Google Ads Audit in Ireland: What a Proper Account Review Covers and What to Ask For

If you already run Google Ads, the question is rarely whether the ads are live. It's whether the account is doing what you think it's doing. A Google Ads audit is a structured review that answers that. Here is what a proper one covers for an Irish business, and what to ask for before anyone looks at your account.

Why review a Google Ads account at all?

Nothing here proves a problem, but if several of these questions get a shaky answer, a review is worth doing:

• Is your spend steady while real enquiries are flat or falling?
• Can you name which campaigns produced your last few genuine customers?
• Do the enquiries you get match the services you actually want to sell?
• Are calls or forms coming from areas you don't serve?
• Has anyone changed the account structure in a long time?
• Does your report show clicks and impressions but not enquiries?

What a proper audit looks at

• Conversion tracking: what the account counts as a result, and whether that matches real enquiries.
• Campaign and keyword structure: whether services are grouped sensibly or lumped together, and whether match types let in loosely related searches.
• Search terms and negatives: the actual phrases people typed before clicking, and whether irrelevant ones are being blocked.
• Location targeting: whether the account is aimed at Dublin, Cork or nationwide, as you intend. Check the setting that decides whether you reach people in a location or also those who merely show interest in it.
• Ad copy: whether ads say what you do, where you do it and what to do next.
• Landing page match: whether the page a click lands on delivers what the ad promised.
• Audiences: if you use remarketing, who is included and who is excluded.

Check your conversion tracking first

Everything else in an audit depends on this. If the account counts the wrong things, it will optimise towards the wrong things.

A form submission, a phone call and a thank-you page view are not the same as a real lead. A thank-you page can be counted when someone refreshes it or lands on it directly. A click on a phone number records a tap, not a connected conversation. Spam and wrong-number calls can count too.

To see what is actually being counted:

• Open the conversions section and list every conversion action, noting which are set as primary and feed the main "Conversions" column.
• Compare that column with the enquiries in your inbox, call log or CRM over the same period.
• Submit a test enquiry yourself and see whether it appears, and how many times.

If the numbers don't roughly line up, fix that before judging anything else.

What to ask for from whoever audits your account

• Findings in plain English. Each point should say what was found, why it matters to your business and what to do about it.
• A prioritised list of fixes, not a hundred-item dump with everything weighted equally.
• Read-only access. A reviewer can examine the account without being able to change it. Make sure your business owns the account and its admin rights.
• No jargon-heavy report. If you can't act on it or explain it to a colleague, it isn't doing its job.

How to read the findings

Sort the list into two piles. Quick fixes are usually things like adding negative keywords, correcting a location setting, pausing clearly irrelevant keywords or removing a double-counted conversion. Bigger changes include restructuring campaigns, rewriting ads across the account or building new pages.

Sometimes the ads are fine and the problem is the page after the click. Warning signs include relevant searches but few enquiries, a slow page on mobile, a headline that doesn't echo the ad, or no obvious phone number or form. In that case, more ad tweaks won't help. Look at website improvements or dedicated landing pages, which sit alongside Google Ads management as part of the same system.

Next steps: a checklist before you talk to anyone

• Write down what counts as a real lead for your business.
• Export the last few months of enquiries from your inbox, phone log or CRM.
• Note every conversion action in the account and which are primary.
• Scan the search terms report for phrases you would not want to pay for.
• Confirm your location settings match where you actually work.
• Check that you own the account and can add a read-only user.

If you are weighing up who should manage the account, our guide to choosing a Google Ads agency in Dublin covers that separately. If you'd like a second opinion on your account, get in touch with Pay Per Click and ask about a review. You can also see how we approach different businesses on the case studies page.

FAQs

Can I audit my own Google Ads account?

Partly. You can check the conversions column against your real enquiries, read the search terms report and confirm your location settings. An outside reviewer is useful for structure and tracking set-up, and for spotting problems you've stopped noticing.

Does an audit mean I have to hire the agency that did it?

It shouldn't. A good audit gives you findings you can act on yourself, with your current provider, or with someone else. Be wary of any review that only works as a sales pitch.

What access should I give an auditor?

Read-only access is normally enough to review an account. It lets them see the settings and data without changing anything.