The short answer
A monthly Google Ads account health audit should look beyond last week’s CPA. It should answer six questions:
Can measurement and campaign settings be trusted? Check auto-tagging, networks, location options, languages, schedules, and other live settings.
Is the account structured for clear decisions? Review enabled campaigns, ad groups, keyword counts, and match-type patterns.
Where is relevance weakening? Use Quality Score and its components as diagnostic evidence, not as a KPI to maximize.
Is basic traffic control present? Check negative-keyword coverage, then inspect search terms before adding exclusions.
Do geography, devices, and visibility expose a constraint? Compare outcomes by segment and separate lost impression share caused by budget from loss caused by rank.
Is the creative structure review-ready? When useful, inspect responsive search ad asset counts and pinning without assuming that more assets always mean better ads.
The result should not be a wall of warnings. It should be a decision queue: Act on verified risks, Investigate context-dependent signals, and Monitor issues that lack enough evidence.
Monthly health is different from daily and weekly optimization
The cadence changes the job. A daily check catches delivery exceptions. A weekly audit finds near-term optimization candidates. A monthly or quarterly health audit looks for structural debt that can quietly distort performance for weeks.
Audit | Primary question | Typical evidence | Best output |
|---|---|---|---|
Daily operations | Is anything urgent happening now? | Delivery, pacing, stopped-serving campaigns, sudden spend changes | Operational exceptions |
Weekly optimization | What deserves a performance decision? | Period trends, mature search terms, keywords, bids, disapprovals, RSAs | Prioritized optimization candidates |
Monthly account health | Is the account structurally sound and interpretable? | Settings, structure, Quality Score, negatives, geo, devices, visibility, optional RSA structure | Act, Investigate, and Monitor queue |
A monthly audit can include performance, but only to give structural findings context. A setting is not automatically wrong because it differs from a preference. A weak metric is not automatically caused by the nearest configuration warning.
Start with scope before looking for problems
An audit becomes unreliable when the reviewer does not know what actually ran. Define these inputs first:
the Google Ads customer ID and connected identity;
the audit period and comparison period;
the account time zone and currency;
whether only enabled campaigns are in scope;
whether responsive search ad structure should be included;
row and finding limits for a large account;
whether a reusable checklist is needed;
how long downloadable exports must remain available.
For a stable account, a 90-day window compared with the preceding 90 days is a useful default. It gives slow-moving patterns more room to appear than a seven-day review. It can still mislead when the business is seasonal, the conversion cycle is long, or the account changed materially during either period. In those cases, choose explicit dates and explain why the comparison is fair.
Before interpreting a finding, confirm whether the audit is complete, partial, or capped. A successful response can still contain incomplete coverage if a section failed, a metric was unavailable, or a row limit cut off part of a large account.
A six-layer Google Ads account health audit
1. Check measurement and campaign settings
Start with the settings that determine what traffic enters the account and whether clicks can be measured consistently.
Review:
auto-tagging status;
Search and Display Network participation;
positive location targeting mode;
languages;
campaign schedules;
bidding and budget configuration;
available start, end, device, and other campaign settings.
Treat configuration patterns as questions, not verdicts. A Search campaign opting into the Display Network deserves review because it combines unlike inventory. It may still be intentional. Multiple languages can be correct for a multilingual market. A broad location option may be appropriate for tourism or relocation demand, while a local service business may prefer presence-based targeting.
The important step is to restate the consequence in plain language: who can enter, where the ad can show, when it can show, and how the click will be attributed.
2. Review performance and account structure together
Compare campaign performance with the previous period, then use structure to explain where analysis may be blurred.
Look for:
enabled campaigns with meaningful changes in cost, clicks, conversions, or efficiency;
ad groups with many enabled keywords;
match-type distributions and their performance;
structures that combine unrelated search intent;
naming or ownership ambiguity that makes future reviews harder.
A threshold such as “more than 15 enabled keywords in an ad group” is a review prompt, not a universal law. Fifteen tightly related variants can be cleaner than five keywords representing unrelated buying jobs. The marketer must inspect the theme, search terms, ads, and landing page before proposing a restructure.
Use period comparisons as context, too. A structural warning matters more when the same entity also carries meaningful spend, declining conversion quality, or unclear ownership.
