Common Mistakes with Google Ads Audit

Many digital marketing teams fall into the trap of overlooking common errors and failing to constantly optimize their campaigns. This will lead to campaigns that work on the same formula for years on end, with steadily declining progress. Conducting regular Google Ads audit can help prevent this situation. It identifies areas of wasted spend and opportunity, and helps streamline and manage your Google Ads strategy more effectively. In this blogpost, we’ve listed out some common mistakes made with Google Ads audits, that can be avoided for the best results.

Not auditing the analytics

Analytics errors happen more often than one imagines. If the analytics data is incorrect, the tracking will be incorrect, and the whole Google Ads account audit will be useless as it would be based on incorrect information. Therefore, it is wise to always avoid this common mistake of assuming that analytics are error-free, and begin by auditing the analytics set-up. Given below are some key aspects to prioritize during this step.

• Conversion tracking
This should be done to check for any missing data or double-tracking of conversions.

• Order tracking
Track the analytics of orders being tracked by placing one using your ad. This will give you a good picture as to whether all orders are being tracked correctly.

Not reviewing Ad Negatives

Remember to double-check your ad negatives as well as your negative keyword list during your paid search audit. Check that your negatives are correctly configured at the ad group, campaign, and account levels. This ensures that the most relevant ads are displayed for various searches, saving you money on irrelevant search terms that will not bring in any company.

For instance, if you offer journals, for example, make sure your campaigns aren’t triggered by generic keywords like “reflect” and “write.” Instead, to maximize your ROAS, concentrate your bids on high-intent search terms (such as “affordable journals”). Leave the more generic terms to your competitors who have a bigger advertising budget. You can also create negative keyword lists during PPC audits for rivals, locations, competitor misspellings, or spellings that are too similar to another brand name.

Non-optimization of product titles and descriptions

Google uses the information in product titles and descriptions to prompt appearances in search results. For the best results, that information must be precise, detailed but not overly so, and frequently updated. Here are some things to look for in both product titles are product descriptions during pay per click audit.

• Product Titles

Product titles should incorporate high-intent search terms and important selling points while remaining natural. If your titles and descriptions are poor, you will miss out on important search results and fail to persuade customers to buy your product. The first 15-20 words are crucial because they are what prospective customers see first.

• Product Descriptions

You want to find a balance between providing a good user experience and providing detailed (but not keyword-stuffed) content in product descriptions. Don’t use excessively creative or artistic descriptions because Google won’t pick up on the nuance.

The information in the above can be compared to that of high-performing competitors, and optimized accordingly.