Google Ads reporting checklist: 25 checks before you send

Published 16 October 2026 · Updated 16 October 2026 · KeySend

Before a Google Ads report goes to a client, check five things in order: the data scope, the definitions, the comparisons, the written story, and the file itself. The 25 numbered checks below catch the errors that cost the most trust.

How to run the checklist

Run it on the finished report, after the summary is written. Many errors appear in the last hour: a number typed into the summary from an old export, a chart that still points to last month's range, a client name left over from another file. Work through the groups in order, because a scope error makes every later check pointless.

Keep Google Ads open in another tab with the same date range as the report. Several checks compare the report with the interface. If you want the full monthly process around this check, see our monthly reporting workflow; for the sections the report should contain, see the monthly report template.

Group 1: Data scope

The account name and customer ID on the report match the account you pulled. In a manager account, this is the most common error.
The date range is the full period, for example 1 to 30 September, in the account time zone. Google states that reports follow the account time zone, and standard accounts cannot change it.
Every campaign that spent money in the period is included, including campaigns that are paused today.
Total cost in the report equals total cost in the Google Ads campaigns table for the same dates and filters, and every money figure shows the account currency.
No filter is still active in the saved report or the table. Google shows a description of each active filter above the table; check that line.

Group 2: Definitions

You know which column the report uses for results. Primary conversion actions appear in Conversions; secondary actions appear in All conv. and are not used for bidding unless they belong to a custom goal.
The report names the conversion actions it counts, such as calls from ads and form submissions.
If any conversion action was added, removed, or changed during the period, the data notes say so with the date.
Business figures that come from outside Google Ads, such as qualified leads or revenue from the client's system, are labeled with their source and export date.
Cost is labeled as campaign cost. If the client asks about the invoice, Google separates served cost from billed cost after adjustments, and you answer that from the billing pages, not from campaign tables.

Group 3: Comparisons

Both periods use the same campaigns, conversion actions, and currency.
The report shows the previous value next to each change, not a percentage alone. A rise from 2 to 4 leads is +100% and still a small number.
Changes in rates, such as Conv. rate or Search lost IS (budget), are written in percentage points. A move from 4% to 6% is +2 percentage points, or +50%. The period comparison calculator shows both.
If the months have different numbers of days, the report gives daily averages for cost, or a note that explains the difference.
The report records the pull date. Google dates conversions by the click, and late conversions can still raise the last days of the period after you pull the data.

Group 4: The written story

Every number in the summary matches the same number in the scorecard or tables. Check them one by one.
Each cause is labeled as confirmed or likely. Timing alone makes a cause likely, not confirmed.
Campaign changes add up to the account change. If three campaigns explain +12 leads but the account rose by 9, a fourth campaign lost 3 and the story must mention it.
Each action in the plan has an owner, a due date, and the number that will show whether it worked.
Last month's actions are reported: done, not done, or too early to judge.

Group 5: The spreadsheet and the file

Ratios are calculated from totals. See the worked example below.
Formulas cover all rows, including rows added by this month's export. Charts point to this month's range.
Zero denominators show a dash or “no conversions”, not $0 or an error code.
The file has no other client's name, logo, or data, including in file properties, hidden slides, notes, and hidden sheet tabs.
You opened the final file in the format the client receives, on a phone and on a laptop. Tables are not cut off and labels can be read.

Worked example: averaged ratios (hypothetical)

The first check in group 5 catches a frequent spreadsheet error. A hypothetical account has two campaigns. The account cost per conversion must come from total cost and total conversions.

Campaign	Cost	Conversions	Cost / conv.
Search – Services	$3,000	60	$50.00
Search – Competitors	$1,200	8	$150.00
Average of the two rows (wrong)			$100.00
Account total (right)	$4,200	68	$61.76

What the example shows

The averaged figure overstates the account cost per conversion by more than $38, because it gives the small campaign the same weight as the large one. The same error affects CTR, Avg. CPC, Conv. rate, and Conv. value / cost. Use the metric calculator to recompute any ratio from its totals.

Extra checks by account type

The 25 checks apply to every report. Add the lines below when the account has these features; they cover the errors that the general list does not reach.

Ecommerce: Conv. value is labeled as the value Google Ads recorded. If the report also shows shop revenue, the two figures sit in separate rows with their sources, and the summary does not call Conv. value revenue.
Calls: the report says which call conversion actions count as leads. If calls and forms have different value to the client, they appear as separate rows.
Manager accounts: each report contains one account, or several accounts in the same currency. Totals across currencies are not added together.
Performance Max: the report says which results came from Performance Max, so the client does not read them as Search results.
New campaigns: a campaign that ran for less than two weeks of the month is marked as new, and its cost per result is not compared with a full month.

A send test when numbers disagree

If the summary says leads rose from 41 to 47 and the campaign table adds up to 46, do not send. One lead is a small gap, but a client who finds it will doubt every other number in the file. The usual reasons are a campaign excluded from the table, a summary written from an earlier export, or a table that uses All conv. while the summary uses Conversions. Find the reason, fix the source, and then fix the report.

When you find an error after sending

Send a corrected file the same day if you can. Name the figure that changed, the old value, the new value, and whether the recommendation changes. Keep both versions in the month's folder.

Then add a check to this list that would have caught it. For agencies, the agency reporting workflow covers who runs the check when the person who wrote the report is not the person who sends it.