Sample audit

This is a real audit. Yours will be yours.

Anonymized from a real small business that uses InspectMyAds. All store names, city names, account IDs, and dollar figures have been changed. Your audit will look like this with your own data.

Wasted spend this month

$200

across 3 fixable problems

Tier: Developing Stage: Starter

At-Risk

Developing

Solid

Strong

Thriving

you are here

Account Status: Developing
Account Stage: Starter
Recurring: Jun 04

Top 3 actions — do in this order

1. Block Competitor Searches and Stop Paying for People Who Will Never Buy From You

Critical · ~$175/mo

You spent real money showing ads to people searching for big-box competitors — none of them bought.

› Show me how

Right now, your ads are showing up when people type your top three competitor names, plus "boot warehouse," "Bigbox Footwear Cedar Falls," and other competitor brand searches. These are people who already have a different store in mind. They are not looking for the brand you carry. They clicked your ad by accident, you paid for it, and they left. In the last 30 days alone, you can trace at least $15–25 in direct wasted clicks to these searches — and that's only what showed up in the visible search term report. The real number is likely 3–4 times higher because Google only shows you a portion of the searches your ads matched.

The fix is to add these competitor names as words you tell Google to never show your ad for — these are called negative keywords (search words you tell Google to NOT show your ad for). Add each of your competitor brand names, plus common misspellings, to your negative keyword list across all three of your campaigns. This is the single fastest way to stop bleeding money on people who were never going to walk through your door.

Once those are blocked, your budget shifts automatically toward people searching for premium boots specifically, or for work boots and steel-toe boots with no brand loyalty yet — those are your real buyers. You should see your cost per lead (what you paid for each customer who contacted you) drop within the first week after making this change.

2. Your Ads Are Only Showing Up 13–39% of the Time — Fix Your Impression Share

Critical · ~$350/mo in recoverable customers

For every 10 people searching for work boots in the Cedar Valley region, your ad misses 6–9 of them completely.

› Show me how

Here's the number that should keep you up at night: your impression share (out of all the times people searched for what you sell, the share where your ad actually showed up) is only 13% on your non-brand search campaign and 39% on your Performance Max campaign (Google's all-in-one ad type that runs on Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and more). Your brand campaign — the one for people already searching for your store by name — is only showing up 68% of the time. That means even people who already know your name and are actively looking for you are finding a blank space where your ad should be.

The two main reasons this happens are budget that runs out before the day is over, and bids that are too low to compete. Your non-brand search campaign spent $200 last month — that's about $6.60 a day. For a market covering all of the Cedar Valley, that budget is gone by mid-morning. Raising the daily budget on your non-brand search campaign and your brand campaign, and making sure your bids are competitive, would let your ads stay on the page all day instead of disappearing after breakfast.

The goal is to get your brand campaign impression share above 90% — you should own every search for your own name — and push your non-brand campaign above 50%. That alone would roughly double the number of people who see your ads each month without changing a single word of your ad copy.

3. Add Every City in the Cedar Valley Region to Your Location Targeting

Critical · ~$225/mo in new customers you're currently invisible to

Westbridge, Pinehurst, Millfield, Fairview, and 7 more cities have zero coverage right now.

› Show me how

Your store serves all of the Cedar Valley region — Cedar Falls, Westbridge, Northgate, Pinehurst, Riverton, Millfield, Greendale, Oakhill, Fairview, Brookside, and the surrounding counties. But your campaigns are almost certainly set to target only the immediate Cedar Falls area, because there's no evidence in the data that you're capturing searches from those surrounding cities. A welder in Millfield searching "steel toe boots near me" right now is not seeing your ad. A construction worker in Fairview looking for premium work boots is not seeing your ad. These are real buyers with real money, and they're going to a competitor or buying online instead.

The fix is to explicitly add all of those cities and counties to your location targeting in every campaign. Beyond just adding the cities, you should also add city-specific keywords — things like "work boots Millfield," "steel toe boots Fairview," "premium boots Riverton" — so your ads are relevant when someone in those towns searches. You can also create a separate ad group or campaign just for the surrounding-city traffic, which lets you write ad copy that mentions their town by name. People click ads that feel local to them.

This is the biggest untapped opportunity in your account. The Cedar Valley region has roughly 700,000 people across those counties. Right now you're advertising to maybe a third of them.

WHAT'S WORKING RIGHT NOW

The good news — what your ads are doing well. Open ›

Your brand campaign is doing its job. When people search specifically for your store name, "premium boots Cedar Falls," or "Acme Boots Cedar Falls," your ads are showing up and getting clicked at a strong rate. Your click-through rate (the share of people who clicked your ad after seeing it) on the brand campaign is 14.07% — that's roughly 3 to 4 times what most local retail ads pull. People who already know your name are finding you, and that's a real win. It means your brand has pull in this market.

Your cost per click (what you paid each time someone clicked your ad) is very reasonable. Across all three campaigns, you're averaging between $1.50 and $2.75 per click. For a specialty work boot store selling boots that often run $200–$400 a pair, that's a solid deal. You don't need a lot of conversions to make the math work — even one sale from a $150 ad spend is a strong return. The economics of your business are actually well-suited for Google Ads, which is good news.

