I've audited dozens of Google Ads accounts across ecommerce, healthcare, B2B, and local service businesses. The same handful of problems show up again and again — and most of them are invisible unless you know exactly where to look.

Here are the seven I check first.

1
No negative keyword list

This is the single most common issue I find. Without negative keywords, your ads can show up for searches that have nothing to do with what you're selling — "free," "jobs," "DIY," "cheap" — and you pay for every one of those clicks.

Fix: Pull a search terms report and look for anything irrelevant that's eaten spend. Add those as negative keywords immediately, then review this list monthly.
2
Broad match with no strategy

Broad match isn't inherently bad, but running it without tight negative keywords and strong Smart Bidding data is like giving Google a blank check on relevance. I've seen accounts where broad match alone accounted for 60%+ of wasted spend.

Fix: Start with phrase or exact match on core terms, and only expand to broad match once you have solid conversion data feeding the algorithm.
3
Conversion tracking isn't actually working

This one is sneaky — the account looks like it's tracking conversions, but on closer inspection it's counting page views as conversions, or double-counting the same lead, or missing phone call conversions entirely.

Fix: Manually test your own conversion actions — fill out the form yourself, call the number yourself — and confirm it shows up correctly in Google Ads within 24 hours.
4
Ad copy doesn't match the landing page

If your ad promises "Free Consultation" and the landing page never mentions it, your Quality Score drops and your cost per click rises — sometimes by 30-50%. Google penalizes the mismatch between promise and delivery.

Fix: Every ad group should point to a landing page that directly continues the message of the ad — same offer, same language, same next step.
5
Smart Bidding turned on too early

Automated bidding strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS need real conversion data to work — typically 30+ conversions in the last 30 days as a baseline. Switching to Smart Bidding before that data exists often makes performance worse, not better.

Fix: Run manual or enhanced CPC bidding until you have consistent conversion volume, then transition to Smart Bidding gradually.
6
One ad group, one ad, forever

If there's only ever been one version of your ad copy since the campaign launched, you have no idea what's actually working. Stale, untested ads consistently underperform against accounts running regular A/B tests.

Fix: Always run at least 2-3 ad variations per ad group and let performance data decide the winner — don't rely on gut feeling.
7
Nobody has looked at the account in weeks

Google Ads isn't "set and forget." Search trends shift, competitors change their bids, seasonal patterns move — an account left untouched for a month is almost always underperforming what it could be.

Fix: At minimum, a weekly check of search terms, budget pacing, and top-performing vs. underperforming keywords.
A real example

On one account I took over, missing negative keywords alone were responsible for roughly 35% of monthly spend going to irrelevant clicks. Fixing that one issue dropped cost per lead by nearly half within the first month — before touching anything else.

How Many of These Apply to Your Account?

If even two or three of these sound familiar, there's a strong chance your account has real, fixable waste in it right now. The good news is that most of these issues are quick to diagnose and don't require rebuilding the entire account from scratch.

Want a second pair of eyes on your account?

I'll go through it line by line and tell you exactly what's costing you money — free, no obligation.

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