Who Can Audit Our Google Ads Without Trying to Sell Us Management?

Hire the checker whose next invoice is the verdict

Ask any auditor one question: what is your next invoice for? Doctor Ads offers Profit Forensics, a fixed-fee examination. Put the question to us too. If the answer is running the account, you are in a sales process, however good the review. If it is this verdict, check the rest.

Call it the next-invoice test. This piece sits with our other Account Audits & Agency Reviews, written for decision-makers who do not manage bids directly.

The public questions behind this piece ask for a one-off audit without management, or a second opinion that keeps the current manager. We have no reliable data on who sells this work or at what price, so nothing here ranks firms or quotes a market range.

We found no page in Google Ads Help on who may audit an account independently, so that definition goes into your contract. Keeping the agency? Ask it to answer these questions from the account screens an auditor reads.

Three models, three conflicts of interest

Three purchases share the word audit. Each creates a potential conflict. Here, independent means the verdict is separate from a management offer; it does not guarantee impartiality.

What you are buying	Free agency audit	Automated score	Fixed-fee independent audit
Conflict of interest, and who defines a problem	The firm hopes to run the account, so the review doubles as the pitch. It can still be right.	The tool owner sets the criteria; the score shows whether they were met.	The contract’s written question. The checker may still prefer a sharp finding or want later work.
Price and time	No fee. A meeting.	Minutes, free or in a subscription.	A fee fixed before access, for a set period.
Access you give	A screen share or read-only. Ask which.	Whatever the connected tool can read.	Read-only. CRM join fields if the question needs them.
What you leave with	Notes or a proposal.	A score and a list of flags.	A signed report that stands without its author.
Can it say “change nothing”?	Yes, although that may end the sales opportunity.	Passed checks do not establish profitability.	Only if the contract allows it. Ask for that clause before signing.

When each one wins

The free agency audit wins when you are choosing who runs the account. A proposal should argue for the work. Treat advice to switch agencies as part of that firm’s sales offer.

The automated score wins when you want a list today and accept the scorer’s definition of a problem. Do not take the mark to a board as proof the account is well run.

The fixed-fee audit wins when you must decide whether to renew the agency, raise the budget or keep funding Google Ads. You need a report that permits a clean verdict and supports the decision.

The trap: the highest score and the longest checklist do not explain the business result. They answer a different question from “is this account making us money”, and independence is about who owns that answer.

A fixed price does not make an audit independent

The strongest objection lands on us: a paid auditor may still want future work. A fixed fee removes one incentive: a bill that grows with faults found. It leaves others, including marketing value from striking findings and future contracts. A free review can still be honest.

Price is one test of five. Hold every offer to all five, ours included:

• The fee is fixed before access and stays the same whether the verdict is clean or full of faults.
• Management is refused in writing. Any later work is a separate contract signed after the verdict, and the verdict does not depend on it.
• “Nothing needs fixing” is an allowed conclusion, at the same fee. Ask for that sentence before signing.
• The verdict is signed and shows its evidence: the screen, the date range and the number behind each finding, so someone else can repeat the check.
• Check permissions, users and recorded edits. Read only prevents campaign edits, not every action. Compare Access and security before and after. Change history corroborates recorded edits; it is a check, not proof.

The first three belong in the contract; the last two you check yourself. Fail one and the fixed fee proved nothing.

What evidence belongs in a verdict

A sound first pass reviews account-wide settings, traffic exclusions and conversion tracking before judging campaigns. Experience tells a checker where to look, the way a mechanic knows which part to open. It does not replace the evidence.

Conversion goals. In our study of what campaigns bid on, the median campaign was marked biddable on three conversion goals, meaning goals automated bidding may optimise for (snapshot of 10 July 2026). That is configuration, not a defect; a checker names the goals from the screen.

Change history. In our change-event study, 63.6% of logged events came from software connections (API), automated rules, recommendations or a tool the log could not identify (12 June to 9 July 2026). Reading the log as hours of agency work mixes people with tools.

Search terms. Our checklist ordered by evidence ranks eight checks. In the strongest of the eight checks, the highest-spending tenth of search queries with no recorded conversions holds a median 48.8% of that pool’s spend: not the whole budget or a recoverable sum. A checker shows the terms, not just the share.

What access to grant, and which CRM fields to export

Grant the least access that answers the written question, and export only the fields that join a lead to a campaign.

Read-only on Google Ads, not Admin

Read-only access can inspect campaigns and billing, view users and managers, grant Email-only access, and edit and run reports. It cannot edit campaigns. Compare the access list before and after the audit.

For a direct invitation, Google’s help on managing access says: “Enter the email address for your invitee and you can choose the access level.”

A manager-account link is a different route. Google’s manager-account help says “Users with ‘Read only’ access can’t make any changes to the account”. User levels determine permissions; Standard and Admin can edit linked campaigns without ownership. A link does not grant ownership.

The access list	Grant	Do not grant
Google Ads	A read-only user, or a manager link after checking users’ Read only levels.	Admin, or your password.
Analytics, Search Console	Only if the question needs them, at the lowest role.	Access by default. A Google Ads invitation does not cover them.
CRM	An export of join fields, through a secure channel you agree on.	A login, an admin role or server logs.

