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How to Do a Google Ads Audit for Your Home Service Business (DIY Guide)

A Google Ads audit sounds intimidating. It's not.


It's a systematic check of the things that determine whether your ads are generating leads efficiently or burning money quietly in the background. You don't need to be a Google Ads expert to spot the major issues — you just need to know what to look for.


This guide walks you through a practical DIY audit covering the six areas that matter most for home service companies. Set aside 60-90 minutes, open your Google Ads account, and work through each section.


Before You Start: Access and Setup Check

The audit starts before you even look at campaign data.

  • Do you have your own Google Ads account? Log into ads.google.com with your business email. If you've never been given login credentials and your agency manages everything, stop here and get access before continuing.

  • Is billing connected to your payment method? In Account Settings > Billing, confirm your credit card or bank account is on file. If the agency's payment method is listed, they're controlling billing — and potentially your spend visibility.

  • Can you see conversion data? In the campaign overview, do your campaigns show a 'Conversions' column with actual numbers in it? If it's blank or showing zero across all time, your conversion tracking isn't working. That's the most critical thing to fix before any other optimization.


Conversion tracking is the foundation of everything. If Google Ads isn't tracking calls and form submissions accurately, every optimization decision — including which keywords to bid on, which ads to run, what budget to set — is based on incomplete information. Fix tracking before anything else.


Section 1: Conversion Tracking Audit

This is the most important section of the audit. Give it the most time.


Check What's Being Tracked

Go to Tools > Conversions (or Measurement > Conversions in newer interfaces). You should see conversion actions listed. For a home service company, you want to see:

  • Phone calls from ads (clicking the phone number in the ad)

  • Phone calls from website (someone clicks your number on the website after arriving from an ad)

  • Form submissions (contact form or quote request completions)


If you only see 'All conversions' with no breakdown, or if you see website engagement metrics instead of actual contact actions, your tracking is measuring the wrong things.


Check Conversion Volume

Set your date range to the last 90 days. How many conversions does each campaign show? If a campaign has spent $2,000 and shows 2 conversions, either the campaign is performing terribly or tracking is broken. Both are problems.


A basic sanity check: does the number of tracked conversions roughly match how many leads you remember getting over that period? If you got 40 calls last quarter but Google shows 5 conversions, your tracking is undercounting — probably not tracking website calls.


Call Tracking Specifically

Go to Conversions and look for a call conversion action. Click into it and verify:

  • Is it set to count calls of at least 60 seconds? Shorter calls are often wrong numbers or hang-ups.

  • Is the conversion window set to 30-60 days? This captures people who see an ad, don't call immediately, but call later.

  • Is it a primary conversion (not a secondary)? Secondary conversions show in reports but don't power Smart Bidding.


Section 2: Campaign Structure Audit

Look at your list of campaigns. For a typical home service company, a clean structure looks like:

  • 1 campaign per major service category (emergency plumbing, drain cleaning, water heater, etc.)

  • Or 1 campaign per service area if you're targeting multiple cities with different budgets


Red flags in campaign structure:

  • One giant campaign with all services mixed together — makes it impossible to allocate budget by service or track performance by service type

  • Dozens of tiny campaigns with $5-$10/day budgets — budgets too small to accumulate meaningful data or generate consistent leads

  • Search campaigns mixed with Display campaigns — Display network traffic is fundamentally different from search traffic and should always be in separate campaigns

  • A Performance Max campaign with no Search campaigns — PMax as your only campaign type is a common sign of an under-managed account


You don't need to restructure everything today — just document what you see. The goal of this step is to understand what's there.


Section 3: Keywords and Search Terms Audit

This section reveals whether your ads are showing up for the right searches.


Check Your Keywords

In a campaign, click into an ad group and view the keyword list. Look for:

  • Keyword match types — are keywords on broad match, phrase match, or exact match? Broad match keywords trigger your ads for loosely related searches that may have nothing to do with your service. Phrase match and exact match give you more control. Most home service accounts benefit from phrase and exact match with broad used sparingly and carefully.

  • Irrelevant keywords — are there keywords that don't relate to your actual services? Someone building campaigns quickly may add generic terms like 'plumbing' or 'water' that trigger for non-commercial searches.


Review Your Search Terms Report — This Is the Gold Mine

Go to Keywords > Search Terms. This shows the actual searches that triggered your ads. This is the most revealing part of the entire audit.


Look through the last 90 days of search terms and ask:

  • Are these searches from people who need my service? 'Emergency plumber Indianapolis' is perfect. 'Plumbing supply store near me' or 'plumbing job listings' is wasted money.

  • How much spend went to irrelevant searches? Add up the cost of searches you wouldn't want to show up for. That number represents directly wasted budget.

  • Are there valuable new keywords hiding here? Searches that converted but aren't in your keyword list are missed opportunities. Add them.


Most home service Google Ads accounts have 15-40% of spend going to irrelevant searches when the search terms report hasn't been reviewed regularly. That's not a rounding error — it's real money. One 30-minute search terms review and negative keyword cleanup session can meaningfully reduce wasted spend immediately.


Section 4: Negative Keywords Audit

Negative keywords are terms that prevent your ads from showing. They're the most underused optimization lever in most home service accounts.


