The 5 Most Common Issues I See When Auditing Google Ads Accounts

Over the years, I’ve audited hundreds of Google Ads accounts across industries like e-commerce, SaaS, and local services. While every business is different, I tend to see the same core mistakes show up again and again. These aren’t just small oversights—they can cost thousands of dollars in wasted spend and missed opportunities.

Here are the five most common issues I see, and how you can avoid them:

1. YouTube Ads: Forgetting to Exclude Kids’ Content and Mobile Games

One of the fastest ways to waste money on YouTube is by showing ads on children’s videos and mobile gaming apps. These placements often rack up tons of impressions and clicks, but almost never drive meaningful conversions.

The fix: Add placement exclusions for kids’ content and mobile games right from the start. This simple step can dramatically improve your traffic quality.

2. Performance Max: Poor Asset Group Structure

Performance Max is powerful, but only if you take the time to structure it properly. Too often, I see advertisers lump together unrelated images, headlines, and descriptions into a single asset group. The result? Confusing messaging that weakens both performance and brand perception.

The fix: Treat each asset group like a dedicated campaign. Align your creatives, headlines, and descriptions around a single audience or product theme to create a consistent, compelling user journey.

3. Search Campaigns: Broad Matching Without Guardrails

I see a lot of accounts relying heavily on broad and phrase match keywords without regularly reviewing search terms. The outcome is predictable: budgets eaten up by irrelevant or low-intent searches.

The fix: Use broad match carefully, ideally paired with smart bidding strategies and frequent search term reviews. Make it a habit to add irrelevant queries as negative keywords to keep your spend focused on the right traffic.

4. Shopping Campaigns: Poor Titles and Underutilized Product Data

Google Shopping thrives on high-quality product feeds. But many accounts I audit are filled with generic titles, missing attributes, and an underutilized “product type” field. This hurts visibility and prevents ads from surfacing in the most relevant searches.

The fix: Optimize product titles with high-intent keywords, use clear attributes (size, color, material), and always fill in the “product type” field for better categorization. A well-optimized feed can mean the difference between mediocre and outstanding results.

5. General: Misaligned Bid Strategies

I frequently see campaigns running on bid strategies that don’t match the advertiser’s actual goals. For example, using “Maximize Clicks” on a Shopping campaign, then wondering why conversions aren’t happening.

The fix: Choose a bid strategy that reflects your true objective. If you want conversions, optimize for them. If your goal is revenue, use “Maximize Conversion Value.” And if you’re working with limited data, consider starting with manual CPC or “Maximize Conversions” before moving into advanced strategies like Target ROAS.

Final Thoughts

Google Ads is an incredibly powerful platform, but it’s also easy to misconfigure. By avoiding these five common mistakes, you’ll set your account on a much stronger foundation for performance and scalability.

If you’re not sure where your account stands, an audit can be a great first step to uncovering hidden inefficiencies—and unlocking growth potential.