GOOGLE ADS AUDIT - SAMPLE REPORT
Brightwater Plumbing & Drain
Austin, TX - search advertising audit and 30-day action plan
Prepared by theaio (AIO, theaio.co) - keyword data pulled 2026-10-29
This is a sample. Brightwater Plumbing & Drain is a fictional business; any resemblance to a real company is
coincidental. The account figures, search terms and findings about the account are invented to show the format and depth of a real audit.
The keyword volumes and bid ranges are real Google Ads Keyword Planner data (US-wide average monthly searches for queries that name Austin).
No client data was used.
Executive summary
$6,300
30-day spend (invented)
$263
cost per validated enquiry
The account is spending steadily but cannot tell good leads from noise. The dashboard shows a cost per conversion of $103;
once page views and sub-minute calls are removed and the rest are checked by hand (duplicates, spam and existing-customer calls dropped), the validated cost per enquiry is about $263. Fixing tracking first is the priority, because every
bidding decision after it depends on it.
The five things to do first
- Fix conversion tracking so only form submits and checked calls count, with call duration as a temporary proxy (2-3 hours).
- Load a shared negative keyword list and review search terms weekly; about 22% of spend ($1,386) is leaking.
- Split the mixed ad group into five tight themes with matching ads (4 hours).
- Set location to Presence only and exclude the out-of-area cities the report shows (20 minutes).
- Match landing pages to ad groups and make the phone number tappable (1-2 days).
Illustration only: if half the leaking spend were redirected to the five ad groups in the Recommended structure section, about $693 a month would move from noise to buyers. This is arithmetic on invented numbers, not a forecast.
Scorecard
| Area | Score | Priority |
|---|
| Conversion tracking | 2/10 | Critical |
| Account structure | 4/10 | High |
| Keywords and match types | 4/10 | High |
| Search terms and negatives | 3/10 | Critical |
| Ads and assets | 5/10 | Medium |
| Bidding and budget | 3/10 | Critical |
| Location and schedule | 4/10 | High |
| Landing page fit | 4/10 | High |
Overall health: 29/80 (36%). Scores are for the invented account and show how a real scorecard reads.
What a real audit covers
- Conversion actions, values, attribution and call tracking
- Campaign, ad group and keyword structure
- Match types and keyword conflicts
- Search-term report and negatives
- Ads, assets and ad strength
- Bidding strategy, budget and learning status
- Location, schedule, devices and networks
- Landing-page fit and speed
Method: read-only access (or exports) for the last 90 days, a search-term and keyword review, a Keyword Planner pull for the niche and metro, and a check of each landing page.
Findings are ranked by impact on cost per validated enquiry, with the exact setting to change. Nothing is changed in your account without your written OK, and none of your ad budget is spent by us.
Findings and fixes
1. Conversion tracking counts things that are not leads Critical
Evidence (invented account): Two 'primary' conversion actions fire on a /contact page view and on any call over 1 second. 61 conversions reported; after the 24 remaining enquiries were checked by hand (duplicates, spam and existing-customer calls dropped) the genuine count is 24, about 2.5x inflation.
Fix: Make form submits and checked calls the primary actions. Use call duration (for example 60 seconds) only as a proxy until outcomes are known. Import the validated outcome (genuine new enquiry versus spam, existing customer or duplicate) as the conversion Google optimizes toward, keep test conversions out, move page views to observation, add call tracking with a number pool, and spot-check a sample of calls monthly. Re-baseline CPA after 2 weeks. Effort: 2-3 hours.
2. Click-focused bidding is not optimizing for enquiries Critical
Evidence (invented account): Campaign 'All Services' uses Maximize Clicks, which is automated bidding but optimizes for clicks, not enquiries, with no maximum CPC set. Average CPC is $26 against a $10-$126 top-of-page range for the main term.
Fix: If you keep Maximize Clicks, set a campaign-level maximum CPC (a portfolio bid strategy can hold the ceiling); if you want keyword- or ad-group-level control, use Manual CPC instead. Once the conversion actions are validated and have run for a few weeks, test Maximize Conversions against the budget (allow for conversion delay), then consider a target CPA from the observed cost per validated enquiry. A minimum of roughly 30 validated conversions over 30-60 days is this audit's testing heuristic, not a Google requirement. Effort: 1 hour.
3. About 22% of spend goes to irrelevant search terms High
Evidence (invented account): Search-term report (30 days): jobs, DIY, supply-store and salary queries took about $1,386 of $6,300. Broad match with no shared negative list.
Fix: Load the 18 safe starter negatives (see Negative keyword starter list) as a shared list, review the conditional ones against your real search terms before adding them, then add negatives weekly from the search-term report. Move core terms to phrase and exact match. Effort: 3 hours.
