across paid and organic channels.
Looking to get more out of your PPC campaigns?
If your paid search campaigns are generating clicks but not enough qualified enquiries, Figment Agency can help.
Our team reviews PPC performance in the context of your wider digital strategy, from tracking and landing pages to SEO, content and conversion.
Contact us to arrange a practical PPC audit and turn your ad spend into more measurable growth with improved return on investment.
