If you are running Google Ads for an e-commerce brand and your ROAS has plateaued — or worse, you are spending more each month without proportional revenue growth — the problem is almost never "we need more budget." The problem is buried inside your account settings, campaign structure, product feed, or conversion tracking. A proper audit finds it.
This guide teaches you exactly how to audit a Google Ads account for e-commerce from scratch. It is built from over 100 audits BTB Media has conducted for D2C and e-commerce brands across India. Unlike most audit guides that walk through the Google Ads interface tab by tab, this one is organized by revenue impact. The items that cost you the most money come first. The items that fine-tune performance come later.
For every audit point, you will get five things: what to check, what "bad" looks like, what "good" looks like, how to fix it, and an estimated revenue impact. By the time you finish this Google Ads audit for ecommerce, you will have a prioritized action list that can improve ROAS by 20-40 percent within 60 days — based on our average client results.
If you prefer a scannable checklist format, we have a companion 50-point Google Ads audit checklist that distils every point into a pass-or-fail item. And if you want to understand the most common patterns we find, read our deep dive on the 7 Google Ads mistakes we see in every e-commerce account.
Quick Self-Assessment: Does Your Account Need an Audit?
Before diving into the full Google Ads account audit checklist, answer these seven questions honestly. If you answer "no" or "I don't know" to three or more, your account almost certainly has revenue leaks that a proper PPC audit will uncover.
Answer Yes or No to Each
- 1Do your Google Ads reported conversions match your Shopify/WooCommerce orders within 15 percent over the last 30 days?
- 2Can you tell me your non-branded ROAS separately from your branded ROAS right now — without pulling a report?
- 3Have your product feed titles been rewritten specifically for search intent (not just copied from your product pages)?
- 4Has someone reviewed search term reports in the last 14 days and added negative keywords?
- 5Do all your campaigns with Target ROAS or Target CPA bidding have at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days?
- 6Do you bid differently on high-margin products versus low-margin products using custom labels in your feed?
- 7Do you know your break-even ROAS for each product category, and are your bidding targets based on that number?
Scored 3 or more "no" answers? You are likely leaving 20-40 percent of your potential revenue on the table. This guide will walk you through exactly what to fix and in what order. If you want to calculate your exact break-even point first, use our free Break-Even ROAS Calculator.
Why This Audit Is Organized by Revenue Impact, Not by Tab
Most Google Ads audit guides follow the interface: start with account settings, then campaigns, then ad groups, then keywords, then ads. That structure makes logical sense if you are learning the platform. It makes terrible sense if you are trying to find the changes that will actually move your revenue.
When you audit a Google Ads account for an e-commerce brand, the highest-impact issues are rarely in the campaign settings tab. They are in conversion tracking (which corrupts every downstream decision), product feed quality (which determines whether your Shopping ads show for the right queries), and campaign structure (which controls how budget flows across your product catalog). A misplaced semicolon in your conversion tag costs you more than a suboptimal keyword match type ever will.
This guide covers each audit area in descending order of revenue impact. If you only have time to audit one section, start at the top. Everything below depends on the layer above it being correct.
1. Conversion Tracking Accuracy
Estimated Revenue Impact: 15-50% of total ad spend
Conversion tracking is the foundation of every Google Ads account. Smart Bidding, audience signals, budget allocation, and performance reporting all depend on accurate conversion data. If this layer is broken, nothing you optimize above it will produce reliable results. This is the first thing we check in every PPC audit for ecommerce because getting it wrong makes the rest of the audit meaningless.
1a. Primary Conversion Action Setup
What to check: Open Google Ads, go to Goals > Conversions > Summary. Identify which conversion actions are marked as "Primary." For e-commerce, only verified purchases should be primary.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Multiple primary conversion actions — purchases, add-to-cart events, begin-checkout events, and page views all set as primary. Or a single primary action that tracks add-to-cart instead of purchase. We see this in roughly 40 percent of accounts we audit. The result is that Smart Bidding optimizes toward a blended signal of purchases and micro-conversions, treating a cart-add and a completed order as equally valuable.
What "Good" Looks Like
Exactly one primary conversion action: verified purchases with dynamic revenue values pulled from your checkout confirmation. Add-to-cart, begin-checkout, and other micro-conversions are tracked as secondary actions — visible for reporting but excluded from bidding optimization.
How to fix: Navigate to Goals > Conversions > Summary. Click each conversion action and set micro-conversions to "Secondary." Ensure only your purchase event is "Primary" with "Every" counting method disabled — use "One" to prevent duplicate purchase counts from page refreshes.
