Shopify sales not matching Google Ads conversions
The usual causes and how to find which one you have.
Fixed-fee audit
Google Ads Audit for Shopify & E-commerce Stores
A written, prioritised audit of your Google Ads account by Jaseel M — starting with whether the conversion tracking can be trusted, because every other finding depends on it.
In brief
A Google Ads audit is an independent review of what your account is actually paying for. Mine checks conversion tracking against real orders first, then the Merchant Center feed, Performance Max, search terms, bidding and landing pages, and ends in a written list of fixes ranked by cost. It is a fixed fee, and it is useful on its own whether or not you hire me afterwards.
Why the audit starts with tracking
Smart Bidding, Performance Max and every automated strategy optimise towards whatever you tell them a conversion is. If purchases are double-counted, values include tax and shipping in one place but not another, or a third of sales never reach Google at all, the account is being trained on the wrong data — and no amount of bid adjustment fixes that.
So the first hour of every audit compares Google Ads conversions with your store's orders for the same days. That one comparison tells me whether the rest of the numbers can be read at face value.
What the audit covers
| Area | What I check |
|---|---|
| Conversion tracking | Primary vs secondary actions, duplicates, values and currency, enhanced conversions, consent mode, GA4 import, Shopify or WooCommerce integration |
| Merchant Center & feed | Disapprovals, missing GTINs, title structure, product types, custom labels, price and availability mismatches |
| Performance Max | Brand traffic absorption, asset groups, listing groups, search themes, channel mix, new-customer settings |
| Shopping & Search | Search terms that should never have matched, negatives, match types, brand vs non-brand separation |
| Bidding & budgets | Target ROAS or CPA against your real margin, limited-by-budget campaigns, learning resets |
| Landing pages | Speed, message match, mobile checkout friction, what happens after the click |
What you get
- A written report — every finding tied to the exact campaign, product group, keyword or search term it came from, so you can verify it yourself.
- Issues ranked by cost, not by how many there are. Three findings usually account for most of the waste.
- A 30-day action plan you can hand to your team, your agency or me.
- A walkthrough call to go through it and answer questions.
I need read access to Google Ads, Merchant Center and GA4, plus order data for the same period from Shopify, WooCommerce or your CRM. Nothing is changed in your account during the audit.
Who the audit is for
- Shopify and WooCommerce stores whose Google Ads revenue does not match their store, or whose ROAS looks fine while profit does not.
- Stores where Performance Max has taken over and nobody is sure what it is buying.
- Lead-generation businesses getting enquiries that sales says are not worth calling.
- Brands about to change agency who want an independent baseline first.
- Agencies who want a second opinion on an account before a client review — see agency partnerships.
If your spend is small, an audit is usually better value than a retainer, and I will tell you that on the first call.
Common findings
These come up in most accounts, so they are worth checking even if you never book an audit:
- Two purchase conversion actions both set to primary — the Google & YouTube app plus a GTM tag, each counting the same order.
- Brand searches inside Performance Max, reported as new revenue. See should you bid on your own brand?
- One target ROAS across products with very different margins. See how to set a target ROAS from your margin.
- Hundreds of disapproved products nobody has looked at in Merchant Center.
- Search terms for jobs, free versions, DIY and competitors' support pages eating budget in broad match.
How much does a Google Ads audit cost?
A fixed fee agreed after a short call, based on how many accounts, markets and campaign types are involved. It is quoted before any work starts and does not depend on your ad spend.
How long does a Google Ads audit take?
Usually five to ten working days from receiving access, including the written report and a walkthrough call.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need admin access to my account?
No. Read-only access to Google Ads, Merchant Center and GA4 is enough. Nothing is changed during the audit.
Is the audit free?
No. Free audits tend to be sales documents. A paid audit is written to be useful even if we never work together, and you own it.
Can you implement the fixes?
Yes — as a fixed-scope sprint or an ongoing retainer. Or hand the action plan to your own team; it is written so they can.
Do you audit lead-generation accounts too?
Yes. For lead gen the focus moves to lead quality: how conversions are defined, whether offline outcomes are fed back, and cost per qualified lead rather than cost per form fill.
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