4. Mixed intent inside one ad group High
Evidence (invented account): Emergency repair, water heater replacement and bathroom remodel terms share one ad group and one responsive ad, so the ad cannot match the query.
Fix: Split into the five ad groups in the Recommended structure section, one tight theme each, with 8+ headlines and 3 descriptions per ad (sample copy is there too). Effort: 4 hours.
5. Location setting reaches people outside the service area High
Evidence (invented account): Targeting option is 'Presence or interest'. 14% of clicks came from outside the 40-mile service radius.
Fix: Switch to 'Presence' only, tighten the targeted area, and exclude the specific cities or postcodes the location report shows are out of area (confirm the exact control in the current editor). Review the location report monthly. Effort: 20 minutes.
6. No ad schedule and no after-hours plan Medium
Evidence (invented account): Ads run 24/7, but calls are answered 7am-7pm. After-hours calls go to voicemail and are billed as clicks.
Fix: Either schedule ads to answer hours or add an after-hours AI or answering service. Emergency terms are worth answering at night. Effort: 1 hour.
7. Performance Max overlaps brand and search Medium
Evidence (invented account): PMax campaign has no brand exclusions and generic audience signals; 38% of its conversions (an invented share) came from searches containing the business name, so its reported results are partly brand demand.
Fix: Define the owned brand, then add brand exclusions as a controlled test (or keep a separate brand Search campaign) and compare incremental validated enquiries before changing budget. Audience signals are optional guidance: add a customer list if you have one. Effort: 1-2 hours.
8. Landing page does not match the ad Medium
Evidence (invented account): All ads send to the home page. Mobile load time is 4.8 seconds; the phone number is not a tap-to-call link.
Fix: Send each ad group to a matching page (see the sample landing page in this kit), make the phone number tappable, and get mobile load under 2 seconds. Effort: 1-2 days.
9. Assets and settings left on default Low
Evidence (invented account): No call asset, no location asset linked to the Business Profile, no price or structured-snippet assets. Search Partners and Display expansion are on.
Fix: Add call, location, sitelink and price assets; switch off Display expansion; test Search Partners separately. Effort: 1 hour.
Keyword opportunity (real data)
Source: Google Ads Keyword Planner, English, Google Search, pulled 2026-10-29. Volumes are Google's average monthly searches over 12 months for the keyword and its close variants, US-wide;
queries that name Austin are mostly Austin-area searches. Close variants share one number (for example "plumber austin tx" and "plumbers austin"), so each group is listed once
and the totals below are sums of selected, rounded estimates, not a count of unique searchers. Bid ranges are Google's estimate for the top of the first page; actual average costs per click are usually lower.
1. Emergency and 24-hour - 1,290 searches a month
| Search query | Searches / month | Competition | Top-of-page bid (low-high) |
|---|
| emergency plumber austin | 880 | Low | $58-$207 |
| 24 hour plumber austin | 390 | Medium | $92-$168 |
| emergency plumbing service austin | 20 | Low | n/a (too little data) |
2. Core plumber (high intent) - 8,370 searches a month
| Search query | Searches / month | Competition | Top-of-page bid (low-high) |
|---|
| plumber austin tx | 6,600 | Medium | $10-$126 |
| plumbing company austin | 590 | High | $16-$108 |
| best plumbers in austin | 390 | High | $22-$133 |
| plumbing services austin | 320 | Medium | $14-$117 |
| plumbing repair austin | 260 | Low | $44-$134 |
| plumbers south austin | 210 | High | $43-$163 |
3. Water heaters - 510 searches a month
| Search query | Searches / month | Competition | Top-of-page bid (low-high) |
|---|
| water heater repair austin | 260 | Medium | $31-$218 |
| water heater replacement austin | 140 | Medium | $23-$97 |
| hot water heater repair austin | 70 | Medium | n/a (too little data) |
| tankless water heater installation austin | 40 | Medium | n/a (too little data) |
4. Drains, sewer and leaks - 890 searches a month
| Search query | Searches / month | Competition | Top-of-page bid (low-high) |
|---|
| austin leak detection | 320 | Medium | $10-$47 |
| leak detection austin | 210 | Low | $25-$90 |
| drain cleaning austin | 210 | Medium | $10-$84 |
| water leak detection austin | 70 | Medium | $16-$47 |
| trenchless sewer repair austin | 50 | n/a | n/a (too little data) |
| sewer line repair austin | 30 | Low | n/a (too little data) |
5. Commercial - 320 searches a month
| Search query | Searches / month | Competition | Top-of-page bid (low-high) |
|---|
| commercial plumbers austin tx | 320 | Medium | $22-$100 |
Austin service demand across these 20 queries: about 11,380 searches a month. Google returned 183 ideas for the 16 seed terms. Classified by hand-reviewed rules (every row is in keyword-classification.csv): 92 service queries, 6 postcode queries, 82 that name another company or directory (not targeted here), and 3 uncertain (for example oak hill plumbing austin texas, lakeway plumbing company austin tx, city of austin plumbing). The brand-name rows are not summed: close variants make the total unreliable.