Revenue impact: Fixing this single issue typically improves true ROAS by 15-30 percent within 4-6 weeks because Smart Bidding finally optimizes toward actual revenue instead of inflated conversion counts.
1b. Conversion Value Accuracy
What to check: Compare the total conversion value reported in Google Ads for the last 30 days against your actual revenue from your e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, or similar).
What "Bad" Looks Like
A static conversion value like $1 or $10 assigned to every purchase regardless of actual order value. Or dynamic values that include tax and shipping, inflating the reported revenue. We have seen accounts where Google Ads reported 8x ROAS but actual product revenue ROAS was 4.2x because shipping costs were included in the conversion value.
What "Good" Looks Like
Dynamic conversion values that match actual product revenue (excluding tax and shipping) within a 10 percent margin when compared to your store dashboard. Enhanced Conversions enabled and passing hashed first-party data to recover conversions lost to cookie restrictions.
How to fix: Update your Google tag or Google Tag Manager setup to pass the correct revenue value from your checkout dataLayer. Strip out tax and shipping. Enable Enhanced Conversions in your conversion action settings and configure it to pass hashed email addresses from the checkout form.
Revenue impact: Accurate values allow Target ROAS bidding to work correctly. Brands that switch from static to dynamic values typically see a 10-20 percent ROAS improvement because the algorithm can differentiate between a $25 order and a $250 order and bid accordingly.
1c. Cross-Platform Conversion Validation
What to check: Pull a 30-day conversion report from Google Ads, GA4, and your e-commerce platform. Compare the three side by side.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Discrepancies exceeding 15 percent between any two platforms. Google Ads showing 340 conversions while Shopify shows 195 orders. This usually indicates duplicate conversion tags, imported GA4 conversions running alongside native Google Ads tags, or conversion actions from third-party apps that nobody remembers installing.
What "Good" Looks Like
All three platforms within a 10 percent margin of each other. Minor differences are expected due to attribution windows and cross-device behavior, but the overall trend should align. A conversion window that matches your actual purchase cycle (typically 7-30 days for e-commerce depending on price point).
How to fix: Audit every conversion action in the account. Remove duplicates. Ensure only one purchase tracking method is active. Use transaction ID deduplication between your Google tag and your platform. Set the conversion window to match your actual purchase cycle — 7 days for impulse buys, 30 days for considered purchases.
Revenue impact: Eliminating duplicate tracking gives Smart Bidding honest data. We routinely see 20-35 percent improvement in actual (not reported) ROAS within 6 weeks of fixing conversion discrepancies.
For Business Owners
You do not need to understand the technical details of conversion tags. What you need to do is compare two numbers every month: Google Ads reported purchases versus your actual store orders. If Google says you got 200 purchases from ads but your store shows 140 total orders (including organic, direct, and other channels), something is very wrong. Show that discrepancy to whoever manages your ads and ask them to explain it.
2. Product Feed and Merchant Center Health
Estimated Revenue Impact: 20-45% of Shopping/PMax spend
Your product feed is the single biggest lever in Shopping and Performance Max campaigns. Google uses your feed titles, descriptions, and attributes to decide which searches trigger your product ads. A weak feed means missed impressions, irrelevant matches, and wasted spend. This section of the Google Ads audit ecommerce framework consistently reveals the largest revenue opportunities.
2a. Product Title Optimization
What to check: Open Google Merchant Center and review your product titles. Check whether they follow a keyword-rich structure or use internal naming conventions.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Titles like "VC-SRM-030-HYD" or "Product #4521 — Blue" or simply "Face Cream." Internal SKU codes, generic product names, or titles that miss critical attributes like brand, size, color, or key feature. Google matches Shopping ads to search queries using your product title. If it says "Face Cream" instead of "Hydrating Vitamin C Face Cream for Dry Skin — 50ml," you are invisible for specific, high-intent searches.
What "Good" Looks Like
Structured titles following: Brand + Product Type + Key Attribute + Variant (Size/Color). Every title reads like a search query someone would actually type. Example: "GlowSkin Vitamin C Brightening Serum for Oily Skin — 30ml." The most important keyword appears in the first 60 characters since Google truncates longer titles in some placements.
How to fix: Export your feed, rewrite every title using the structured format, and upload via a supplemental feed or feed management tool. If you have hundreds of products, prioritize your top 20 percent by revenue first. Use a supplemental feed in Merchant Center to override titles without changing your primary data source.
Revenue impact: Optimized titles typically improve qualified impressions by 30-50 percent and increase Shopping CTR by 15-25 percent. We have seen ROAS improvements of 25-40 percent from title optimization alone in feeds that were previously using default product names.