Your Performance Max campaign is generating real traffic at a low cost. It drove 419 clicks last month at an average of $1.50 per click, which is the lowest cost per click in your account. It also recorded 11 conversions — the most of any campaign. That campaign is doing something right, even if it needs some guardrails added to stop it from showing up for irrelevant searches. The foundation is there; it just needs to be pointed in the right direction.

DON'T APPLY THESE GOOGLE RECOMMENDATIONS

Google is pushing suggestions on your account — 5 of them would hurt you. Open ›

Google's "Recommendations" tab inside your ad account is full of suggestions right now. Some of them are genuinely helpful. A lot of them are quietly designed to get you to spend more money or hand Google more control over your account. Here's exactly what each one means and what you should do about it.

Google Wants to Raise the Daily Budget on One of Your Campaigns

Google is suggesting you increase the daily budget on one of your campaigns, estimating it could get you about 15 more clicks per month by spending an extra $35.

Verdict: MODIFYHave us handle this →

Why: Google's math here isn't wrong — more budget does mean more clicks. But the campaign Google is flagging has zero conversions in the data, which means those extra clicks would likely produce zero sales too. Before you raise the budget on any campaign, make sure that campaign is actually producing customers, not just clicks. Once you've fixed the wasted spend issues described in this report and confirmed the campaign is converting, then raising the budget makes sense. Don't do it yet.

Google Wants You to Add Extra Links to Your Ads (Sitelinks) — Three Campaigns

Google is suggesting you add sitelinks — those extra clickable links that appear below your main ad, like "Shop Steel Toe Boots" or "Find Our Store" — to all three of your campaigns.

Verdict: APPLYHave us handle this →

Why: This one is genuinely good advice. Sitelinks make your ad take up more space on the page, which means competitors' ads get pushed down. They also give people more reasons to click — someone searching "work boots Cedar Falls" might not click your main headline, but they might click a link that says "Work Boots for Oil Field Workers" or "Get Fitted In-Store." Adding sitelinks costs you nothing extra and almost always improves results. Write them yourself rather than letting Google auto-generate them, and point them to https://www.acmebootsco.com. Good options for your store: a link to your work boot selection, a link about your fitting service, a link with your store hours and address, and a link about the industries you serve.

Google Wants You to Add Callout Text to Your Ads — Two Campaigns

Google is suggesting you add callouts — short phrases that appear below your ad, like "Free Fitting," "In Stock Today," or "Serving the Cedar Valley Since [Year]."

Verdict: APPLYHave us handle this →

Why: Like sitelinks, callouts are free real estate on the page. They don't cost extra per click — they just make your ad look bigger and more credible. Write your own rather than letting Google suggest them. Good callouts for Acme Boots Cedar Falls: "Expert Boot Fitting," "Steel Toe & Composite Toe In Stock," "Serving Oil Field & Construction Workers," "Cedar Falls' Work Boot Specialists." These are the kinds of phrases that make a buyer in the Cedar Valley feel like you're talking directly to them.

Google Wants You to Turn On Search Partners — Two Campaigns

Google is suggesting you let your ads show on "search partner" websites — meaning sites other than Google.com that use Google's search technology, like some smaller search engines and directories.

Verdict: IGNORE

Why: For a local work boot store in Cedar Falls, this almost never pays off. Search partner traffic tends to come from people browsing casually on random websites, not from someone who just typed "steel toe boots near me" into Google with their wallet out. The data Google shows for this suggestion actually projects zero additional conversions — just more clicks and more cost. You'd be paying for traffic that doesn't buy. Keep your ads on Google search only, where the intent is highest.

Google Wants to Expand Your Non-Brand Search Campaign to Show Display Ads

Google is suggesting you turn on "Display Expansion" for your non-brand search campaign, which would let your text ads show as banner ads on websites, apps, and YouTube across the internet.

Verdict: IGNORE

Why: Your search campaign is built for people who are actively searching for work boots right now. Display expansion takes that same budget and starts showing your ads to people who are just browsing the internet — reading the news, playing a game, watching a video — and who may have no interest in buying boots today. For a local store with a limited budget, this almost always means paying for a lot of impressions (times your ad is shown) from people who will never walk in. Keep your search campaign focused on search only.

Google Wants to Switch Your Non-Brand Campaign to Target Cost Per Sale Bidding

Google is suggesting you switch your non-brand search campaign to a bidding strategy where you tell Google your target cost per conversion (what you paid for each sale or sign-up), and Google automatically adjusts your bids to try to hit that target.

Verdict: IGNORE — for now

Why: This bidding strategy can work well, but only when Google has enough data to make smart decisions. Google needs to see at least 30 conversions per month in a campaign before its algorithm has enough information to bid intelligently. Your non-brand search campaign had only 2 conversions last month. If you turn this on now, Google is essentially guessing — and it will often guess wrong, either spending your whole budget chasing conversions that don't come, or pulling back so much that your ads barely show. Get your conversion tracking solid, clean up the wasted spend, and revisit this in 3–4 months when you have more data.

