PPC Audit: The Wasted Spend, and the Exact Settings to Change

A PPC audit should end with a short list of settings you can change this week, each with a dollar figure next to it. Not a 60-slide deck, and not a sales pitch for a management contract.

That's what this is. For a fixed price, I go through your Google Ads account, estimate how much of last quarter's spend went to clicks that could never have become customers, and write down exactly where each fix lives: which campaign, which menu, what it says now, and what to change it to.

You can make the changes yourself, hand the list to your current agency, or ask me to do it. If you'd like that list for your account, answer a few questions about it here. I reply with a plan and a fixed quote within one business day.

Starting at $500. That covers settings, targeting, tracking, search terms, and a wasted-spend estimate for one Google Ads account.

What the PPC audit covers

• Settings. Location options, networks, ad schedule, bidding strategy, budgets, and anything Google switched on by default.
• Targeting. Keywords and match types, negative keywords, audiences, and Performance Max (PMax, Google's all-in-one campaign type) inputs.
• Tracking. Which conversion actions exist, which ones drive bidding, whether anything counts twice, and whether junk counts at all.
• Search terms. What people actually typed before they clicked, not just the keywords you bid on.
• Wasted-spend estimate. A dollar figure for the spend that went to irrelevant searches, out-of-area clicks and fake leads, with my working shown.
• The change list. A spreadsheet with one row per fix, ranked by money saved, written so someone who isn't me can carry it out.

How it works

1. You fill in the questionnaire. Your business, your service area, monthly spend, and what's bothering you about the account.
2. I reply with a fixed quote within one business day. Most single accounts are $500. A very large account, or several accounts, costs more, and I'll say why before you agree to anything.
3. You give me read-only access. Google Ads has a read-only access level that lets me see campaigns and reports without being able to change a thing. That's all I need.
4. I audit the account. Typically three to five business days. Longer if there are several accounts or a lot of PMax campaigns to unpick.
5. You get the change list. Ranked by money, written in plain English, yours to keep. If you have questions about any row, ask, and I'll answer by email.

The settings I check first (and where they hide)

Most waste in a small business account comes from a handful of settings. These are the ones I check before anything else, because they're cheap to fix and expensive to ignore.

Location option: "Presence or interest"

In campaign settings, under Locations, there's a small "Location options" link. Google's default and recommended choice is "Presence or interest", which can show your ad to people outside your area who've merely shown interest in it. For a local service business, that's usually money spent on people who can't hire you. I check where your clickers actually were, and price the out-of-area share.

Search terms nobody excluded

The search terms report shows the real searches that triggered your ads. Depending on your match types, those can be quite different from your keyword list. I sort the last 90 days by cost and tag every term that couldn't become a customer: job seekers, DIY questions, competitors' brand names you didn't mean to target, and services you don't offer. That total is usually the biggest number in the wasted-spend estimate.

Conversions that teach the wrong lesson

Under Goals, every conversion action is either primary or secondary. Primary actions are used for bidding, so if a page view or an unverified form fill is primary, automatic bidding chases it. I also check call tracking, where Google lets you set a minimum call length before a call counts. A threshold that's missing or too low lets hang-ups train your bidding.

Changes nobody remembers making

I look at auto-apply recommendations (changes Google can make for you automatically) and read through change history, which keeps two years of edits with the user beside each one. It's the quickest way to find a broad-match keyword or a bid strategy switch that someone accepted on a phone call and forgot.

Performance Max with no guardrails

PMax now accepts campaign-level negative keywords and shared negative lists, for Search and Shopping inventory. Many accounts still run it with none, plus brand searches flowing in that you'd have got for free. I check both, and whether PMax is quietly taking budget from Search campaigns that were working.

What the change list looks like

Here's the format, with three typical rows (illustrative, not from a real account):

The estimates are honest estimates. I show the data behind each one, and I'll mark a fix as "indirect" when the saving can't be measured in advance.

Who this is for (and who it isn't)

The audit is a good fit if you spend roughly $1,000 to $20,000 a month on Google Ads and any of these apply:

• You're not sure your agency, freelancer or Google rep is doing the right things
• Costs went up but calls didn't
• You run the account yourself and want a senior second opinion before you spend more
• You're about to hire someone and want to know what state the account is really in

Contractors, clinics, law firms, local retailers and SaaS startups across the US and Canada, all done remotely.

It isn't for you if you spend a few hundred dollars a month. The audit could cost more than the waste it finds. Start with my free negative keyword lists and the location fix above, which together cover a lot of small-account waste. It's also too early if the account is less than about a month old, because there isn't enough search-term data to judge yet.

PPC audit pricing

Prices are in USD as of October 2026. Canadian clients can pay in CAD at the day's exchange rate. The rest of my services are on the full BigRed price list.

If you'd like me to keep the account clean after the audit, ongoing Google Ads management with weekly optimization picks up where the change list leaves off. There's no pressure to buy it. The audit is useful on its own, and that's how I write it.

Wondering what a sensible budget even looks like for your trade? My post on Google Ads costs, from click prices to management fees runs the numbers.

Why ask me for the audit

I've spent 20+ years in search marketing, with PPC alongside SEO the whole way, and I hold the current Google Ads Search Certification (details on the about page for BigRed). I've also spent over $150,000 of my own money on paid ads. That's a strong motivation to find wasted spend quickly.

I set up GA4 and Google Tag Manager myself, too, so I can tell whether a "conversion" is a real customer or a tag firing twice. Many PPC audits stop at the ad account. Tracking problems usually start one layer below it.

PPC audit FAQ

How much does a PPC audit cost?

At BigRed, a PPC audit starts at $500 for one Google Ads account. That includes settings, targeting, tracking, search terms, a wasted-spend estimate and a change list. Free audits exist, and some are useful, but many are automated reports meant to start a sales conversation. A paid audit should hand you specific fixes you can make yourself, with no obligation to hire anyone.

What access do you need for a Google Ads audit?

Read-only access is enough. Google Ads has a read-only access level that lets me view campaigns, settings and reports but not change anything. You invite me from Admin > Access and security, using my email address, and remove me when the audit is done. I never need your Google password or billing access.

How long does a Google Ads audit take?

Typically three to five business days after I get access, for a single account. Large accounts with many campaigns, several accounts, or heavy Performance Max use take longer. You then get the written change list, ranked by money saved. I'll confirm the timeline in the quote before you agree to anything.

Will you change anything in my account?

No. The audit is read-only by design, so nothing changes without you. You get a list of exact changes, ranked by how much money each one is likely to save. You can make them yourself, pass them to your agency, or ask me to do them as a separate job or as part of monthly management.

Can you audit Microsoft Ads too?

Yes, quoted separately. Many Microsoft Ads accounts are imported from Google Ads, so they inherit the same problems, plus a few of their own, like location and network settings that didn't carry across cleanly. Mention it in the questionnaire and I'll include it in the quote.

Next step

If you've got a feeling some of your ad budget is leaking, tell me about the account in the PPC audit questionnaire. I'll reply with a fixed quote, and once I have read-only access, you'll get a change list you can actually use.