2b. Custom Labels and Feed Completeness
What to check: Review whether custom labels (custom_label_0 through custom_label_4) are populated. Check product descriptions, Google Product Category specificity, GTIN/MPN fields, and image compliance.
What "Bad" Looks Like
No custom labels set up at all, meaning you cannot segment bidding by margin, best-seller status, or seasonal relevance. Descriptions shorter than 50 words. Google Product Category set to a top-level parent instead of the most specific subcategory. Missing GTINs for products where they exist. Images with watermarks, promotional overlays, or non-white backgrounds that risk disapproval.
What "Good" Looks Like
At least three custom labels in use: margin tier (high, medium, low), best-seller flag, and seasonal/promotional tag. Descriptions exceeding 150 words with keyword-rich, benefit-focused copy. Google Product Category set to the deepest available level. All applicable GTINs and MPNs populated. Clean product images that meet Google's specifications.
How to fix: Add custom labels through a supplemental feed. Map your margin data to custom_label_0, sales velocity to custom_label_1, and seasonal relevance to custom_label_2. Use these labels to create separate campaigns or asset groups with different bidding strategies — aggressive bids for high-margin products, conservative or excluded for low-margin items.
Revenue impact: Custom labels enable margin-based bidding, which typically improves profit-adjusted ROAS by 30-60 percent. One client saw their ad-attributed profit increase by $11,400 per month on the same budget simply by shifting spend from low-margin to high-margin products.
2c. Merchant Center Disapprovals and Data Freshness
What to check: In Merchant Center, review the Diagnostics tab for disapprovals, warnings, and data quality issues. Check feed refresh frequency and price/availability match accuracy.
What "Bad" Looks Like
More than 5 percent of active products disapproved. Feed updating less than once per day. Price or availability mismatches between your feed and live website (this triggers automatic suspension warnings). Out-of-stock products still active in the feed, costing you clicks for items shoppers cannot buy.
What "Good" Looks Like
Zero disapprovals and zero warnings. Feed refreshing at least daily (multiple times daily for fast-moving inventory). Automated rules to suppress out-of-stock items. Price accuracy verified through Merchant Center's automatic price crawl.
How to fix: Resolve all disapprovals in the Diagnostics tab. Set up automated feed scheduling (at least daily). Configure availability rules to exclude out-of-stock products. If you are on Shopify, use the native Google channel app or a feed management tool like DataFeedWatch to automate these updates.
Revenue impact: Fixing disapprovals immediately recovers lost impressions for those products. Eliminating out-of-stock ad spend saves 5-15 percent of Shopping budget that was going to dead-end clicks.
For Business Owners
Think of your product feed as the store shelf inside Google. If the labels are wrong, the prices are stale, or the photos are blurry, nobody picks up the product. Ask your ads manager to show you the Merchant Center Diagnostics tab. If you see red warnings, that is money you are losing right now. If they are not using custom labels to separate high-margin from low-margin products, you are bidding the same amount to sell a product that makes you $5 profit as one that makes you $50.
3. Campaign Structure and Budget Allocation
Estimated Revenue Impact: 15-35% of total ad spend
Campaign structure determines how your budget flows across products, objectives, and audience segments. Poor structure is the silent killer of e-commerce Google Ads accounts — it does not trigger any alerts, does not show red in any dashboard, and quietly misallocates thousands per month. This is a critical section of any Google Ads account audit checklist.
3a. Branded vs. Non-Branded Campaign Separation
What to check: Determine whether branded search terms (your brand name and close variations) are separated from non-branded prospecting campaigns. Check Performance Max for brand exclusions.
What "Bad" Looks Like
All search terms — branded and non-branded — mixed in the same campaigns. Performance Max running without brand exclusions, cannibalizing branded search traffic and inflating PMax ROAS. The blended ROAS looks great (often 6x or higher), but non-branded ROAS buried inside is 1.2x or worse. You think acquisition is working when it is actually unprofitable.
What "Good" Looks Like
Dedicated branded search campaign with high ROAS targets and conservative budget. Separate non-branded campaigns with realistic ROAS targets based on actual acquisition economics. Performance Max campaigns with brand exclusions enabled. You can report non-branded ROAS and branded ROAS independently at any time.
How to fix: Create a dedicated brand campaign with exact match and phrase match brand keywords. Add your brand name as a negative keyword in all non-branded campaigns. Enable brand exclusions in Performance Max settings. Rebuild your ROAS targets for each segment based on true economics — use our Break-Even ROAS Calculator to determine the right targets.
