KeySendMonthly Google Ads reporting: the workflow from cut-off to follow-up
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A monthly Google Ads report is reliable when you produce it the same way every month: fix the cut-off date, pull the data from a saved report, check it, analyze it in a fixed order, write the summary last, send one version, and open the next report with last month's actions. This guide walks through each step with a hypothetical example.
The workflow at a glance
Most errors in monthly reports start in the process. Someone pulls numbers on a different day than last month, uses a different conversion column, or writes the summary before checking the totals. A fixed workflow removes those differences, so a change in the report means a change in the account.
Use these seven steps in this order. The order matters: you check the data before you analyze it, and you analyze it before you write a word for the client.
- Set the cut-off date and the reporting rules.
- Pull the data from the same saved report every month.
- Check the data before you interpret it.
- Analyze in a fixed order: account, campaigns, causes, confidence.
- Write the report, with the summary last.
- Run the pre-send check, send one version, and keep a record.
- Open next month's work with this month's actions.
Step 1: Set the cut-off date and the reporting rules
A calendar month in Google Ads follows the account time zone. Google states that reports and statistics are affected by the time zone you select, and standard accounts cannot change their time zone after creation. If the client's own systems run in another time zone, write that in the report once and keep it there.
Choose the day you pull the data and keep it. The standard Conversions column is dated by the time of the click, not the time of the conversion. A sale on October 3 that came from a click on September 28 still raises September's total. Google also says conversions can arrive several days after the ad interaction, and that conversion data for attribution models other than last click can take up to 15 hours to refresh. A report pulled on the 1st will usually show fewer conversions for the last days of the month than the same report pulled on the 5th.
Write the rules down in a short note you reuse every month:
- Period: the calendar month in the account time zone, compared with the previous calendar month. Add the same month last year only when the client asks or the business is seasonal.
- Pull date: for example, the fourth working day of the month. Record the date on the report.
- Conversion definition: which column (Conversions or All conv.) and which conversion actions count as a lead or a sale.
- Scope: which campaigns are in the report. Include paused campaigns that spent money during the month.
- Currency: the account currency, shown with every money figure.
Step 2: Pull the data the same way every month
Build the report once and save it. In Google Ads, the Report Editor is under Campaigns, then Insights & reports, then Report editor. A saved report keeps its rows, columns, and filters, so next month you change only the date range. Google removes saved reports that nobody opens for more than 18 months, which is not a problem for a monthly report.
For a comparison, open the campaigns table, click the date range in the upper right, turn on the Compare toggle, and choose Previous period. The table then shows the percent change, and the double arrows in each column header expand it to the current value, the previous value, and the change. Download the table from the download icon above it. Google lists Excel CSV, TSV, PDF, XLSX, XML, and Google Sheets as formats.
Save the raw export unchanged, with the pull date in the file name, for example acme-2026-09-pulled-2026-10-06.csv. When a client asks in December why the September total changed, you can show both versions.
Step 3: Check the data before you interpret it
Do four quick checks before any analysis. Each one catches an error that would change the story.
- The account total for cost in your export matches the total in the Google Ads campaigns table for the same dates.
- No day in the month has zero cost or zero conversions unless you know why. A zero day is often a tracking break or a billing hold.
- The conversion column and conversion actions match the rules from step 1. Primary actions appear in Conversions; secondary actions appear only in All conv.
- Every ratio in your sheet is calculated from totals, for example total cost divided by total conversions. An average of campaign ratios gives the wrong account figure.
Step 4: Analyze in a fixed order
Go from the top down. First establish what happened to the account. Then find which campaigns produced the change. Then look for causes. Last, decide how sure you are. Skipping to causes first leads to stories that the totals do not support.
A worked example (hypothetical)
A hypothetical service business spent $8,200 in September for 96 conversions, compared with $7,900 for 118 conversions in August. Cost per conversion rose from $66.95 to $85.42. That is the account result.
The campaign split shows where the 22 lost conversions came from. Non-brand Search lost 19, Brand Search lost 1, and Performance Max lost 2. The account story is therefore mostly one campaign.
Change history shows that the target CPA on the non-brand campaign was lowered on September 9. Change history is in the Campaigns menu and covers the last two years. The timing matches the drop, but other things also happened in September, so the report calls this a likely cause, not a proven one.
| Campaign | Conversions Aug | Conversions Sep | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-brand Search | 84 | 65 | -19 |
| Brand Search | 22 | 21 | -1 |
| Performance Max | 12 | 10 | -2 |
| Account total | 118 | 96 | -22 |
Step 5: Write the report, with the summary last
Fill the sections in this order: scorecard, campaign changes, findings, work done, next month's plan, and only then the summary at the top. The summary is a compression of everything below it, so it cannot be written first without guessing. Our guide for business owners shows what a non-specialist reader looks for on the first page.
Show the before value, the after value, and the change together. Use the period comparison calculator when you need percent change and percentage-point change for rates. Use the metric calculator to check CPC, cost per conversion, and ROAS from totals.
Separate what you observed from what you think caused it. Compare these two sentences for the example above:
- Before: “Performance dipped this month due to algorithm changes, but we are optimizing.”
- After: “Conversions fell from 118 to 96. Non-brand Search accounts for 19 of the 22 lost conversions. We lowered its target CPA on September 9, which is the likely cause. We will return the target to its August level on October 7 and report the effect next month.”
Step 6: Check, send one version, and keep a record
Run a pre-send check on the finished file, not on your working sheet: account name, dates, currency, totals, and labels. Open the file in the format the client receives, such as PDF, and read it on a phone as well as a laptop.
Send on the same working day each month. Keep the sent file, the raw export, and the action list in one folder per month. If you find an error after sending, send a corrected version with a note that names the figure that changed and whether the recommendation changed.
Step 7: Open next month with this month's actions
The monthly cycle is complete when the next report reports on the actions from this one. Keep an action table and carry it forward. Each row has an owner, a date, and the number that will show whether it worked.
If you manage several clients, the agency reporting workflow covers how to run this cycle across accounts without every report landing on the same day.
| Action | Owner | Date | Measure | Result next month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return non-brand target CPA to August level | Account manager | Oct 7 | Non-brand conversions and cost per conversion | To report in November |
| Confirm which calls count as leads | Client office manager | Oct 10 | Call conversion action settings agreed | To report in November |
A monthly calendar you can copy
| Working day | Task | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirm the rules note is still correct; note any tracking or campaign changes from the month | Updated rules note |
| 4 | Pull the saved report and the comparison table; save raw exports with the pull date | Raw files |
| 4 | Run the four data checks | Checked data or a list of questions |
| 5 | Analyze account, campaigns, causes, confidence | Draft findings |
| 5–6 | Write the sections, then the summary | Draft report |
| 6 | Pre-send check and send | Sent report and archived folder |
| 7 onward | Start the actions; record dates of each change | Action table for next month |
What to watch between monthly reports
A monthly report is a poor alarm. If a campaign stops on the 3rd, the client should not learn about it on the 6th of the next month. Keep a short weekly check for spend, conversions, and campaigns that stopped serving, and tell the client between reports when something breaks.
KeySend handles that part of the job. It reads the account every morning, writes an Update on what changed in spend, conversions, and campaigns, and sends an email alert the morning after a campaign stops or spend doubles. Its PDF Export covers the last 7 or 30 days, not a chosen calendar month, so for a calendar-month report you still pull the month from Google Ads.
