Google Ads Audit: What to Check When Leads Are Underperforming

Jesse Heslinga
Aug 6
8 min read

When leads slow down or quality drops, most business owners start guessing. Change the budget. Switch the bid strategy. Pause the campaign. Most of the time, the fix is in a specific place and it is findable, if you look in the right order.

In accounts I run, underperforming leads almost always come back to one of six areas. Working through them in sequence takes less than an hour and usually surfaces the problem before you start making changes that make things worse.

The Short Answer

Check conversion tracking first. If it's measuring the wrong things, every number downstream is wrong.
Pull the search terms report and look at what you're actually paying for.
Check which networks and placements your ads are running on.
Look at landing page conversion rate and mobile speed.
Review whether the bid strategy has enough data to function.
Check for disapproved ads or broken assets that are limiting delivery.

1. Start with conversion tracking

This is the most important step and the most often skipped, because it feels too basic. If your conversion tracking is wrong, every other metric in the account is wrong too.

Check three things:

Are conversions firing? Go to Tools > Conversions and look at the status column. "No recent conversions" or "Inactive" on a primary conversion action means no data is coming through. This can happen after a website update, a CMS change, or a GTM misconfiguration. It happens more often than you'd think, and it can go undetected for months. Tracking phone calls from Google Ads is worth reading if calls are part of your lead mix and you're not sure the tracking is right.

Are the right things set as Primary? In Google Ads, only Primary conversion actions feed Smart Bidding. If phone calls, form fills, newsletter signups, and contact page views are all set to Primary, the algorithm optimises for all of them equally. Set the actual lead actions as Primary and the rest as Secondary.

Is there double-counting? If a form fill fires a conversion event in both Google Ads and via GA4 import, and both are Primary, you're counting every lead twice. This makes CPL look artificially low and causes bidding to overpay for clicks that only appear to be converting well.

Pro Tip: Use the Google Tag Assistant browser extension to verify tags are firing correctly on your thank-you page or confirmation step. It takes 5 minutes and rules out the most common tracking failure.

Verdict: Conversion tracking is the foundation. If it's wrong, stop here and fix it before checking anything else.

2. Pull the search terms report

The search terms report shows every actual search that triggered your ads. It is one of the most valuable reports in Google Ads and one of the most neglected.

Filter for the last 90 days. Sort by cost, descending. Look for:

Searches with spend and no conversions. These are the clearest waste. Add them as negatives.
Research-intent queries. Terms like "how to", "reviews of", "is [service] worth it", and "DIY [service]" attract people not ready to buy. Add a research-intent negative list.
Competitor brand names. If you're showing for competitor searches you didn't intend, tighten match types or add those names as negatives.
Irrelevant verticals. A dental clinic showing for "dentist software" or "dental degree programs" is paying for people with no intention of becoming patients.

Most lead-gen accounts I audit are missing 30-50 obvious negatives that would cut 10-20% of wasted spend immediately. The search terms report is where you find them.

If you're getting a lot of low-quality or spam leads, the search terms report often shows the searches driving them. Why am I getting spam leads from Google Ads covers what to look for specifically.

Keep in Mind: Google hides some search terms under "Other search terms" for privacy reasons, so you won't see 100% of what triggered your ads. The visible terms are enough to find the biggest waste.

Verdict: 20 minutes in the search terms report and a solid negatives pass clears most of the obvious budget waste in any underperforming account.

3. Check networks and placements

Google Ads has a few default settings that are easy to miss and quietly inflate CPL:

Search Partners. On by default, this setting shows your ads on Google's partner search network. For most lead-gen service businesses, Search Partners converts at a fraction of Google Search. To check: go to the campaign, click Segment, then Network. If Search Partners is running with significantly higher CPL or zero conversions, turn it off in campaign settings.

Display Expansion. If you see "Google Display Network" in your network breakdown, your Search campaigns are also showing as display ads. This almost always wastes budget for lead gen. Go to campaign settings and disable it under Networks.

Performance Max channel breakdown. PMax campaigns run across Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. For lead generation, Search tends to carry most of the quality. How Performance Max works for lead gen covers what to look for in the channel breakdown.

Setting	Where to check	Action if CPL is high
Search Partners	Campaign > Segment > Network	Uncheck in campaign settings
Display Expansion	Campaign > Segment > Network	Disable under campaign settings > Networks
PMax channel split	Insights > Performance by channel	Review asset groups, add audience signals
Device performance	Campaign > Segment > Device	Bid adjustments or separate mobile campaigns

Verdict: Check the network breakdown before blaming the bid strategy. One setting change here often explains a significant chunk of underperformance.

4. Check the landing page

A campaign can have clean conversion tracking, tight targeting, and solid bids, and still underperform because the landing page converts at 1.5% when it should convert at 5%. Half the CPL equation is what happens after the click.

Four things to check:

Conversion rate by page. In Google Ads, go to the Landing pages report and sort by conversion rate. If your main landing page is below 3%, it needs attention before any other optimisation. A well-set-up lead-gen landing page for a service business typically sits somewhere in the 4-8% range.

Mobile load time. Use Google's PageSpeed Insights (free). A page that loads in over 3 seconds on mobile loses a meaningful share of visitors before they even see your offer.

