Before taking over a client’s Google Ads account, verify access and ownership first, then check conversion tracking, campaign structure, budgets, bidding, search terms, ads, landing pages and change history in that order. The 30 checks below give you a clean handoff, a defensible baseline and a short list of changes without disturbing parts of the account that may already be working.
Use this Google Ads account review checklist before changing targets, budgets or campaign settings. Record what you find, mark anything that needs the client’s confirmation and separate urgent corrections from ideas that can wait.
Confirm access, ownership and account controls
1. Confirm the client controls the account
Start with the account ID, business name and primary contacts. Confirm that the client has direct access and understands which organization controls billing.
The clean arrangement is for the client to keep its account while the agency connects through a manager account. The relationship can then be removed without taking the client’s account history with it.
2. Review every user and manager relationship
Open the access and security settings. List users, access levels, manager accounts and any partner relationships you do not recognize.
Do not remove an old user just because the name is unfamiliar. Ask who the person or manager is, document the answer and agree on any access changes with the client.
3. Verify your team has the permissions it needs
Check that the people responsible for campaigns, billing and measurement can reach the settings they need. Avoid sharing one login across the team.
If a specialist only needs to read performance, give that person read-only access. Keep administrative access limited to the people who are responsible for account-level changes.
4. Check billing and payment status
Confirm that the payment method is current and that there are no failed payments, holds or billing alerts. Note who receives payment notifications.
A sound campaign cannot spend if the account has stopped serving because a card expired. Billing belongs near the top of the checklist because the symptom can look like a campaign problem.
5. Inventory linked products and data sources
List the products connected to the account, including Analytics, Merchant Center, Search Console, tag management tools, call tracking and customer data sources. Record which connections are active and who owns them.
Look for links that point to an old property, former agency or retired website. Do not disconnect anything until you understand whether campaigns, audiences or reporting still depend on it.
Validate conversions before reading performance
6. List every conversion action
Create a simple table with the action name, source, status, category, counting method and whether it is primary or secondary. Add the business event each action represents.
Names such as “Form Submit” are not enough. Identify the form, page, product or sales stage behind each action.
7. Confirm which actions influence bidding
Review the account-default goals and any campaign-specific goal settings. Determine which actions are included in the Conversions column and which campaigns use them for bidding.
A thank-you-page visit, imported sale and phone call may all be useful signals, but they are not automatically equal. Ask the client which events represent genuine business value before changing goal priority.
8. Test each primary conversion path
Run a controlled test from the landing page through the conversion event. Confirm that the tag fires, the event reaches the intended platform and the action appears in Google Ads.
Record the test time, device, landing page and expected action. That gives the team something specific to trace if the event does not arrive.
9. Look for duplicate counting
Check whether the same event enters Google Ads from more than one source. A purchase might arrive through a Google Ads tag, an Analytics import and an offline upload.
Compare the action definitions and timestamps. If two actions describe one business event, identify which source should be primary before changing campaign goals.
10. Review values, currencies and counting rules
Confirm that transaction values use the correct currency and that fixed lead values reflect the client’s current measurement plan. Check whether the action counts every event or one event per ad interaction.
For example, a purchase may need a different counting rule from a lead form. The correct setting follows the business event, not a universal account convention.
11. Check the delay between click, conversion and import
Ask how long it normally takes for an ad click to become a recorded lead or sale. Review any offline import schedule and note when recent data is still incomplete.
This matters before judging a target CPA or target ROAS strategy. A campaign can appear to miss its target while valuable conversions are still waiting to be imported.
Read the structure, budgets and bidding logic
12. Map every campaign to a business purpose
For each active campaign, write down the product, service, location or audience it serves. Add its campaign type and the conversion goal it is expected to produce.
If you cannot explain why a campaign exists, flag it for discussion. Do not assume that a strange structure is accidental until you have checked the account’s history.
13. Check whether the campaign type fits the job
Review Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Display, Video and any other active campaign types separately. Confirm what inventory each campaign can reach and what role it plays in the account.
The question is not whether one campaign type is better in general. It is whether the type matches the client’s offer, available assets, measurement and intended demand.
14. Inspect location and language settings
Check targeted locations, exclusions and location options. Confirm whether the campaign is meant to reach people in a place or people showing interest in that place.
Review language settings against the ads and landing pages. Flag campaigns that can reach users the client cannot serve.
15. Review networks, devices and schedules
Check Search partner settings, Display expansion, device performance and ad schedules. Look for settings inherited from a template that may not match the account’s present plan.
Treat a weak segment as a question first. A device or time period may play a supporting role that is not obvious from last-click conversions.
16. Check naming, labels and shared resources
Confirm that campaign and ad group names tell the team what each unit does. Review labels, shared negative lists, portfolio bid strategies, shared budgets and automated rules.
Shared resources deserve special attention because one edit can affect several campaigns. Record every dependency before changing it.
17. Reconcile budgets with the client’s plan
List active campaign budgets and compare their combined daily direction with the client’s approved plan. Note shared budgets, campaign start dates and end dates.
Example: say a campaign has a $50 target CPA and a limited budget. Do not raise the budget simply because Google reports that it is constrained. First confirm the campaign’s role, lead quality and place in the wider budget.
18. Check for campaigns that cannot spend as intended
Look for disapprovals, billing interruptions, narrow targeting, restricted schedules and exhausted audience lists. Separate true delivery blockers from campaigns that are simply receiving little eligible demand.