3. Diagnose Quality Score without chasing the score
Google describes Quality Score as a keyword-level diagnostic tool, not a key performance indicator or an auction input. Its three components are:
expected click-through rate;
ad relevance;
landing-page experience.
That makes the distribution useful for locating patterns. It does not make an account-wide average a business target.
Pattern | Plausible interpretation | Review next |
|---|---|---|
Below-average expected CTR across a theme | The offer or message may not earn attention for that intent | Search terms, ad promise, differentiation, and position |
Below-average ad relevance | The keyword theme and ad may be speaking different languages | Ad-group theme, queries, RSA assets, and landing-page promise |
Below-average landing-page experience | The destination may not satisfy the searcher’s need | Page relevance, usefulness, speed, mobile experience, and conversion path |
Few keywords have a score | Evidence may be too sparse for a distribution conclusion | Volume, eligibility, date range, and missing-score coverage |
Do not treat keywords without a score as passing. Do not rewrite an ad solely to move a number from 6 to 7. Combine the diagnostic with cost, conversions, search intent, and the business value of the theme.
4. Check negative-keyword coverage without rewarding volume
An account with no campaign- or ad-group-level negatives deserves investigation. It does not follow that an account with hundreds of negatives is healthy.
The audit should establish whether negative coverage exists and where. The practitioner should then review:
recent mature search terms;
shared negative lists and their campaign attachments;
conflicting negatives that may block valuable demand;
themes that belong in campaign or ad-group exclusions;
match types and scope before any removal or addition.
Negative-keyword count is coverage evidence. It is not a quality score. One precise shared list can be more useful than many fragmented exclusions.
5. Separate geography, device, and visibility signals
These reports answer different questions and should not be compressed into one “waste” label.
Geographic performance can show where cost and outcomes differ, but location reports still need the campaign’s targeting mode and business eligibility rules. Device performance can reveal a mobile conversion-path problem, a call-heavy customer journey, or simply a different audience mix. Neither report proves that a bid modifier or exclusion is the right response.
Search impression share adds another layer:
Search impression share is impressions received divided by estimated eligible impressions.
Search lost impression share to budget estimates eligible visibility missed because budget was insufficient.
Search lost impression share to rank estimates eligible visibility missed because Ad Rank was insufficient.
Budget loss and rank loss call for different investigations. A campaign losing visibility to budget might deserve more budget only if marginal economics, conversion quality, and portfolio priorities support it. Rank loss can involve bids and auction-time quality. Neither metric proves that buying the missing impressions will be profitable.
Google says impression-share metrics are updated within one to two days, so exclude the freshest dates when a mature visibility view matters.
6. Add responsive search ad review only when useful
Responsive search ad structure is optional in a monthly health audit because it requires a heavier account read. Turn it on during a takeover, creative refresh, or quarterly review—not mechanically every time.
A structural review can surface:
enabled RSAs with relatively few headlines or descriptions;
pinned assets and their positions;
uneven RSA coverage across ad groups;
ads that deserve a deeper message review.
Asset counts and pinning are signals. They do not establish creative quality. Pinning can be necessary for legal language, brand control, or a message that must always appear. Google also expects assets to make sense independently and in combination. Human review must confirm whether flexibility or control matters more for that ad.
Turn findings into Act, Investigate, and Monitor
The best audit output is organized by decision readiness, not just severity.
Queue | Put an item here when | Example next step |
|---|---|---|
Act | The evidence is complete, the risk is verified, and the proposed change is supported by business context | Enable auto-tagging after approval, or correct an unintended network setting |
Investigate | The signal is meaningful but causality, intent, or economics remain unclear | Review a high-spend ad group with weak relevance components and mixed queries |
Monitor | The evidence is low-volume, incomplete, or not yet material | Recheck a new campaign after enough conversions and impression-share data accrue |
For every item, keep these fields:
exact account and entity IDs;
current setting or measured pattern;
audit period and comparison;
evidence and confidence;
business context still missing;
proposed next step;
required reviewer and approval;
verification after any change.
This prevents a heuristic from turning into an unreviewed account edit.
The exact prompt
Default monthly review
Run a read-only Google Ads account health audit for customer [CUSTOMER_ID].
Use the last 90 days and compare them with the preceding 90 days.
Start with the resolved account, dates, time zone, and execution status.
