Key facts
- Google Ads reports conversions (leads, calls, purchases) separately from clicks and impressions, so a report that only shows clicks and impressions is skipping the numbers that actually tell you whether the budget produced business.
- The search terms report shows the literal phrases that triggered your ads, and reviewing it monthly is how wasted spend on irrelevant queries gets caught and excluded going forward.
- Google Ads' change history log records every edit made to an account, so a report can be checked against that log to confirm the changes it claims were actually made.
- Cost per lead is the number that connects ad spend to business results, and it should appear in every report even when the raw click and impression numbers look healthy on their own.
- A campaign showing the "Limited by budget" status is one Google itself flags as capable of spending more if the budget allowed, and a good report calls this out rather than leaving it buried in the interface.
The Numbers That Have to Be There
Every monthly report should show total spend against the agreed budget, and whether the account paced on track, under, or over that budget for the period.
It should also show leads or conversions produced and their cost each, broken down by campaign if there's more than one running, since an average across everything can hide a campaign that's quietly wasting money.
Finally, it should compare these numbers to the previous period, so you can see direction, improving, flat, or declining, rather than a single disconnected snapshot.
What Was Actually Changed, Not Just What Happened
A complete report states what was actually changed during the period: new keywords added, negative keywords excluded, bids adjusted, new ad copy tested, or budget reallocated between campaigns.
This is exactly where you can compare the report's claims against the account's own change history log, since that log timestamps every edit regardless of what the report chooses to mention.
The report should also note what was found in the search terms report and any new exclusions made as a result, since this is one of the most routine and telling parts of ongoing management.
Where the Budget Is Actually Going
A campaign and keyword-level breakdown lets you see which parts of the account are producing leads and which are quietly burning budget without much to show for it.
The search terms report deserves its own mention when anything notable turns up there, new irrelevant queries triggering ads, or a surprisingly strong performer nobody expected.
Any wasted spend that's been identified should be named specifically, along with what's actually being done about it, not just acknowledged and left alone.
What Happens Next, Not Just What Already Happened
A report is only backward-looking unless it also states the plan for the coming month: what's being tested, what's being paused, and what the target is.
This forward-looking piece is where accountability actually lives, since a stated plan you can hold the agency to is far more useful than a chart showing what already happened.
If your current reports stop at "here's what happened" with no plan attached, it's worth asking for this explicitly going forward.
Related questions
Real numbers you can act on matter more than screenshots. A dashboard screenshot can look impressive while hiding the number that matters most, cost per lead. Ask for the actual figures in writing: spend, conversions, cost per conversion, and how each compares to the previous period, with screenshots as backup evidence, not the main content.
That gap is exactly what a good report should call out directly, not bury. High clicks with few leads usually points to a landing page or targeting problem rather than the ads themselves. The report should name the likely cause and the next step being taken, not just present the click and lead numbers side by side without comment.
Monthly is standard for a full report with strategy and next steps, but the account itself should be reviewed more often than that. A monthly report that only reflects a single review session that same month, with nothing touched in between, is a sign the account isn't being actively managed the rest of the time.
It can, if a credible source exists for that comparison. Industry benchmark reports, like the annual LocaliQ and WordStream search advertising benchmarks, publish average cost per lead by category and are a fair reference point. Be cautious of any comparison number presented in a report without naming where it actually came from.
Ask directly why the numbers and recommendations aren't changing, and check the change history log against what the report claims. Genuinely stable, well-performing accounts can look similar month to month, but the search terms reviewed, the specific keywords adjusted, and the plan for next month should still shift as real work gets done.
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