Google Ads Account Grader
15 questions. 5 categories. A score out of 100 and your top three leaks. No login. Nothing is submitted.
Does your agency know your contribution margin per SKU (after COGS, shipping, returns)?
Not gross margin from a spec sheet. Real CM3 including returns and payment processing.
Is your break-even ROAS set at campaign or product-group level, not account-wide?
Account averages hide the campaigns burning the most money.
Does monthly reporting reconcile to a contribution-margin line, not just ROAS?
If the CFO cannot map paid spend to CM3, reporting is theatre.
Are product titles rewritten for search intent (not copy-pasted from Shopify)?
Titles are 80% of Shopping performance. Default Shopify titles are search-poor.
Are unprofitable SKUs excluded or capped in Shopping / PMax?
20-35% of Shopping spend usually sits on SKUs that lose money at CM3.
Are custom_labels used to segment SKUs by role (Scale/Profit/Protect/Gateway)?
Without SKU roles, every product gets bid the same. Every product is not the same.
Is branded search excluded from Performance Max campaigns?
Without exclusions, PMax cannibalises branded search and inflates ROAS.
Are you running asset-group-level, not single-campaign, PMax structure?
One PMax campaign for everything = zero control over what gets funded.
Do you have separate PMax campaigns for Scale SKUs vs Profit SKUs?
Otherwise, the algorithm buys the easy conversions and ignores your growth products.
Are target ROAS values set from your break-even ROAS + margin buffer, not vibes?
Formula: target ROAS = (1 / contribution margin) × 1.3 to 1.6.
Are seasonality adjustments applied for known promo periods?
Smart Bidding does not know when your sale starts unless you tell it.
Has anyone rebuilt bidding in the last 6 months, without a data reset?
Bidding drifts. If nobody has touched it, it is running to last year's economics.
Is Enhanced Conversions or CAPI feeding first-party data back to Google?
iOS 17+, cookie deprecation, and consent mode make this non-optional.
Do you have an incrementality baseline (holdout test or geo-lift) in the last 12 months?
Without one, you cannot separate paid-driven from would-have-converted-anyway.
Is branded search reported separately from non-brand in commercial reporting?
Blending them hides whether paid is actually acquiring new customers.
0/15 answered
Frequently asked questions
How is the score calculated?
15 yes/no questions across 5 categories (margin visibility, feed hygiene, PMax control, bid strategy, attribution). Each 'yes' scores its weight; 'no' and 'unsure' both score zero. Total is out of 100. Weights reflect our audit data on which factors most consistently correlate with profit outcomes.
Why do 'no' and 'unsure' score the same?
If nobody on the account can confirm the answer, the answer is no. 'We probably do that' is the same commercial risk as 'we do not'. Both are unmanaged.
Is the grader anonymous?
Yes. Nothing is submitted. The score is calculated in your browser. If you want a written diagnostic, book an audit.
What score should I aim for?
75+ for a mature account with £15k+/month spend. Below 50 typically means 15-25% of paid spend is misallocated. Between 50 and 75 is the majority of accounts we audit.
Does the grader replace an audit?
No. It is a self-diagnostic. An audit reads your actual account, feed, product economics and 12-month spend pattern to quantify the leaks in pounds. The grader tells you whether it is worth booking one.