Revenue impact: Separating branded from non-branded typically reveals that 30-65 percent of reported "acquisition" spend was actually going to brand traffic. Reallocating that budget to properly optimized non-branded campaigns usually increases new customer acquisition by 25-40 percent.
3b. Overall Campaign Architecture
What to check: Review the total number of campaigns, their naming convention, segmentation logic, and whether any campaigns compete against each other for the same products or audiences.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Too many campaigns for the conversion volume (over-segmented), starving each campaign of the data it needs for Smart Bidding. Or too few campaigns (under-segmented), with all products and objectives lumped together. Inconsistent naming conventions that make analysis slow and error-prone. Multiple campaign types (Shopping, PMax, Search) all competing for the same product group without clear priority rules.
What "Good" Looks Like
Campaign count scaled to conversion volume — each campaign generating at least 30 conversions per month for effective Smart Bidding. Clear segmentation by objective (prospecting, retargeting, brand defense). Consistent naming convention that includes campaign type, objective, and target segment. No internal competition between your own campaigns for the same inventory.
How to fix: Consolidate low-volume campaigns that share similar products or objectives. Use our free Campaign Structure Generator to design an architecture matched to your catalog size and monthly spend. Establish priority rules between campaign types so they complement rather than compete with each other.
Revenue impact: Proper structure alone can improve ROAS by 15-25 percent by eliminating internal competition and ensuring every campaign has sufficient data to optimize.
For Business Owners
Ask your ads manager this question: "What is our non-branded ROAS?" If they cannot answer immediately or say it is the same as overall ROAS, your campaigns are not properly segmented. Also ask: "How many of our campaigns have at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days?" If most have fewer than 10, the account is over-segmented and Smart Bidding cannot do its job.
4. Bidding Strategy Alignment
Estimated Revenue Impact: 10-30% of total ad spend
Bidding strategy determines how aggressively Google competes for each auction on your behalf. The right strategy with the wrong target, or the right target on a campaign without enough data, creates waste that compounds daily.
4a. Bid Strategy and Conversion Volume Match
What to check: For every campaign using Target ROAS or Target CPA, check whether it has at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Target ROAS or Target CPA applied to campaigns with fewer than 15 conversions per month. The algorithm does not have enough signal to make accurate predictions, so it either throttles spend (barely delivering) or spends erratically with wild performance swings. We have seen campaigns with 3 conversions per month set to a tROAS of 400 percent — the algorithm was essentially paralyzed.
What "Good" Looks Like
Target ROAS or Target CPA campaigns with 30 or more conversions in the past 30 days. Lower-volume campaigns on Maximize Conversions (with budget caps) until they hit the 30-conversion threshold. Bid targets derived from actual business economics — your break-even ROAS calculation, not an arbitrary round number.
How to fix: Audit every campaign's conversion volume. Campaigns below 30 conversions per month should be consolidated with similar campaigns or switched to Maximize Conversions. Campaigns above the threshold should use Target ROAS with targets based on your actual margins. Change targets gradually — no more than 15-20 percent at a time — to avoid resetting the learning period.
Revenue impact: Matching bid strategies to volume tiers typically recovers 10-25 percent of wasted spend from under-performing low-volume campaigns and improves overall account ROAS by 15-20 percent within the first month.
4b. ROAS Target Calibration
What to check: Compare your Target ROAS setting to your calculated break-even ROAS for each product category.
What "Bad" Looks Like
A single ROAS target (like 400 percent) applied across all campaigns regardless of product margins. Your skincare line with 70 percent margins has the same target as your accessories line with 30 percent margins. The high-margin products are under-invested (the target is too conservative) and the low-margin products are over-invested (the target is not aggressive enough to ensure profitability).
What "Good" Looks Like
ROAS targets calibrated per product category or margin tier. High-margin products get a moderate target (allowing Google to bid more aggressively and capture more volume). Low-margin products get a stringent target or are excluded from paid advertising entirely. Every target is documented with the underlying margin math.
How to fix: Calculate your break-even ROAS for each product category using the formula: Break-Even ROAS = 1 / Gross Margin %. Then set your target above that threshold to ensure profitability. Our Break-Even ROAS Calculator handles this math for you and accounts for shipping, returns, and gateway fees.
Revenue impact: Proper ROAS calibration shifts budget from low-margin to high-margin products automatically. Brands typically see a 30-60 percent improvement in profit-adjusted ROAS even when headline ROAS changes only modestly.