Also check whether paused items are intentionally paused. A seasonal campaign left off may be correct, while an expired promotion still running may need immediate attention.
19. Record every bidding strategy and target
List the strategy used by each campaign, along with any target CPA or target ROAS. Note portfolio strategies and account-default goals that influence the bidding system.
Compare each target with the campaign’s actual conversion definition. A sensible-looking CPA target is not useful if the campaign is optimizing toward the wrong action.
20. Review recent target and budget changes
Open change history before judging current performance. Look for recent adjustments to targets, budgets, conversion goals, locations and bid strategies.
Give recent changes time to produce readable evidence unless there is a clear tracking or safety problem. Multiple large changes close together make it harder to tell what caused the result.
Examine demand, ads, landing pages and history
21. Read search terms before adding keywords
Review the actual queries that triggered ads. Group them by useful intent, weak intent, irrelevant intent and terms that need the client’s judgment.
Look beyond the largest spend lines. A recurring low-cost query can still pull the account away from the campaign’s purpose.
22. Check negative keywords at every level
Review negatives applied at the ad group, campaign and shared-list levels. Look for irrelevant terms slipping through and useful terms blocked by a broad negative.
Check spelling, close variants and conflicts between lists. When you add a negative, record the reason so another buyer can understand the decision later.
23. Compare match types with the query mix
List active keywords by match type and compare them with recent search terms. Check whether broad matching is paired with reliable conversion signals and a bidding setup that can use them.
Do not tighten every match type by reflex. The goal is to control intent while preserving useful discovery.
24. Check keyword and ad group alignment
Each ad group should represent a clear enough intent that its ads and landing page can answer it. Flag ad groups that mix unrelated products, locations or stages of demand.
A useful test is simple: can you write one precise promise for the ad group without making it vague? If not, the group may cover too much.
25. Review active ads and assets
Check which ads are eligible, limited, disapproved or paused. Review headlines, descriptions, final URLs and assets against the campaign’s current offer.
Do not treat asset ratings as the final judgment. Read the copy as a buyer would and confirm that the message is accurate, specific and supported by the landing page.
26. Find stale claims and expired offers
Compare ad copy with current pricing, dates, availability and client policies. Check countdowns, seasonal references and promotional assets.
A technically eligible ad can still be wrong for the business. Record the source used to verify each time-sensitive claim.
27. Test final URLs and tracking parameters
Open the landing page from the final URL and confirm that it loads the intended destination. Check redirects, mobile behavior, URL parameters and any tracking template.
Make sure the visit can be attributed without sending users through a broken or outdated path. Keep a record of parameters that another reporting system requires.
28. Match each landing page to search intent
Compare the search terms, ad promise and landing-page content. The page should answer the need expressed by the query and make the next step clear.
Flag pages that cover only a small part of an ad group’s intent. That may call for a narrower ad group, different copy or a better destination rather than another bid adjustment.
29. Read change history with the previous team’s notes
Review changes by date and user. Match major edits with performance movement, promotions, site changes and client decisions when that context is available.
The objective is not to grade the former setup. It is to recover the logic behind the account so your team does not repeat an old test or reverse a deliberate choice.
30. Save a baseline and write the first-week plan
Finish the Google Ads account review checklist by recording current goals, conversion definitions, budgets, targets, active tests and unresolved questions. Save the date and the reporting window used.
Split the first-week plan into immediate corrections, items that require client confirmation and measured tests. Name what you will leave unchanged and why. That makes the handoff easier to explain and gives later results a fair point of comparison.
Frequently asked questions
What should you check first in a new Google Ads account?
Check who controls the account, billing profile and manager relationships before reviewing performance. Confirm that the client retains access and that your team has the permissions needed to work without taking ownership away from the client.
How long does a Google Ads account review take?
It depends on the size of the account, the number of campaign types and the condition of its conversion tracking. The review is complete when you can explain what the account measures, how it spends and which changes are safe to make first.
What are the most common problems in inherited Google Ads accounts?
Common problems include unclear conversion priorities, duplicate actions, stale targets, poor search-term control and landing pages that do not match the query. Old experiments, automated rules and shared settings can also affect performance after the handoff.
How do you check conversion tracking is correct?
Trace each primary conversion from the ad click through the website or offline process and confirm that Google Ads records it once with the expected value and currency. Compare recent actions with the client’s source records before using them for bidding.
What should you leave alone in the first week?
Leave stable campaigns, active tests and recent changes alone until you understand their purpose and have enough post-handoff data to judge them. Fix access, tracking and clear safety issues first, then make measured changes against a recorded baseline.
Put the checklist into an ongoing operating queue
Ads Arsenal reads connected accounts through the goals and constraints your team writes in plain English, then ranks recommended changes in an Insights queue. Those insights can include search terms slipping past an existing negative, low-intent terms and landing pages that cover too little of an ad group’s search intent. You can set an account-level target as the fallback, override it with campaign-level CPA or ROAS targets and apply a KPI rule to a group of campaigns. Nothing changes until someone approves it.
The client keeps owning the ad account, while the agency or Ads Arsenal is added with admin access that can be removed without losing the client’s data. Meta connects by signing in with a Meta account. During the closed beta, Google connects through a manager-access request set up on a short call. Agencies and in-house teams running real spend on Google, Meta and TikTok can review the agency workflow or become a design partner.