The CRM fields that join a lead to a campaign

These are our recommended fields, not Google requirements. The CRM owner first confirms which fields exist and how leads match campaigns.

• a non-identifying lead or event ID;
• the advertising identifier you store: click ID or campaign and UTM values (identifiers or link tags that connect the lead to its campaign);
• the time of the lead, with its time zone;
• the stage or status, and the date of the sale or other agreed business outcome;
• the agreed value or margin, or a range;
• a cancelled or duplicate flag.

Leave out names, email addresses and phone numbers.

What to check in your account

Do this before you sign; it doubles as an interview.

1. Open Admin, then Access and security. Record Users and Managers before access. Confirm that your company holds Admin.
2. For a direct invitation, enter the email, choose Read only and send. No password, no Admin.
3. For a manager link, first verify that the manager users who will open your account have Read only access. An Admin selects Accept in Managers. With more than three administrators, another Admin approves through Security requests or Pending invitations.
4. Open Goals → Conversions → Summary. Note action names and Primary/Secondary labels, which distinguish conversion reporting. Then inspect your largest campaign: Settings → Conversion goals. Ask candidates which goals that campaign bids towards.
5. Open Campaigns → Change history. User shows emails for interface edits; API edits may show Google Ads API or a tool name. Some account settings and Google representative edits are absent.
6. Open Campaigns → Insights and reports → Search terms. Filter to zero conversions, sort by cost, and ask what the candidate would check next.
7. Export a small CRM sample with the join fields, and have the CRM owner confirm that it matches campaigns.
8. At delivery, check Change history for auditor emails and tool names. Compare Users and Managers in Access and security with your initial record. An Admin removes a direct user in Users, or unlinks the manager in Managers. Confirm access is gone.

When this does not apply

You need someone watching the account every month, not a verdict. The verdict describes the account on the access date; later edits create a different account. For oversight, carry over evidence, permission for a clean report, access checks and history review. Do not copy the refusal to sell management into a management contract.

The question is bigger than one Google Ads account. Several accounts, or Search Ads 360 or Campaign Manager 360, Google’s enterprise tools for search and campaign management, require a separately agreed scope under the Profit Forensics terms. Define a separate review for each other advertising platform.

The account cannot support a verdict yet. If conversions are not tied to business records and the CRM cannot join leads to campaigns, a verdict on the business result may not hold without that join. A configuration review remains possible; mark the profitability question “not assessable” until measurement supports it.

When to call an independent check

Commission one when a renewal or budget decision is close and the only write-up came from the firm that benefits, or an automated score conflicts with recorded sales.

That moment is what Profit Forensics is built for. Apply the tests to its published terms: “£5,000, fixed. One account. One week of forensic work. One signed verdict.”

One Google Ads account: fixed £5,000, one week. Several accounts or an SA360/CM360 stack: scoped on request. Meta is not covered.

The examination does not sell management. The fee is paid in full before findings and does not depend on them. The report is the product; a clean verdict is allowed. Access is through a manager account; Profit Forensics promises “the change history will prove it”. Google documents gaps in that log; use it to corroborate recorded edits, not prove no action occurred. Verify Read only levels for manager users opening your account before linking; revoke the link afterwards. Optional training or supervision requires a separate request and contract.

Turn it down if it fails any of the five tests.

Researcher’s take

I sell the examination above, so run the tests on me first. I can still prefer a striking finding to a clean report. What I can put in writing is a fee that stays the same if I find nothing, a report that is the product, and an account I do not touch. Reject any recommendation, mine included, without a dated screen or report behind it.

Igor Ivitskiy, Doctor Ads Profit Forensics

FAQ

Who does a one-time independent Google Ads audit?

An auditor paid for the written verdict, under terms that exclude management services and permit a clean conclusion. Check the contract, not the word “independent”.

Free agency audit or paid independent audit: what is the difference?

What will the next invoice cover? The free review is part of a sale for management; the paid audit must be allowed to end in “change nothing”.

What does an independent audit include, and what does it cost?

A written question, read-only access and a signed report in which each finding shows its screen. We have no reliable data on market prices; our own fee is in the Profit Forensics section above.

What access does an auditor need?

Read-only on Google Ads, not Admin and not your password. Analytics, Search Console and a CRM export only if the question needs them.

How do I know the auditor is not just trying to win our account?

Look in the contract for a management pitch, a fee that moves with the findings or a ban on a clean result. Then ask for the screen behind each finding.

How we know

Sources checked 26 October 2026, including Google Ads Help: About access levels in your Google Ads account; Manage access to your Google Ads account; About user access levels for your manager account. We did not open a signed-in account for this piece, so menu labels can differ.

Figures from our published studies, linked above: three goals (snapshot of 10 July 2026); 63.6% of logged events (12 June to 9 July 2026); eight checks and a median 48.8% of zero-conversion search-term spend in its highest-spending tenth. These describe settings and events in accounts we manage, not hours worked or profitability.

Opinion, not measurement: the tests, comparison and CRM fields represent Igor Ivitskiy’s professional judgement; access permissions come from Google. Forum questions are paraphrased without names.

No new portfolio data in this article: it combines Google’s documentation with what our audits look for. Where a figure comes from our published studies, the study is linked.

The Profit Forensics terms are quoted from its page on the same date; the five tests apply to it too.