For Business Owners
If your ads manager cannot tell you the break-even ROAS for your main product categories, your bidding targets are guesses. Ask them: "What ROAS do we need to break even on our best-selling product after COGS, shipping, and returns?" That number should be the floor for your bid targets. Anything below it means you are losing money on every sale those ads generate.
Halfway Through the Audit — Already Found Issues?
Most e-commerce brands uncover 10-20 action items before they even reach the campaign-level sections. If you want an expert to run this entire audit for you — with a prioritized action plan and revenue-impact scoring — we can help.
Request a Professional Audit5. Performance Max Campaign Configuration
Estimated Revenue Impact: 10-30% of PMax spend
Performance Max is where most e-commerce ad budgets live in 2026, and it is also where the most money gets wasted without anyone noticing. PMax obscures search terms, placements, and audience-level data by design, which means you have to be even more deliberate about the inputs you control.
5a. Asset Group Completeness and Quality
What to check: Review each asset group for headline count, description count, image variety, and video presence. Check the asset performance ratings in the Google Ads interface.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Asset groups with fewer than 5 headlines, 3 descriptions, or 3 images. No video assets (Google will auto-generate low-quality videos that typically perform poorly). Multiple assets rated as "Low" in the performance column. A single asset group trying to cover your entire product catalog.
What "Good" Looks Like
Each asset group has 10+ headlines, 5 descriptions, 10+ images (mix of product shots, lifestyle images, and social proof), and at least 1 custom video. Asset groups are segmented by product category or theme rather than covering everything. All assets rated "Good" or "Best" — any "Low" assets have been replaced.
How to fix: Fill every asset slot to maximum capacity. Replace any "Low"-rated assets with new variations. Create separate asset groups for distinct product categories so that headlines and images match the products being promoted. Upload at least one custom video per asset group — even a simple 15-second product demo outperforms Google's auto-generated videos.
Revenue impact: Fully populated asset groups with quality creative typically improve PMax ROAS by 10-20 percent. Custom video assets specifically can lift YouTube and Display placements by 25-40 percent compared to auto-generated alternatives.
5b. Audience Signals, Brand Exclusions, and URL Expansion
What to check: Review audience signals for each asset group (should include remarketing lists and custom intent segments). Check whether brand exclusions are enabled. Verify URL expansion settings.
What "Bad" Looks Like
No audience signals configured (the algorithm starts completely cold with no direction). Brand exclusions disabled (PMax claims credit for branded searches, inflating its reported ROAS). URL expansion left on default, sending traffic to blog posts, about pages, or other non-commercial pages that will never convert.
What "Good" Looks Like
Rich audience signals including your remarketing lists (segmented by funnel stage), Customer Match lists, and custom intent audiences built from competitor and product keywords. Brand exclusions enabled. URL expansion either disabled or configured with explicit URL exclusion rules that block non-commercial pages.
How to fix: Add audience signals to every asset group — start with your remarketing lists (cart abandoners, past purchasers, site visitors) and add custom intent segments based on your top non-branded keywords and competitor brand names. Enable brand exclusions in the campaign settings. Turn off URL expansion or add exclusion rules for /blog, /about, /contact, and any other non-product pages.
Revenue impact: Proper audience signals reduce PMax learning time by 40-60 percent. Brand exclusions alone can reveal that PMax's "real" non-branded ROAS is 30-50 percent lower than reported, freeing budget for actual prospecting.
6. Search Campaign Hygiene
Estimated Revenue Impact: 10-25% of Search spend
Search campaigns give you the most control of any Google Ads campaign type, which also means they accumulate the most technical debt over time. Keyword bloat, stale negatives, match type misconfigurations, and neglected search terms are the silent budget drains in this part of your PPC audit ecommerce review.
6a. Search Term Review and Negative Keywords
What to check: Pull the search terms report for the last 30-60 days. Calculate what percentage of spend went to queries that are irrelevant, informational, or have zero purchase intent.
What "Bad" Looks Like
More than 10 percent of search spend going to irrelevant queries. Common offenders: "free" queries, DIY tutorials, competitor brand names you are not intentionally targeting, informational queries ("how to", "what is"), and geographic modifiers that do not match your delivery areas. Search terms not reviewed in more than 14 days.
What "Good" Looks Like
Less than 5 percent of spend on irrelevant queries. A comprehensive negative keyword list organized by theme (informational, free-seekers, competitors, geographic). Weekly review cadence with documented additions. Negative keywords applied at both campaign and account levels where appropriate.
How to fix: Export 60 days of search terms. Sort by cost descending. Flag every query that has no purchase intent and add it to your negative keyword list. Organize negatives into themed shared lists (informational, free/sample, competitor, etc.) for easier management. Set a recurring weekly calendar reminder to review and update.