Message match. The page headline should directly match the ad that sent someone there. If the ad says "same-day roof inspection" and the landing page says "welcome to ABC Roofing Services", you're losing people at the moment they arrive.

Form length. Every extra field reduces completion rate. For most lead-gen service businesses, name, phone, and one qualifying question is enough to get the lead. Ask for more in the follow-up call.

Common mistake: Running A/B tests on ad copy while the landing page converts at 2%. The page has far more leverage than ad copy at that stage. Fix the page first.

Verdict: If the landing page is below 3% conversion rate, treat that as the primary problem and fix it before touching bids, copy, or targeting.

5. Review the bid strategy and targets

Smart Bidding works when it has enough data to work with. When it doesn't, it makes poor decisions that look like a targeting or campaign problem.

Check three things:

Conversions per month per campaign. Google recommends 50+ conversions per month per campaign for Target CPA bidding to function reliably. Below that, the algorithm doesn't have enough signal. If a campaign is getting 8 conversions a month and running Target CPA, switch to Maximize Conversions without a target until volume builds.

How long the current strategy has been running. Smart Bidding needs a learning period of 1-2 weeks after any significant change (budget increase, CPA target change, major keyword additions). Evaluating performance during a learning period produces misleading data.

CPA target versus historical performance. If the target is set significantly below what the account has actually achieved, Google limits delivery to stay within it. This looks like underperformance but is the target being too aggressive. Check the recommended target in the bid strategy report.

If your CPL was once healthy and has been climbing over time, Why is my Google Ads cost per lead going up covers the common causes in more depth.

Verdict: Before adjusting bids, check whether the algorithm has enough data and enough time. Most bid strategy problems are actually data or timing problems.

6. Check ads and assets

The last stop in an audit: the ads themselves. Ad quality matters less than targeting and landing pages in most accounts, but disapproved or stale ads can quietly hurt delivery.

Disapproved ads. Go to Ads and check the status column. A disapproved ad in a small ad group can mean only one or two ads are eligible to show, restricting reach. Fix or replace any disapproved copy.

Ad strength. Google's Ad Strength signal (Poor / Good / Excellent) flags issues like not enough headlines, too many similar headlines, or missing description lines. Aim for Good or above on your main ad groups.

Assets (formerly extensions). Check that sitelinks, callouts, and call assets are active and current. A call asset with outdated hours or a broken phone number wastes mobile clicks.

CTR by ad group. A very low CTR (below 2-3% for branded searches, below 1% for non-brand service terms) suggests poor message match between keyword and ad, or the ads are showing for searches they're not suited to.

Verdict: Ad issues rarely cause lead underperformance on their own, but they can limit delivery or waste clicks. A 10-minute ad review catches the obvious problems.

How I handle this for lead-gen businesses

When a client tells me leads are underperforming, I run through these six areas in the order above. The sequence matters: there's no point optimising ad copy when conversion tracking is broken, and no point changing bids when the landing page converts at 1.5%.

The diagnosis usually surfaces in the first two or three areas. Conversion tracking is wrong more often than people expect. The search terms report almost always has obvious waste. And checking networks often finds Search Partners running at double the CPL of Google Search.

Running through this checklist is the starting point. The deeper work is knowing what to fix in what order once the problem is found.

Ready to audit your account? If you're not sure where the problem is or don't have the time to work through it yourself, a structured account review covers all six areas and gives you a prioritised list of what to fix first.

Book a free account review

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a Google Ads audit take?

A self-audit covering conversion tracking, search terms, networks, landing page, bid strategy, and ads takes 1-2 hours for most accounts. A professional audit that goes deeper into historical data, audience performance, and account structure typically takes 3-5 hours. The most valuable part (conversion tracking and search terms) takes about 30 minutes.

What is the most common problem found in a Google Ads audit?

In accounts I audit, the most common finding is conversion tracking that is inaccurate, incomplete, or counting the wrong things as leads. Second most common is obvious waste in the search terms report that has been there for months. Both are easy to miss when you're close to the account day-to-day.

How often should I audit my Google Ads account?

A light check (search terms, conversion tracking, disapproved ads) should happen monthly. A deeper audit (networks, bid strategy, landing page, structure) is worth doing quarterly or whenever performance changes significantly. Most underperformance builds up over several months of missed check-ins.

Can I audit my own Google Ads account without experience?

The checklist above covers the most impactful areas and is doable without deep expertise. The harder part is knowing what good looks like at each step: what counts as a high CPL, what conversion rate is normal for your vertical, when bid strategy volume is too low. That context is where experience matters most.

Should I pause the campaign while auditing?

No. Pausing a campaign causes Smart Bidding to lose its learning, which means a new learning period when you re-enable it. Run the audit while the campaign is live. Make targeted changes one at a time so you can see what moved the needle.

What if the audit doesn't find an obvious problem?

Sometimes the account is structurally fine and the issue is external: a competitor improved their offer, the market slowed seasonally, or there's a positioning problem with the service itself. In those cases, an audit rules out the account as the cause and points you toward something outside the platform.

About the author

Jesse Heslinga | Google Partner | 7+ Years Google Ads | Lead-Gen Expert

I run Google Ads for lead-gen service businesses at Groove Media across clinics, home services, and professional services, working with clients directly, no account-manager layer. I build every account around one question: is this spend turning into real customers, not just cheap form fills?