Review tracking and campaign settings, current versus comparison-period performance, enabled-keyword and match-type patterns, Quality Score coverage and components, negative-keyword coverage, geographic and device performance, and Search impression share lost to budget or rank.
Include responsive search ad structure only if it materially helps this review.
Show every high- and medium-priority finding, summarize low-priority findings and passed checks, disclose failed, unavailable, omitted, or capped sections, and link every CSV export.
Finish with Act, Investigate, and Monitor queues. For each item, include the entity ID, evidence, confidence, missing context, proposed next step, and required approval.
Do not change the account.For a takeover or quarterly review, explicitly request the RSA and reusable checklist options. For a large account, raise the keyword, ad, and finding limits only as far as needed and keep the heavier scope visible.
How HireOtto helps run the audit
HireOtto can run this account-health review as one read-only workflow for an authorized Google Ads account. It combines account and enabled-campaign settings, current and comparison-period campaign performance, enabled-keyword and match-type patterns, Quality Score coverage and components, negative-keyword counts, geographic and device performance, Search visibility, prioritized findings, coverage notes, and CSV exports. Optional RSA structure and checklist output are off by default.
The default scope is the last 90 days versus the preceding equal-length period, up to 5,000 enabled keyword rows, 100 findings inline, and export links that remain available for 30 minutes. The account health audit is currently available on the Agency plan.
HireOtto does not see CRM pipeline impact, competitor actions, landing-page experiments, quarterly business goals, or other context you do not supply. It does not change the account. A follow-up edit should be a separate request: inspect the live value, name the exact entity and proposed change, get approval, execute only a supported action, and read the result back.
Use the account health audit guide for the current checks, defaults, limits, and prompts. Verify broader supported actions in the Google Ads tools reference, then connect HireOtto to your AI client or follow the Google Ads quickstart.
Common mistakes
Treating every heuristic as a defect
Keyword count, language count, RSA asset count, and pinning can all produce useful review signals. Their intent still needs a person.
Calling a partial run complete
Check completed, failed, omitted, and capped sections before summarizing the account. Open exports when inline evidence is truncated.
Optimizing the Quality Score number
Use component patterns to locate relevance or experience problems. Judge the work against user intent and business outcomes.
Raising budgets because impression share was lost
Visibility is an opportunity boundary. Economics decide whether buying more of it makes sense.
Adding negatives because the count is low
Coverage is not quality. Review search terms, shared lists, match types, and conflict risk first.
Mixing audit and mutation
Finish the review before editing. Apply approved changes in separate batches and verify the live account after each class of change.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I run a Google Ads account health audit?
Monthly is a practical cadence for active accounts. Use a quarterly review for stable accounts, onboarding, post-restructure validation, or a broader governance check. Keep daily and weekly audits focused on their shorter-term jobs.
Is 90 days always the right audit window?
No. It is a useful default, not a rule. Use explicit dates when seasonality, promotions, conversion lag, or a major account change makes the preceding 90 days an unfair comparison.
What is a good Quality Score for an account?
Google does not position Quality Score as an account KPI. It is a keyword-level diagnostic. Inspect coverage and component distributions, then prioritize high-value areas where ads, keyword themes, or landing pages can improve.
No. It means budget limited some eligible Search visibility. Check marginal conversion economics, lead quality, budget priorities, tracking reliability, and other constraints before increasing spend.
Can the audit prove my negative-keyword strategy is complete?
No. It can establish whether campaign- or ad-group-level negatives exist and provide coverage evidence. A complete review also needs recent search terms, shared lists, attachments, conflicts, intent, and business exclusions.
Does the audit change Google Ads automatically?
No. HireOtto’s account health audit is read-only. Any supported follow-up change requires a separate request, adequate Google Ads permissions, and explicit approval.
What should I do when the account has little data?
Label the evidence as limited. Avoid forcing a conclusion from missing Quality Scores, unavailable impression-share metrics, or a handful of conversions. Extend the date range when appropriate and keep the item in Monitor.
About Me
I’m Suyash – badminton junkie, ex‑GroupM ad‑ops grunt, first marketer at a B2B SaaS startup, and creator of Hiretto: MCP servers for performance marketers.
My mission: less clicking, more thinking.
Let’s build leverage together.