Revenue impact: Cleaning up search terms typically recovers 10-25 percent of wasted search budget. One brand we audited was losing $14,000 per quarter to queries like "free skincare samples" that had zero chance of converting.
6b. Ad Copy Quality and Extension Coverage
What to check: Review Responsive Search Ads for headline variety, pinning strategy, and ad strength score. Check that all applicable extensions are active: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, price extensions, and promotion extensions.
What "Bad" Looks Like
RSAs with fewer than 8 unique headlines. No pinning strategy (key value propositions may not show). Ad strength rated "Poor" or "Average." Missing extensions — especially sitelinks and callouts, which are free and increase CTR by 10-20 percent. Landing page URLs pointing to the homepage instead of the relevant product or category page.
What "Good" Looks Like
RSAs with 12-15 unique headlines covering benefits, features, social proof, and urgency. Strategic pinning ensures at least one core value proposition always appears. Ad strength rated "Good" or "Excellent." All 5 extension types active with fresh, relevant content. Landing pages matched to ad group intent.
How to fix: Fill all RSA headline and description slots. Pin your strongest value proposition to position 1. Add all missing extensions. Verify that every ad group sends traffic to the most relevant landing page, not a generic homepage or broad category page.
Revenue impact: Full extension coverage alone improves CTR by 10-20 percent. Matched landing pages improve conversion rate by 15-30 percent compared to generic destinations. Combined, these optimizations typically improve search campaign ROAS by 15-25 percent.
7. Audience Strategy and Remarketing Setup
Estimated Revenue Impact: 10-20% of total ad spend
Audiences control who sees your ads and how much you bid for different segments. A weak audience strategy means you treat a first-time visitor and a cart abandoner identically — which is like treating a window shopper and someone holding their wallet the same way. This section of the audit of your Google Ads account often reveals quick wins that take minimal effort to implement.
7a. Remarketing List Segmentation
What to check: Review your remarketing lists in the Audience Manager. Check whether lists are segmented by funnel stage and whether Customer Match lists are uploaded and current.
What "Bad" Looks Like
One "All Visitors" remarketing list with no segmentation. No Customer Match lists uploaded. No audience exclusions — recent purchasers see the same acquisition ads as first-time visitors. In-market and affinity audiences applied as targeting restrictions instead of observation layers.
What "Good" Looks Like
Separate remarketing lists for site visitors (7-day, 30-day), product viewers, cart abandoners, and past purchasers. Customer Match list uploaded and refreshed monthly. Recent purchasers excluded from acquisition campaigns for at least your average reorder window. In-market and affinity audiences applied as observation layers to inform bid adjustments.
How to fix: Create segmented remarketing lists in Audience Manager based on funnel stage. Upload your customer email list as a Customer Match audience. Set up exclusion rules so that customers who purchased in the last 30 days (or your specific reorder window) are excluded from prospecting campaigns. Apply in-market audiences in observation mode to discover which segments convert best.
Revenue impact: Proper audience segmentation and exclusions typically improve ROAS by 10-20 percent by eliminating wasted retargeting spend on recent buyers and allowing higher bids on high-intent segments like cart abandoners.
For Business Owners
Have you ever bought something online and then immediately started seeing ads for the same product you just purchased? That is what happens when audience exclusions are not set up. Every time one of your recent customers sees your ad and does not click, it costs you nothing — but when they do click out of curiosity, you pay for a click from someone who already bought. Ask your manager if recent purchasers are excluded from prospecting campaigns.
8. Landing Page Performance
Estimated Revenue Impact: 10-25% of total ad spend
You can have perfect tracking, an optimized feed, flawless campaign structure, and calibrated bids — but if the landing page fails to convert, you are still pouring money into a leaky bucket. Landing page audit is the final layer because it only matters once everything upstream is working correctly.
8a. Page Speed and Mobile Experience
What to check: Run your top 10 landing pages through Google PageSpeed Insights. Check mobile load time, Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS), and above-the-fold content rendering.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Mobile load time above 3 seconds. Failed Core Web Vitals. Product images that take 5 or more seconds to load. Add-to-cart button below the fold requiring scroll to find. Pop-ups that block the page within the first 3 seconds. Missing trust signals (reviews, shipping info, return policy) above the fold.
What "Good" Looks Like
Mobile load time under 2.5 seconds. All Core Web Vitals passing. Product title, price, primary image, add-to-cart button, and trust signals (star rating, shipping info) all visible above the fold on mobile without scrolling. No intrusive pop-ups during the first 5 seconds.
