Google Ads optimization: the weekly checklist

Once a week, run six checks in Google Ads: that conversions are still counting, spend against the month, the search terms from the last seven days, how Google Search, search partners and the Display Network compare, what changed in Change history and who changed it, and the recommendations, one at a time. Change only one thing at a time, because Google says a bid strategy can take one to two conversion cycles to settle after a change.

Each check below says where it lives and what to do with what you find.

The six checks

The rule: one change at a time

When a bid strategy or its target changes, Google’s page on Smart Bidding learning says “It can take up to 1 to 2 conversion cycles for performance to stabilize to your new ROI goal, although it can be faster depending on the amount of conversion data present.” Change three things in one week, and you will not know which one worked.

One question for a campaign you already run

Open Change history for the last seven days. What changed, and who changed it?

The film, as text

Chapter 6 of the course, word for word, as it is spoken in the film above (recorded 20 October 2026). The account in the film is an example.

A Google Ads account is never finished. New searches arrive. Recommendations pile up. A tag stops counting. Someone changes a setting. In this last chapter, every step of the course becomes one routine: six checks, once a week. Conversions. Spend. Search terms. Networks and locations. Change history. And recommendations.

This is chapter six, the last chapter of a free course on running Google Ads yourself. Chapter five found the settings you never chose. This one keeps all of it working. Every rule here is quoted from Google's own help pages.

Check one. Are conversions still counting? Open Goals, then Summary, and read the status beside each primary action. Active, in Google's words, indicates that everything is working as intended. Two statuses need you this week. Awaiting conversions: no conversions have been recorded in the last seven days. And Misconfigured: conversions have stopped recording entirely, due to a setup error or a broken tag. If either one shows, go back to chapter three before you change anything else. Every other number depends on it.

Check two. Spend against the month. Your daily budget is an average. In Google's words, at the end of the month, you will have spent no more than thirty point four times your average daily budget. So multiply your daily budget by thirty point four. At forty dollars a day, the month's ceiling is one thousand two hundred and sixteen dollars. Each week, compare what you've spent so far with that ceiling. Spend on its own isn't the question, though. What it bought is, and that's the next check.

Check three. The search terms report. Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Set the dates to the last seven days, and sort by cost. A search that spends, brings nothing, and asks for something you don't sell becomes a negative keyword, with the right match type. And a search that brings customers, and isn't one of your keywords yet, becomes one.

Check four. Networks and locations. Select the segment icon, then Network, with search partners. Compare Google Search, search partners and the Display Network by what each cost, and what each brought. And if your customers come to you in person, check that your location option still says Presence. Chapter five showed where it lives.

Check five. What changed, and who changed it. In Google's words, to view the changes on all your campaigns, go to Change history within the Campaigns menu. The User column will show the email address of the person who made the change, if it was done through the Google Ads interface. And changes made by automated systems or Google's internal systems may appear under users like Google Ads system. So if a budget, a bid or a keyword changed, and nobody on your side changed it, this is where you'll see it.

Check six. Recommendations. Google shows an optimization score beside them. In Google's words, optimization score is an estimate of how well your Google Ads account is set to perform. An estimate, not a result. Read each recommendation on its own, and apply only the ones you'd make yourself. And if auto apply is on, its History tab shows what was applied. Chapter five showed where it lives.

One rule ties the six together: change one thing at a time. When a bid strategy changes, Google says it can take a few conversion cycles, one to two typically, for the bid strategy to calibrate to the new objective. Change three things in one week, and you won't know which one worked.

Six checks, once a week. Conversions still counting. Spend against the month. Search terms from the last seven days. Networks and locations. What changed, and who. And recommendations, one at a time.

Here's a question you can answer right now, if you already run a campaign. Open Change history for the last seven days. What changed, and who changed it?

That's the whole course. Six chapters, from your first campaign to a weekly routine, and every one is in the playlist.

And if you'd rather not run these checks by hand, Admiral reads your account and puts each fix in front of you. Each fix waits for your yes. Autopilot, if you switch it on, only pauses and blocks, under a daily cap. Start free at meetadmiral.com.