A Google Ads health check
before you spend more.
A Google Ads health check is a look at where your ad money goes: which searches your ads show up for, whether the pages they send people to do their job, and whether the tracking underneath is counting the enquiries you care about.
I do that check by hand and write it up in plain English. The Basic version is free on every introductory call and works from what anyone can see. The In-Depth version goes inside your account, for $550 ex-GST.
// 45 min · Google Meet · No obligation
// What gets checked
What the health check looks at.
Six areas. I can check the first three from the outside, for free; the last three need read-only access to the account, which is what the In-Depth version adds. It's the Google Ads part of the Digital Health Check, taken deep rather than wide:
Your ads, as searchers see them
What you're running and what it says, from Google's Ads Transparency Center, alongside what competitors are running for the same searches.
The pages your ads send people to
Whether each page matches the ad that sent someone there, loads quickly on a phone, and makes the next step obvious.
Conversion tracking
From the outside I can see whether a tag is on the page. With account access I check whether your conversion actions fire, match what GA4 records, and are counting the enquiries you care about.
Search terms and wasted spend
The searches that actually triggered your ads over the last 90 days, sorted by cost. Terms that spent money with no conversions get flagged, with the negative keywords that would stop them — missing negatives are the biggest leak in most accounts I audit. You get an estimate of wasted spend as a share of your monthly budget.
Campaign structure and bidding
How many campaigns there are and of which types (Search, Performance Max, Display), how the ad groups are split, which bidding strategies are running, and whether that setup suits your budget.
Quality Score
Quality Score on your ten highest-spending keywords, and what it suggests about your ads and the pages behind them.
If you'd rather someone ran the account afterwards, that's my Google Ads management service. If your question is about search more broadly, the SEO audit covers the organic side.
// Two versions
From the outside, or inside the account.
The difference is access. One works from what anyone can see; the other looks inside your Google Ads account.
// Basic · free · most people start here
The Basic Google Ads health check.
Free on every introductory call. I look at your live ads, the pages they point to, whether a conversion tag is on those pages, and what competitors are running for the same searches, then walk you through what I found. No account access needed, and you keep the PDF whether or not anything follows.
// In-Depth · $550 ex-GST
The In-Depth Google Ads health check.
Everything above, plus the account itself: search terms and wasted spend, campaign structure and bidding, Quality Score, and whether your conversion actions fire and match GA4. It's the $300 search and analytics foundation plus the $250 Google Ads deep-dive, because ads can't be judged without the tracking underneath them. Read-only access, revocable anytime. Priced and booked on the Digital Health Check page, where you can also add other channels.
// What you get
What the Google Ads audit gives you.
Whichever version you choose, the audit comes back the same way:
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A graded PDF in plain English. Each area gets a grade with the specific finding behind it — the search term, the page, the setting — so you see the working, not only the verdict.
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A prioritised fix list. What to change first, what can wait, and what to leave alone, ordered by what it's likely to be worth against what it takes to do.
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A walkthrough call. Forty-five minutes going through the findings together, so you can ask what any of it means.
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Yours to keep, either way. Hand the PDF to whoever runs your account — you, a staff member or an agency — and they can act on it without me.
// Budget
Is your budget big enough?
It's the first thing to settle, before any talk of keywords or bids. Ads will run on a small budget; what matters is whether it buys enough clicks for anyone to tell what's working.
$10 a day is about $300 a month, and $20 a day about $600. Both sit below the $1,000 a month per platform I ask for before I'll manage an account. At those budgets there are usually too few clicks and enquiries to tell a good week from a lucky one, so nobody can honestly say what's working. $500 a month is the same answer: the ads can run, but it's hard to learn much from them. I've worked the numbers through for 21 Melbourne service searches in Is $20 a day enough for Google Ads?
So the health check answers that question too. If your budget is small and likely to stay that way, I'll say so, and the better next dollar is often SEO or your Google Business Profile. If it's big enough, the rest of the audit shows where it's going.
If your budget can't show you what's working, I'll tell you before you spend it, not after.— Nathan Schram · Google Ads health checks
// Fit
When it's worth doing.
A Google Ads health check earns its place when you're spending on ads and can't tell what you're getting, or when you're about to start and want the budget and tracking set up properly first. Four cases where I'd say don't bother:
// Pricing
What it costs.
The Basic Google Ads health check is free, on every introductory call, with the PDF yours to keep. The In-Depth version is $550 ex-GST: the $300 search and analytics foundation plus the $250 Google Ads deep-dive. It's a fixed price, not a percentage of your ad spend.
You can add other channels, like your website, Meta ads or AI search, on the Digital Health Check page, which shows the price as you tick them.
If you want the account rebuilt or run afterwards, that's quoted to scope. Management is a flat monthly fee, never a percentage of spend, and your ad spend goes straight to Google. Nothing here commits you to it; you can take the PDF and stop.
ACNC-registered charities: 25% off. A single ABN check at intake — the same rate that runs across every NSD service.
// FAQ
Common questions.
Is this a free Google Ads audit?
How much does a Google Ads audit cost?
Is $10 a day enough for Google Ads?
Is $500 a month enough for Google Ads?
What does a Google Ads health check look at?
Do I need to give you access to my Google Ads account?
Is this the same as the Digital Health Check?
Can you run my Google Ads as well?
// Start
Get started.
Book a 45-minute call. I'll run the Basic Google Ads health check beforehand and walk you through it, so the conversation starts from a clear picture of what your ads are doing. It's free, whether anything follows or not.
// 45 minutes · Google Meet · no obligation
The Google Ads health check is one layer of it. Want the whole picture — website, search, social and the rest — in the same call?
- Seven plain-English pillars, each with a grade and the finding behind it
- Your top 3 fixes, in priority order
- Yours to keep, whether you work with me afterwards or not
The PDF is yours to keep regardless.
// Last updated: 2026-09-23