How to fix: Optimize images (use WebP format, lazy load below-fold images). Remove unnecessary scripts and third-party trackers that slow load time. Restructure above-the-fold content to include all critical conversion elements. Delay pop-ups by at least 5 seconds or trigger them on exit intent only.
Revenue impact: Every 1-second improvement in load time increases conversion rate by 7-12 percent. Slow landing pages also increase CPCs by lowering your Quality Score. Combined page speed and UX improvements typically boost landing page conversion rate by 15-30 percent.
8b. URL and Content Match Accuracy
What to check: Click through a sample of your actual live ads (Shopping, Search, and PMax) and verify that the landing page matches the product or offer shown in the ad.
What "Bad" Looks Like
Shopping ads landing on the homepage instead of the product page. Search ads for "organic baby pajamas" landing on a generic clothing category page. Products that are out of stock showing an "email me when available" form instead of an add-to-cart button. Conversion rate for mismatched pages is typically 0.3-0.8 percent versus 3-5 percent for properly matched pages.
What "Good" Looks Like
Every ad click lands on the specific product or category page shown in the ad. Out-of-stock products are automatically suppressed from ad serving. The landing page content directly continues the conversation started by the ad — same product, same price, same offer.
How to fix: Audit every product URL in your feed. Fix any that point to the homepage or wrong category page. Set up automated rules to pause out-of-stock products. For search campaigns, verify that each ad group's final URL matches the intent of its keyword theme.
Revenue impact: Fixing landing page mismatches can improve conversion rate by 60-150 percent on affected products. One brand we audited recovered $6,200 per month in wasted clicks that were going to mismatched or out-of-stock pages.
For Business Owners
Here is a simple test: search for one of your products on Google, click your own ad, and see where it takes you. Does it go directly to that product page? Can you add it to cart within 3 seconds of landing? If not, you are paying for clicks that lead to a dead end. Do this for 10 random products and you will quickly see whether your landing page setup is costing you sales.
9. Account-Level Settings and Network Defaults
Estimated Revenue Impact: 5-15% of total ad spend
Google enables several default settings that benefit their revenue but not necessarily yours. This final section of the audit catches the "set it and forget it" traps that quietly bleed budget every month.
9a. Network and Location Settings
What to check: Review each campaign's network settings (Search Partners, Display Network) and location targeting method (presence vs. presence or interest).
What "Bad" Looks Like
Search Partners and Display Network opt-ins enabled on search campaigns (these are on by default). Location targeting set to "Presence or interest" instead of "Presence" — meaning your India-only store is showing ads to people in other countries who are merely "interested in" India. Both of these quietly expand your reach to lower-quality placements and irrelevant geographies.
What "Good" Looks Like
Search Partners disabled unless you have tested and confirmed they perform at or above your main search benchmarks. Display Network disabled on search campaigns. Location targeting set to "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations." Language settings matching your actual customer base.
How to fix: Go to campaign settings for every search campaign. Uncheck Search Partners and Display Network. Change location targeting method to "Presence" only. Verify language settings match your target audience.
Revenue impact: Disabling Search Partners alone saves 5-15 percent of budget that was going to low-quality partner sites. Fixing location targeting eliminates wasted clicks from people outside your delivery area.
Putting It All Together: Your Audit Action Plan
Now that you know how to audit a Google Ads account for e-commerce, here is how to turn your findings into a prioritized action plan. Work through the sections in order because each layer depends on the one above it.
Week 1: Critical Fixes
Conversion tracking accuracy, primary conversion action cleanup, and cross-platform validation. These affect every decision downstream. Fix them first, even if it means pausing campaigns temporarily.
Weeks 2-3: High Impact
Product feed optimization, branded/non-branded separation, campaign structure consolidation, and bid strategy realignment. These are the changes that typically produce the 20-40 percent ROAS improvement.
Weeks 4+: Optimization
PMax asset quality, search term cleanup, ad copy refresh, audience segmentation, landing page speed, and account-level defaults. These refine performance once the foundation is solid.
For a printable version you can use alongside this guide, download our 50-point Google Ads audit checklist with every check from this article in a scannable format.
If you also run Meta Ads alongside Google, we recommend pairing this audit with our Facebook Ads audit guide for e-commerce so you can evaluate your entire paid media stack at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I audit my Google Ads account for e-commerce?
Run a full Google Ads audit at least once per quarter for active e-commerce accounts. If you spend more than 5 lakh per month, do a focused mini-audit monthly covering conversion tracking, bidding, and search terms. After any major change like a product launch, seasonal sale, or platform migration, run the full audit immediately regardless of schedule.