Go to Keywords > Negative Keywords. Look at your negative keyword list. If it's empty or has fewer than 20-30 terms, it's almost certainly underdeveloped.


A basic negative keyword list for a plumbing company should include terms like:

  • Job-related terms: 'jobs,' 'salary,' 'careers,' 'apprenticeship,' 'hiring,' 'employment'

  • DIY intent: 'how to,' 'DIY,' 'YouTube,' 'tutorial,' 'myself'

  • Supply/retail searches: 'parts,' 'supply store,' 'Home Depot,' 'Lowe's,' 'wholesale'

  • Competitor names (if you don't want to show for competitor searches)

  • Out-of-service-area city names if you can't serve them


Every term you add to your negative keyword list is a future click you won't pay for. Build this list aggressively.


Section 5: Ad Copy Audit

Click into your ad groups and review your Responsive Search Ads. Look for:

  • How many RSAs are in each ad group? You want 2-3 per ad group minimum. Only 1 RSA per ad group is not enough to test messaging.

  • Ad Strength rating — 'Poor' or 'Average' means your ads need more headline variety. 'Good' or 'Excellent' is the target.

  • Are headlines specific to your service and location? Generic headlines like 'Call Us Today' and 'Best Service Available' aren't compelling and perform poorly. Look for specific headlines: '[City] Emergency Plumber,' '60-Minute Response Time,' 'Licensed & Insured Since 2005.'

  • Are call assets (formerly call extensions) enabled? Your phone number should appear with every ad. If you don't see a 'Calls' asset attached to your campaigns, add one immediately.

  • What is the Asset Performance rating? In the RSA detail view, Google rates each headline and description as 'Best,' 'Good,' or 'Low.' Headlines rated 'Low' should be replaced.


Section 6: Landing Page Audit

Click on a few of your ads to see where they send traffic. Evaluate the landing page quickly:

  • Does it load in under 3 seconds? Test it on a mobile phone — that's how most searchers are viewing it. A slow load loses leads before you even have a chance.

  • Is the phone number visible immediately without scrolling? On a phone screen, your number should be in the top portion of the page, ideally as a tap-to-call button.

  • Does the page headline match the ad? If the ad says 'Emergency Plumber Indianapolis' and the landing page headline says 'Welcome to Our Website,' there's a disconnect that hurts both Quality Score and conversion rate.

  • Is there a clear, single call to action? One button or one form. Not a navigation menu with 12 options.

  • Are there trust signals? Google reviews, years in business, license number, photos of actual technicians. Something that says 'we're a real, trustworthy local business.'


What to Do With What You Found

After working through all six sections, you'll have a list of issues in roughly three categories:

  • Fix immediately: Broken conversion tracking, empty negative keyword list, no call assets on campaigns. These are actively costing you money right now.

  • Fix this month: Poor ad copy, irrelevant keywords, mismatched landing pages. These require more work but have clear ROI.

  • Monitor and optimize: Campaign structure improvements, bidding strategy evaluation, ongoing search terms review. These are ongoing work, not one-time fixes.


You don't need to fix everything at once. Start with conversion tracking — because without accurate data, everything else is guesswork.


FAQ: Google Ads Audit for Home Service Companies

How often should I audit my Google Ads account?

A thorough audit like this one: quarterly. A quicker monthly check of conversions, search terms, and budget pacing: monthly. The search terms report in particular benefits from monthly attention — new irrelevant queries accumulate constantly and should be caught before they waste significant budget.


I found a lot of problems. Should I fire my agency?

Not automatically. First, share your findings with the agency and give them a chance to respond. Some issues (like thin negative keyword lists) are common and fixable. Others (like broken conversion tracking that's been broken for months) are harder to excuse. Their response will tell you a lot — do they take ownership and fix it promptly, or do they explain away the problems without actually solving them?


What if I can't access certain parts of the account?

You need admin access to your own Google Ads account. If your agency has restricted your access so you can't see campaigns, keywords, or conversion data, that is a serious problem. Request admin access in writing. Legitimate agencies will comply. If they refuse, you're dealing with an agency that's hiding something.


Is there a tool that automates this audit?

Google's built-in Recommendations tab surfaces some issues automatically. Third-party tools like Optmyzr, SEMrush, and SpyFu have audit features. But none of these replace a human review of your specific account, and automated recommendations often suggest things that aren't right for your situation (like increasing budgets or switching to Smart Bidding before you're ready). Use automated tools as a supplement, not a replacement.


I did the audit and everything looks fine but I'm still not getting leads. What's the problem?

If your tracking, keywords, ad copy, and landing page all check out, the issue is usually one of three things: your market is more competitive than your budget can cover (not enough impression share), your phone isn't being answered or called back promptly (losing the lead after it's generated), or your budget is too limited to generate meaningful volume. Pull your Impression Share metric in campaigns to see if budget is limiting your reach. And honestly ask yourself — when a call comes in from an unknown number, does it always get answered?


Ready to stop guessing where your leads come from? KaeRae Marketing handles Google Ads and local SEO exclusively for home service businesses — no contracts, no confusion, no runaround. Book a free consultation and find out exactly what's possible for your business.


Want to learn this stuff yourself? KaeRae Education has courses, resources, and a membership community built specifically for home service business owners. Visit KaeRaeEducation.com.

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