Google Wants You to Add a Large Batch of New Keywords

Google is suggesting you add dozens of new keywords (the search words you're paying to show up for) to your non-brand search campaign.

Verdict: MODIFYHave us handle this →

Why: Google's keyword suggestions are generated by an algorithm that wants to expand your reach — which also means expanding your spend. Some of those suggestions are probably good. Many of them are probably too broad or irrelevant for a specialty work boot store. Do not click "Apply All" on this one. Instead, look through the list manually and only add keywords that describe exactly what you sell — things like "composite toe boots Cedar Falls," "premium boot dealer near me," "oil field work boots Cedar Valley," or "ASTM safety boots." Skip anything that sounds like it could match a search for fashion boots, rubber boots, cowboy boots, or anything a competitor sells. Add the good ones one at a time so you stay in control.

Google Wants You to Strengthen Your Existing Ads — Two Campaigns

Google is saying your current search ads could be stronger and is suggesting you add more headlines and descriptions to them.

Verdict: MODIFYHave us handle this →

Why: Google isn't wrong that stronger ads perform better — more headline options give Google more combinations to test, and the best combination tends to win more clicks. But "Apply" here means Google will suggest the new headlines for you, and Google's auto-generated headlines are often generic and bland. Write the new headlines yourself. Focus on what makes Acme Boots Cedar Falls different: expert fitting, in-stock selection, serving oil field and construction workers, local store with real people who know boots. A few strong, specific headlines you write yourself will outperform a dozen generic ones Google writes for you.

Google Wants You to Set a Target Cost Per Sale on Your Performance Max Campaign

Google is suggesting you tell your Performance Max campaign (Google's all-in-one ad type that runs on Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and more) to aim for a specific cost per conversion.

Verdict: IGNORE — for now

Why: Same reason as the search campaign suggestion above. Performance Max needs a lot of conversion data to use this setting well — ideally 50 or more conversions per month. Your Performance Max campaign had 11 conversions last month, which is a good start but not enough for Google's algorithm to make reliable decisions. Turning this on too early often causes the campaign to either overspend chasing conversions or underspend so much that your ads barely run. Wait until you're consistently hitting 30–50 conversions per month, then revisit.

Google Wants to Add Dynamic Images to Your Ads Automatically

Google is suggesting it automatically pull images from your website at https://www.acmebootsco.com and add them to your ads across the account.

Verdict: IGNORE

Why: This sounds helpful, but it means Google picks the images — and Google's choices are often wrong. It might pull a logo, a footer image, or a photo that doesn't represent your best products. For a boot store, the images in your ads matter. You want to show your best-looking work boots, not whatever Google's crawler happened to grab from your homepage. If you want images in your ads, add them yourself so you control what buyers see.

When in doubt about any recommendation Google shows you, click "Dismiss" — not "Apply." Google will not penalize you for dismissing a suggestion. Dismissing costs you nothing. Applying the wrong suggestion can cost you real money. If you're ever unsure, dismiss it and ask someone you trust before making the change.

CRITICAL GAPS — WHY WE ARE LOSING CUSTOMERS

3 gaps to look at. Open ›

GAP 1: You Are Invisible in Most of the Cedar Valley Region

$225/month

Your ads appear to be targeting only the immediate Cedar Falls area, which means the roughly 400,000 people in Westbridge, Northgate, Pinehurst, Riverton, Millfield, Greendale, Oakhill, Fairview, and Brookside are never seeing your ads. Impact: ~$225/month in customers you're invisible to.

Fix: open each campaign and add every Cedar Valley city and county to the location targeting list. This is a 10-minute task that doubles your reachable audience.

GAP 2: Two Broad-Match Keywords Are Bleeding Budget

$125

Your two broad-match keywords — "work boots near me" and "work boots Cedar Falls" — together spent $125 last month with zero conversions. Broad match tells Google to match your ad to a wide range of related searches, which often pulls in tire-kickers and irrelevant queries. Impact: ~$125/month in directly wasted spend.

Fix: change both keywords from broad match to phrase match (the more controlled setting), or convert them to specific exact-match terms like "steel toe work boots Cedar Falls."

GAP 3: Your Brand Campaign Loses to Competitors 32% of the Time

$100/month

When someone searches your exact store name, your ad should be the first thing they see — every time. Right now your brand-campaign impression share is 68%, meaning competitors' ads outrank yours on roughly 1 in 3 of your own brand searches. Impact: ~$100/month in customers who clicked a competitor instead of you.

Fix: raise the max CPC bid on your brand campaign keywords until impression share is consistently above 90%. Brand searches are the highest-intent, lowest-cost traffic in your account — never let a competitor steal them.

Sample audit anonymized from a real small business that uses InspectMyAds. All store names, city names, account IDs, and dollar figures have been changed; the strategic analysis, gaps, and verdicts are unchanged.

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