A Google Ads audit that counts profit, not ROAS

Revenue is a great place to hide a lack of profit, especially from yourself.

I check whether your campaigns actually make money. In e-commerce, after product costs, shipping and returns; in B2B, after accounting for how many leads really become clients. You get a prioritised list of changes, an estimate of their impact in money and an implementation plan: for your team, your agency or for me.

Book a call and get a quoteSee a sample finding
Google Partner
  • NDA before any data is shared
  • Read-only access
  • I do the analysis personally
  • Google Partner, 17+ years of experience

Does this sound familiar?

ROAS goes up, the bank balance doesn't

The numbers in the account look good, but nobody has calculated the ROAS at which sales actually start covering costs.

One target for products with different margins

Products with 40% and 80% margins compete for budget under the same target ROAS. The algorithm optimises for an average that fits neither of them.

The same sale counted twice

The Google Ads tag and a purchase imported from GA4 are both set as primary conversions. Smart Bidding learns from inflated data.

Performance Max takes credit for your brand

Part of the campaign's sales comes from searches for your brand and returning customers who would have bought anyway. The result looks better than it is.

Raising the budget without knowing your break-even point doesn't scale profit. It scales whatever is already there, losses included.

Why ROAS is not enough

ROAS tells you what you sell. Not whether you earn

Google usually reports conversion value including VAT, often including shipping and before returns, and a lead in the account is not yet a client. Your profit is driven by margin: after product cost, shipping, fees and returns, or after how many leads your sales team actually closes. So the benchmark is not a “good ROAS” or a “cheap lead”, but a break-even point calculated for your business.

E-commerce

  • Ad spend: €5,000 a month
  • Conversion value in Google Ads: €14,000 including 20% VAT
  • Margin after product cost, shipping, fees and returns: 40%

ROAS in the account

2.80

Break-even ROAS

3.00

Monthly result after ad costs

−€333

Break-even = 1 / margin × 1.2 (VAT).

An account audit costs €360–600 net. If the changes you implement stop this loss, it pays for itself within about 1–2 months.

B2B and services

  • Margin from an acquired client (first year or full lifetime): €1,500
  • Leads qualified by the sales team: 20% of all leads
  • Closed deals: 1 in 5 qualified leads, i.e. 4% of all leads

Cost per lead in the account

€75

Maximum cost per lead

€60

Result on every client acquired

−€375

Break-even = margin per client × share of leads that become clients (€1,500 × 4%). When you use lifetime value (LTV), use margin, not revenue.

An account audit costs €360–600 net, about what you lose on one or two clients acquired above the threshold.

Illustrative examples, not client data.

In the audit I calculate the break-even point for the whole account, for product or service groups and, if you sell in several markets, for each market separately with its own VAT and shipping cost. In B2B I calculate the maximum cost per lead and per client from your sales team's or CRM data. Only against that benchmark do I assess the campaigns.

What a finding in the report looks like

Every issue comes with an impact, a recommendation and a priority

The report is not a 120-point checklist. Every finding answers three questions: what is wrong, what it costs and what to do first.

Campaign structure and bidding

Illustrative example
Issue
One Performance Max campaign with a single target ROAS covers the whole product range, with margins from 40% to 85%.
Impact
High-margin products are underfunded while low-margin ones get budget below their break-even point. In the report I calculate how much contribution this costs you every month.
Recommendation
Margin bands in custom labels (custom_label) in Merchant Center and separate campaigns with separate targets where volume allows. In smaller markets, exclude products below break-even. Ultimately, conversion value based on margin, i.e. bidding to POAS.
Why separate campaigns
In Performance Max, target ROAS is set at campaign level, not asset group level. Splitting into asset groups will not give products different targets.
Priority: HighImpact: ProfitImplemented by: Your team, agency or me

Other typical findings

  • Conversions counted twice because the Google Ads tag and the GA4 import are both primary conversions.
  • Brand searches inflate Performance Max results. After excluding the brand, ROAS in the account will drop, and that is expected: what remains are the sales that would not have happened without ads.
  • Products disapproved or limited in Merchant Center that nobody notices because the campaign “works”.

What I check

Five areas, always in the same order: economics first, then data, only then campaigns.

  1. 1/5

    Profitability and targets

    • Break-even ROAS for the account, product or service groups and markets
    • Whether bidding targets reflect margin rather than an average
    • Budget split between campaigns, markets and categories

  2. 2/5

    Conversion tracking in Google Ads

    • Primary and secondary conversions, duplicates, values (VAT, shipping, returns)
    • Consent Mode v2 and enhanced conversions
    • In B2B: lead quality and offline conversion import from your CRM

    I check the data that reaches Google Ads: conversion settings, duplicates and whether values match orders in your shop or CRM. Debugging the data layer (dataLayer), GTM tags and site code is a separate GA4 and GTM audit.