National context: the same services without a city name (US searches / month)
plumber near me823,000
emergency plumber90,500
drain cleaning90,500
water heater repair74,000
plumbing company49,500
water heater replacement40,500
tankless water heater installation40,500
sewer line repair18,100
"Near me" and generic queries are 50-100x larger than city-named ones, but they are national totals that include every metro; location targeting decides which of those searchers see the ad.
Recommended structure
| Ad group | Lead keywords (first in exact match) | Match types | Searches / month |
|---|
| Emergency and 24-hour | [emergency plumber austin], 24 hour plumber austin, emergency plumbing service austin | Exact + phrase | 1,290 |
| Core plumber (high intent) | [plumber austin tx], plumbing company austin, best plumbers in austin | Exact + phrase | 8,370 |
| Water heaters | [water heater repair austin], water heater replacement austin, hot water heater repair austin | Exact + phrase | 510 |
| Drains, sewer and leaks | [austin leak detection], leak detection austin, drain cleaning austin | Exact + phrase | 890 |
| Commercial | [commercial plumbers austin tx] | Exact + phrase | 320 |
- One campaign, five ad groups to start; keep broad match for a later test, once tracking is validated and the negative list is clean (our heuristic, not a Google rule).
- Landing page per ad group with the tap-to-call number above the fold.
- Call asset, location asset, sitelinks and price assets on every ad group.
Sample responsive search ad (character limits checked)
Headlines (max 30 characters)- Austin Emergency Plumber (24)
- Water Heater Repair Today (25)
- Licensed Austin Plumbers (24)
- Call Now: Same-Day Service (26)
- Upfront Pricing, No Surprises (29)
- Leak Detection & Repair (23)
- Drain Cleaning in Austin (24)
- 24/7 Emergency Dispatch (23)
- Book Online or Call Today (25)
- Brightwater Plumbing & Drain (28)
Descriptions (max 90 characters)- Burst pipe, leaking heater or clogged drain? Licensed techs, same-day visits in Austin. (87)
- Upfront quotes before work starts. Call now or book online in under a minute. (77)
- Fast, tidy repairs for homes and small businesses. Serving Austin and nearby areas. (83)
Negative keyword starter list
Safe starter negatives (recruiting, training and shopping intent; load as a shared list, then test for conflicts with the positive keywords before upload):
jobs [broad], job [broad], hiring [broad], salary [broad], career [broad], careers [broad], school [broad], course [broad], classes [broad], training [broad], apprenticeship [broad], diy [broad], youtube [broad], manual [broad], pdf [broad], wholesale [broad], home depot [phrase], lowes [broad]
Review before adding (each can block a buyer):
| Term | Why it needs review |
|---|
| free | Do not add blindly: it blocks "free estimate" searches. Add only if the business rejects free-estimate intent. |
| parts | Mostly DIY, but "parts and labor" quotes exist; check real search terms first. |
| supply | Blocks "water supply line repair"; use the phrase "plumbing supply" instead. |
| how to | Informational intent that sometimes converts; test before excluding. |
| reddit | Forum browsing; low value but harmless; add after the first search-term review. |
Queries that must stay eligible: free estimate; water supply line repair; emergency plumber near me; plumbing repair cost. Check this list against the positive keywords after every negative upload.
30-day action plan
| When | Action | Owner |
|---|
| Week 1 | Fix conversion actions; add call tracking; load shared negative list; set location to Presence only | theaio / you approve |
| Week 2 | Split ad groups; write ads from the sample copy; link Business Profile for location asset; mobile-tap phone number | theaio / you approve |
| Week 3 | Review search terms; add negatives; move core terms to phrase and exact; test PMax brand exclusions as a controlled experiment | theaio |
| Week 4 | Re-baseline cost per validated enquiry; decide bidding change; report with next-30-day plan | theaio + you |
What we need to run this on your account
- Read-only access to your Google Ads account (or exports of campaigns, keywords and search terms for 90 days).
- What a lead is worth to you, your service area and your answer hours.
- Your website address. Nothing goes live and none of your ad budget is spent without your written OK.
Scope. We do not promise leads, ROI or rankings.
Keyword data: Google Ads Keyword Planner, pulled 2026-10-29; raw CSVs are included with this kit.