Google Ads Audit Checklist: a step-by-step guide

Performing a Google Ads Account Audit is essential for both experts in contextual advertising and business owners who handle their own product promotion. It involves understanding the intricacies and following specific rules to ensure a comprehensive analysis.

To guide you through the process, a step-by-step guide created by a paid traffic channels management specialist from ADV Advantage company covers important aspects such as:

• Tracking settings
• Accuracy of conversions
• Key performance indicators
• Account structure
• Proper configuration of ad campaigns based on ad types
• Technical settings
• Common mistakes to watch out for during the audit.

Linking Google Ads and Google Analytics Accounts

To monitor the effectiveness of your advertising and track the impact of changes in your account, it is crucial to have Google Analytics properly configured.

The process of linking your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts should be executed accurately to ensure the seamless transfer of essential information. If you have access to the necessary accounts, the initial step is to verify real-time tracking: Additionally, you can utilize the Tag Assistant Legacy extension to confirm the correct installation of the tag.

Google Ads Automatic Tagging

Enabling the automatic tagging feature in your Google Ads account is crucial. It provides the following benefits:

• Importing data on expenses, traffic, and conversions
• Tracking actions on your website
• Importing conversion data into Google Ads
• Creating and importing reports with valuable information.

Google Analytics to Google Ads Conversion Import

It is important to configure and import the goals that your advertising campaigns are targeting into your Google Ads account. This enables you to track and optimize your ad campaigns effectively. Consequently, during the audit, the next step is to verify the conversion import.

In most cases, goals set up in Google Analytics are utilized for this purpose. By checking the conversion report, you can identify which goals have been successfully imported into your account.

It is worth noting that goals can also be imported from other tracking sources or through the utilization of the Google Ads tag.

Tracking Conversions Using the Google Ads Tag

You can verify the tracking of conversions using the Google Ads tag in the conversion report of your account or by using Tag Assistant. There are several advantages to setting up conversions with the Google Ads tag instead of relying solely on Google Analytics:

• Conversion information is transmitted more quickly.
• You can obtain conversion statistics from impressions, which is particularly beneficial for media campaigns.

Verifying the Accuracy of Conversion Tracking

After verifying the presence and import of conversions, it is crucial to verify the accuracy of their tracking through test events.

You can track them by using Google Tag Manager in preview mode. To do so, trigger the necessary event on your website and verify the correct functioning of the required triggers.

When testing goals directly on the website, you can utilize the UTM tag builder to easily track the tests in Google Analytics reports. The view of test conversions is available in the traffic source report or the real-time events and conversions report.

Additionally, it is essential to review the report on the number of conversions during a specific period and ensure their inclusion in campaign optimization.

The following are the 5 most common conversion tracking mistakes

When it comes to conversion tracking, it is crucial to consider the following:

• Proper functionality: It is essential to conduct tests to ensure that conversion tracking is working correctly on all versions of the website, including desktop, mobile, and different language versions.
• Accurate naming: Goals should be triggered by the actual form submission event rather than clicks or page visits. Additionally, it is recommended to give goals descriptive names such as “Click on Button” for clarity.
• Cross-domain tracking: If there are transitions between subdomains or different domains in the conversion path, it is necessary to verify and configure cross-domain tracking settings accordingly.
• Attribution models: Consistency in attribution models between Google Analytics and Google Ads is important. The widely used model is data-driven attribution, which assigns credit to different touchpoints based on their impact on conversions.
• Monitoring acceptable conversion discrepancies: It is normal to have some level of discrepancies between conversion reports and actual figures. However, it is crucial to monitor these discrepancies and keep them within an acceptable range. Significant discrepancies can result from issues with tag data collection, incorrect triggering of Gclid or UTM tags, or conversions being attributed to unintended sources, leading to loss of accurate statistical data.

ROI (Return on Investment) or ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend)

When promoting online stores, the primary metric to rely on is the return on investment (ROI). To optimize their advertising campaigns for maximum effectiveness, stores should have eCommerce set up.

ROI (return on investment) allows you to calculate the profitability of a campaign, and in successful campaigns, it yields a positive value.