What is the most important thing to check in a Google Ads audit?
Conversion tracking accuracy is the single most important item. If your tracking is double-counting, under-counting, or optimizing toward the wrong action, every decision you make based on that data will be flawed. Compare Google Ads reported conversions to your actual store orders over a 30-day window. If the gap is more than 15 percent, fix tracking before touching anything else in the account.
How long does a proper Google Ads audit take?
A thorough PPC audit for an e-commerce account typically takes 4-8 hours depending on account size and complexity. An account with 5-10 campaigns and a clean structure can be audited in 4 hours. An account with 30 or more campaigns, multiple product feeds, and years of accumulated settings will take closer to 8 hours. Professional audits usually include a written findings report and prioritized action plan, which adds additional time.
Can I audit my Google Ads account myself or do I need a professional?
You can absolutely run a self-audit using a structured framework like this guide. Every check includes clear criteria for what good and bad look like. However, a professional auditor brings pattern recognition from hundreds of accounts, access to benchmarking data, and the ability to spot non-obvious interactions between settings. If you are spending more than 3 lakh per month on Google Ads, the ROI on a professional audit typically pays for itself within 30 days.
What ROAS improvement can I expect from a Google Ads audit?
Based on our data from over 100 e-commerce audits, brands typically see a 20 to 40 percent ROAS improvement within 60 days of implementing audit recommendations. The largest gains come from fixing conversion tracking, restructuring branded versus non-branded campaigns, and optimizing product feeds. Accounts that have never been audited tend to see the highest improvements.
What is the difference between a Google Ads audit and an account review?
An account review is a surface-level check of key metrics like spend, ROAS, and conversion volume. An audit is a systematic examination of every layer of the account — tracking setup, account structure, product feed quality, campaign settings, bid strategies, audience configuration, search terms, and landing pages — with specific pass or fail criteria for each point. Reviews tell you what happened. Audits tell you why it happened and how to fix it.
Should I pause my Google Ads campaigns during an audit?
Generally no. Keep campaigns running during the audit so you can observe live data. The one exception is if you discover that conversion tracking is severely broken — for example, double-counting purchases or optimizing toward the wrong conversion action. In that case, pause campaigns, fix tracking, then restart. Running campaigns on broken tracking wastes budget and trains the algorithm on bad data, making recovery harder.
How do I know if my agency is managing my Google Ads account well?
Use this audit as an accountability framework. Ask your agency to walk through each section and explain their configuration choices. Red flags include: conversion counts that do not match your store data, no separation between branded and non-branded campaigns, search term reports not reviewed in months, default product feed titles without optimization, and a single bid strategy applied to all campaigns regardless of volume. If your agency cannot clearly explain these items, consider an independent audit from a third party.
What tools do I need to audit a Google Ads account?
You need access to Google Ads, Google Merchant Center (for Shopping and Performance Max campaigns), Google Analytics 4, and your e-commerce platform dashboard (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.) for cross-referencing conversion data. Google Tag Assistant helps verify tracking implementation. Google PageSpeed Insights checks landing page performance. No paid third-party tools are required for a thorough audit, though tools like Optmyzr or Adalysis can speed up certain checks for large accounts.
Is a Google Ads audit different for e-commerce versus lead generation?
Yes, significantly. E-commerce audits must cover product feed quality, Merchant Center health, Shopping campaign structure, Performance Max asset groups, margin-based bidding, and dynamic remarketing — none of which apply to lead generation. E-commerce also requires auditing conversion value accuracy (not just conversion counts) because Smart Bidding optimizes toward revenue, not just volume. This guide is specifically built for e-commerce and D2C brands running Google Ads.
Want Us to Run This Audit for You?
BTB Media runs a structured audit across every section in this guide — with detailed findings, revenue-impact scoring, and a prioritized action plan. Most e-commerce brands see a 20-40 percent ROAS improvement within 60 days of implementing our recommendations.
We work with e-commerce and D2C brands across India. Our audit process covers conversion tracking, product feed quality, campaign structure, bid strategy, audience setup, and landing page performance — everything in this guide and more.
Continue Reading
Google Ads Audit Checklist: 50 Points That Actually Matter
The scannable, printable companion to this guide.
Deep Dive7 Google Ads Mistakes We See in Every E-Commerce Account
Real audit stories with real numbers and real fixes.
ToolBreak-Even ROAS Calculator
Calculate the minimum ROAS you need to be profitable on every product category.