What I’d Audit First in a $10M Retail Google Ads Account (and Why Most Brands Miss It)

When you run paid search for retail at scale, the numbers hide the leaks.

A $10 million annual Google Ads budget can look fine on a dashboard but still bleed thousands every week on the quiet details no one checks.

I’ve managed and audited hundreds of millions in Search and Shopping spend for big e-commerce brands and the same pattern repeats every time.

Teams get buried in daily campaign tasks, the numbers keep moving, and everyone trusts that Smart Bidding or PMAX will “figure it out.”

But Smart Bidding only works when you feed it the right signals.

PMAX only scales profit when your feed is airtight.

AI only helps when the input matches the real customer journey.

So here’s exactly where I look first when I jump into any large retail account.

1. Feed Health Comes Before Bids

If your feed has mismatched titles, missing GTINs, duplicate variants or pricing gaps, you’re paying Google to guess.

A messy feed means your best SKUs never show. Your high-margin items lose visibility to low-margin filler.

You can have the best Smart Bidding setup on paper, but a weak feed kills it fast.

2. Branded Spend Overlap

One of the biggest leaks I see is hidden branded overlap.

Retail brands run PMAX or broad match campaigns alongside branded exact match or shopping campaigns.

Nobody notices that PMAX quietly hoovers up branded clicks that Search already covers.

Looks good on a spreadsheet, bad for true profit.

An overlap audit almost always finds easy margin to claw back.

3. Geo Targeting and Device Drif

I always check for silent waste in geo targeting.

Are you paying for clicks in regions you can’t ship to? Is your CPC higher where your fulfillment is weakest?

Same goes for devices.

Mobile and desktop can convert wildly differently.

One neglected device bid can drain six figures before anyone notices.

4. Duplicate or Junk Conversions

Smart Bidding multiplies what you tell it.

If your conversion tags fire twice, you double-count sales.

If you track weak form fills as a conversion, you teach the algorithm to chase noise.

Signals decide where your budget goes next month, not just last month’s CPA slides.

Cleaning signals is one of the simplest high-ROI fixes big brands ignore.

5. Offline Conversions: The Unused Superpower

Retail brands with in-store or phone sales still leave gaps.

If your CRM or offline orders never push back to Google Ads, your Smart Bidding only sees half the truth.

Connecting offline conversion data makes every click worth more.

It trains the AI to chase real revenue, not just clicks.

AI Is Not Magic, It’s a Mirror

This year, the biggest retail e-commerce trend is the shift to AI layers inside Google Ads.

More automation.

Smarter bidding.

Better audience matching.

All great, but only if your inputs are real.

Good data in. Good margin out.

Junk in. Burned budget out.

Most brands solve flatlining ROAS with more budget.

The better move is to plug the leaks first.

Why This Matters Now

Shopping and Search have changed more in the past 12 months than they did in the last decade.

PMAX changed how brands think about intent and brand overlap.

New match type rules stretch broad match further than ever.

Merchant Center Next promises more automation but demands cleaner feeds.

And the winners are the teams that control the boring basics, not just new spend.

Want to See Where You’re Leaking?

If you run paid search or shopping at scale and want to know where your hidden profit is escaping, I made a short strategy breakdown on this.

I also put together a free guide on the latest Google Ads shifts and how retail teams are adapting signals, feeds, and Smart Bidding this year.

If you want the strategy video or the guide, or if you want a complimentary audit of your ad account, drop me a message or comment below and I’ll share it.

Your big spend deserves better results.

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Let’s Transform Your PPC Together

If your team is stuck in manual-mode or if you’re scaling and need smarter systems, I can help.

I work with performance-focused brands to integrate automation, AI, and clean workflows into their PPC strategies.

Result? Less busywork. More scale. Better performance.

Want to chat about how AI and automation can level up your PPC operation?

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