  3. 3/5

    Campaigns and traffic quality

    • Performance Max, Search and Shopping structure
    • Search terms, negatives, brand cannibalisation
    • Bidding strategies and the data they learn from

  4. 4/5

    Merchant Center and feed

    • Disapproved and limited products, data quality
    • Custom labels for margin and bestsellers
    • Price competitiveness against other sellers

  5. 5/5

    Landing pages

    • What happens after the click: conversion rate by page and device
    • Where campaign traffic gets lost
    • Landing page loading speed

  6. What you get

    • A report with findings, priorities and estimated impact
    • Break-even ROAS calculated for your business
    • An implementation plan in order: what first, what next
    • An online walkthrough of the results, also with your agency or freelancer

How the audit works

  1. 01

    Call and quote

    A short call about the account, your goals and the problem. Afterwards you get a quote and a timeline.

  2. 02

    NDA and access

    First we sign a non-disclosure agreement. Then read-only access to Google Ads, Merchant Center and GA4.

  3. 03

    Margin data

    In e-commerce, your margin or the cost of goods, shipping, fees and returns. In B2B, the share of leads that become clients and the margin per client. If you don't have them, we'll estimate them together.

  4. 04

    Analysis and report

    I do the analysis and draw the conclusions personally. AI speeds up my work with data, but it doesn't write the recommendations.

  5. 05

    Results walkthrough

    We go through the report together. If you like, we invite your agency or freelancer so everyone leaves with the same plan.

After the audit

You choose who implements the changes

The audit is a separate service. You don't have to implement anything with me, and I write the recommendations so that any competent specialist can implement them.

Model A

You implement

Your team or agency implements the changes according to the plan. I'm available when something needs clarifying and can review key changes before they go live.

You and your team
decisions and implementation
Me
consultations on request

Model B

Three-way collaboration

The owner, the agency or freelancer, and me at one table. Everyone knows what they are responsible for, and decisions are based on margin, not ROAS alone.

Owner
business decisions and margin data
Agency or freelancer
implementation and day-to-day account management
Me
priorities, reviewing changes before implementation, target control

Model C

I implement and take responsibility

I take on the implementation and I'm responsible for its quality and timing. No one can honestly guarantee results, since they also depend on prices, competition and the website, but I am responsible for what I do in the account.

You
business decisions and margin data
Me
implementation, monitoring and reporting

What clients and colleagues say

Real recommendations from LinkedIn.

I worked with Radek in one team on several projects. Radek was the person who had the greatest knowledge in such areas as Web Analytics, SEM, and SEO. Customers have always been impressed by how Radek can use their business potential. His excellent results always impressed everyone in the team, he did impossible things! I also remember Radek as a very communicative person who loves what he does.
DM

Damian Murawski

Board Member, PrestaShop & Sylius

LinkedIn recommendation

Radosław Mentel

Who does the audit

Radosław Mentel

For over 17 years I have been running and auditing Google Ads campaigns, mainly for e-commerce and B2B companies. I'm a Google Partner, I have been teaching marketing at SGH Warsaw School of Economics for over 7 years, and as a semKRK Awards judge I assess the best campaigns on the Polish market.

I don't judge accounts from the interface alone. I combine Google Ads, analytics and e-commerce, so I check the whole path: from the search query, through tracking, to how much of those sales stays in the business.

Google Partner
More about me →Google certificates →

Who this audit is for

The audit is for you if

  • you spend at least €1,200 a month on Google Ads,
  • you sell online or generate B2B leads and know your margin or can calculate it,
  • you want an independent second opinion on your agency's, freelancer's or in-house team's work,
  • you plan to increase your budget and want to know where it makes sense.

The audit is not for you if

  • the account is just starting and has no conversion data yet,
  • you're looking for an automated report without interpretation,
  • you expect guaranteed results,
  • you only need a GA4 and GTM audit (that's a separate service, get in touch and I'll quote it separately).

How much the audit costs

The price depends on the condition and history of the account, the number of markets and data quality, not just on ad spend. I give an exact quote after a short call.

Basic diagnosis

Small account, one service or a few campaigns

€240–300 net

4–5 hours of work

Account audit

Small or medium business, e-commerce or B2B

€360–600 net

6–10 hours of work

Large e-commerce

Large product range, multiple markets or accounts

from €720 net

12+ hours of work

Rate: €60 net per hour. Prices exclude VAT. Every option includes the report, the break-even calculation and a results walkthrough. Implementation and post-audit work are quoted separately.

FAQ

Questions about the audit

  • It can be, but it doesn't have to be. Most often the audit helps the agency defend good decisions and fix the ones that ignore margin. I'm happy to present the results to everyone involved, so it ends with a plan rather than a search for someone to blame.

Book a call and get a quote

Tell me about your account

I usually reply within a day with a proposed call time.