Formula: ROI = (profit – marketing expenses) / marketing expenses

ROAS (return on ad spend) measures the profitability of advertising expenses. In effective campaigns, the ROAS should exceed 100%

Formula: ROAS = advertising campaign revenue / advertising campaign expenses

During an eCommerce project audit, it is crucial to analyze the performance of Shopping campaigns using these formulas. However, professionals often rely on the ROAS indicator to evaluate campaign success, as they may not always have access to information on all marketing expenses.

Conversion volume

To evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns, it is crucial to determine the number of conversions achieved in each campaign and compare their performance. However, focusing solely on quantity is not enough. A comprehensive assessment of success also considers factors such as traffic volume, visitor count, and expenses. This is where metrics like CR, CAC, and CPA come into play.

CR (conversion rate) represents the ratio of users who clicked on an ad to those who completed the desired action. A higher percentage indicates better quality ad traffic, although benchmarks may vary by industry.

Formula: CR = number of conversions / number of clicks

CAC (customer acquisition cost) refers to the cost associated with acquiring a customer.

Formula: CAC = campaign expenses / number of acquired users (customers)

CPA (cost per action) denotes the cost of a single conversion. It differs from the previous metric as one customer can make multiple conversions.

Formula: CPA = advertising expenses / number of conversions

Conversion value

A lower CPA generally indicates better performance. Therefore, reducing CPA can be a target for campaign optimization. In cases where the value of conversions is not a significant factor or remains consistent, CPA can be used to evaluate the quality of advertising.

Working with keywords

Once you’ve confirmed the functionality of conversion tracking tools, it’s crucial to assess the effectiveness of your keywords as they play a vital role in search campaigns.

Keywords should be relevant to the advertised product, not only in terms of content but also in terms of relevance type. Using broad match keywords can lead to a high volume of irrelevant queries, while exact match keywords can restrict your campaign’s reach too much. Therefore, it’s important to carefully review both keywords and search queries.

Proper grouping of keywords within campaigns is essential to ensure a well-organized distribution of your advertising budget across your account structure. Additionally, keywords can be utilized for targeting in media campaigns.

Negative keywords and search queries

In cases where search advertising experiences high demand, regularly updating the list of negative keywords becomes necessary. This list should include commonly used non-targeted words that users may include in their search queries.

Ad extensions

Google search advertising allows the promotion of products through search ads. Texts within these ads play a significant role, not only from a technical standpoint but also in terms of capturing users’ attention and distinguishing yourself from competitors. It’s always possible to test new ad variations, relying on the click-through rate (CTR) as a performance indicator.

CTR (click-through rate) measures the level of ad engagement.

Formula: CTR = (number of ad clicks / number of ad impressions) * 100%

In advertisements, it is recommended to make use of extensions to attract more user attention. The links should be functional, and including contact numbers and relevant additional information is beneficial.

Shopping advertising and feeds

When conducting an audit of Shopping campaigns, it is crucial to verify the relevance of the products. This can be done through the Merchant Center, which contains a feed with essential product information, including:

The number of approved and rejected products.
Reasons for product rejections and how to address them.
The number of parameters in the feed (if there is an opportunity to provide additional information, it should be utilized).
Proper grouping of products by type, size, brand, and the use of additional labels.

Common beginner mistakes and how to avoid them

During an audit, it is normal to overlook certain aspects. To address this, let’s list the most common things that may go unnoticed:

• Recommendations from Google Ads. Not all recommendations may align with your advertising goals, but it is important to periodically review them.
• Geotargeting. Ensure accurate location targeting and exclude locations where your products or services are not available.
• Recommendations to change strategies in campaigns. Do not disregard these suggestions.
• Dynamic remarketing.
• Semantic expansion based on keywords.
• Adding a pool of negative keywords in media campaigns.
• Change history. This helps determine the time spent on the advertising account.
• Relevance of language targeting.
• Tracking templates. Ensure their utilization.
• Availability and functionality of scripts and automation rules used for automation.

Remember, conducting an audit of your Google Ads account is a necessary procedure for both PPC specialists and business owners managing their campaigns. By following the mentioned rules and considerations, you will conduct a thorough analysis, and our step-by-step guide will assist you throughout the process.