Google Ads Wasted Spend Audit: Rapid Rooter Plumbing (fictional)
Scope confirmed: residential plumbing repair, Tampa only; out of scope: new construction and commercial work. Target CPA: $60 for every campaign. Lookback: last 30 days. Data used: the search terms report (6 rows, with ad group and conversion value columns) and the campaigns report (3 campaigns). No keywords report was provided. Click threshold for judging a keyword: 30 (default). No connector is in use; nothing has been changed in the account.
Baseline totals
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | $1,840 |
| Clicks | 275 |
| Conversions | 32 |
| CPA | $57.50 ($1,840 / 32) |
| ROAS | Not available: conversion value is 0 on every row, which suggests values are not tracked |
| Campaign | Daily budget | Limited by budget | Cost | Clicks | Conv | CPA | vs $60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency | $45 | No | $1,230 | 147 | 23 | $53.48 | Beats target |
| Water Heaters | $15 | Yes | $400 | 40 | 9 | $44.44 | Beats target |
| DIY Leaks | $10 | No | $210 | 88 | 0 | No conversions | Misses target |
Wasted spend summary by theme
Rule: zero conversions and cost above 2x target CPA ($120), or clearly outside the business description.
| Theme | Why it's waste | Search term (campaign / ad group) | Cost | Conv |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job seekers | Looking for work, not a plumber | plumber jobs tampa (Emergency / Emergency Plumber) | $145 | 0 |
| DIY / how to | Wants to fix it themselves | how to fix a leaky faucet (DIY Leaks / Leaky Faucet) | $210 | 0 |
| Commercial | Out of scope: no commercial work | commercial plumbing contractor (Emergency / Emergency Plumber) | $190 | 0 |
| Total | $545 | 0 |
$545 is 29.6 percent of the $1,840 total.
Above target converter (not waste, never a negative): free plumbing estimate (Emergency / Emergency Plumber): $75, 1 conversion, CPA $75, which is above the $60 target. Proposal: keep it, and move it into its own ad group or lower its bid so it can be watched. A "free" negative would block a converting term.
Negative keyword table
Each negative was checked against the three converting terms (plumber near me, water heater repair tampa, free plumbing estimate). None contains "jobs", "commercial" or "how to".
| Theme | Negative | Match type | Level | Cost blocked (30 days) | Sample terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job seekers | jobs | Phrase | Shared list "Rapid Rooter: Irrelevant", all campaigns | $145 | plumber jobs tampa |
| Commercial | commercial | Phrase | Shared list "Rapid Rooter: Irrelevant", all campaigns | $190 | commercial plumbing contractor |
| DIY / how to | how to | Phrase | Shared list, linked to Emergency and Water Heaters only | $210 | how to fix a leaky faucet |
Why "how to" is not applied to DIY Leaks: see the intent conflict in Structural checks. That campaign needs a decision on the whole campaign, not just a negative.
Keyword actions
Not assessed: keywords report not provided.
Search term signals that point to keywords worth checking: - The Leaky Faucet ad group's only search term had 88 clicks (above 30), $210 cost and 0 conversions. Check which broad match keyword matched "how to fix a leaky faucet." - The Emergency Plumber ad group's broad match keyword(s) matched three terms with no or weak results (plumber jobs tampa, commercial plumbing contractor, free plumbing estimate). Check which keyword matched each before changing anything.
Send the keywords report and I will propose specific pauses or bid changes. I will never propose deleting keywords.
Budget shift proposal
Ranking against the $60 target: Water Heaters ($44.44, limited by budget) is the best place to add budget. DIY Leaks (0 conversions on $210) misses target by more than 30 percent. Emergency beats target but is not limited by budget, so it does not need more.
Option A, within the 20 percent cap (no extra sign off needed beyond normal approval):
| Campaign | Current daily | Proposed | Change | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY Leaks | $10 | $8 | -$2 (-20%) | Misses target, 0 conversions |
| Water Heaters | $15 | $17 | +$2 (+13.3%) | Beats target, limited by budget |
| Net | $0 |
Option B, needs your explicit sign off (change above 20 percent): pause DIY Leaks (see intent conflict) and move its full $10 to Water Heaters, from $15 to $25 (+66.7%). Net $0.
Expected effect (estimate): at last period's Water Heaters CPA of $44.44, each extra $44 or so could buy about one more conversion if the campaign scales at the same CPA. That is not guaranteed; CPA usually rises as budget grows.
Structural checks
| Check | Finding | Proposal |
|---|---|---|
| Intent conflict | DIY Leaks is named and built for do it yourself searches; the business sells repair, not DIY help. Its only term, "how to fix a leaky faucet," spent $210 with 0 conversions. | Decide: pause DIY Leaks, or rebuild it around repair intent (for example "leaky faucet repair tampa"). Not changed. |
| Broad match without conversion based bidding | Emergency uses broad match terms with Maximize clicks. DIY Leaks uses broad match with Manual CPC. | Move Emergency to Maximize conversions or target CPA $60, or tighten its broad match keywords to phrase. |
| Search Partners | On for Emergency and DIY Leaks. Results by network were not provided. | Check the network segment; turn off if partner traffic doesn't convert. |
| Display expansion | On for DIY Leaks. | Turn off; it adds non search traffic to a campaign already missing target. |
| Location option | Emergency and DIY Leaks use "presence or interest"; the business serves Tampa only. "plumber jobs tampa" could come from anyone interested in Tampa. | Change both to "presence" (people in or regularly in your locations), matching Water Heaters. |
Editor upload table
Nothing has been uploaded. Rows for Google Ads Editor:
Negative keyword list:
| Shared set name | Keyword | Criterion type |
|---|---|---|
| Rapid Rooter: Irrelevant | jobs | Phrase |
| Rapid Rooter: Irrelevant | commercial | Phrase |
| Rapid Rooter: How to | how to | Phrase |
List links:
| Shared set name | Campaign |
|---|---|
| Rapid Rooter: Irrelevant | Emergency |
| Rapid Rooter: Irrelevant | Water Heaters |
| Rapid Rooter: Irrelevant | DIY Leaks |
| Rapid Rooter: How to | Emergency |
| Rapid Rooter: How to | Water Heaters |
Campaign settings (Option A shown; use Option B rows only if you sign off):
| Campaign | Budget | Location option | Search Partners | Display expansion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency | 45 (no change) | Presence | Decide after network check | Off (no change) |
| Water Heaters | 17 | Presence (no change) | Off (no change) | Off (no change) |
| DIY Leaks | 8 | Presence | Decide after network check | Off |
Expected effect (estimate, based on last period spend): blocking the three wasted terms would have saved up to $545 with no lost conversions, because none of them converted. On the same 32 conversions, account CPA would have been about $40.47 ($1,295 / 32) instead of $57.50. Treat this as an upper bound: similar searches may match other keywords.
Needs your decision
- Approve, edit or reject the negatives, settings changes and budget rows before upload. Nothing has been changed.
- DIY Leaks: pause it, rebuild it around repair intent, or keep it as is.
- Budget: approve Option A, or explicitly sign off on Option B (a 66.7 percent increase for Water Heaters).
- Emergency bid strategy: approve moving from Maximize clicks to a conversion based strategy.