# Check how your Google Ads perform

> Ask your assistant about ad performance, wasted spend, lost impressions, budget pace, overlap with organic search and what a spend change did.

If you run Google Ads, your assistant can read your reports and explain them beside your Search Console and GA4 data. MeasureScale reads your Google Ads data and never changes it. Allow access first. See [connect Google Ads](/getting-started/connect-google-ads/).

Start by naming the account. Ask "Which Google Ads accounts can you see?". Each answer after that covers one account in one currency. MeasureScale does not convert currencies.

## Questions to ask

### Is my ad spend paying off?

- "How did my Google Ads campaigns do in the last 28 days compared with the 28 before?"
- "Which campaigns have the best and worst return on ad spend?"
- "Did my cost per conversion get worse, or is it normal variation?"
- "Show me the ad groups in my brand campaign."

### Where am I wasting money?

- "Which search terms cost me money and never convert?"
- "Which keywords spent a lot without a conversion?"
- "Which search terms should I think about adding as negative keywords?"

### Why am I not getting more impressions?

- "Am I losing impressions to budget or to rank?"
- "Which campaigns lose the most clicks to a low budget?"
- "Is quality score hurting my search campaigns?"

### Will I use my monthly budget?

- "Am I on pace to spend this month's budget?"
- "Which campaigns are overspending or underspending?"

### Paid and organic together

- "Which search terms do I pay for when I already rank in the top three?"
- "Where do my ads convert while my organic ranking is weak?"
- "Leave out brand searches and show me the rest."

### What did a spend change do?

- "How do my ad spend and my total conversions move together?"
- "What happened to organic clicks and total conversions when I cut spend in March?"
- "Look at the last 180 days. Was there a big change in spend?"

## A good conversation

1. You ask: "Which Google Ads accounts can you see?" The assistant lists them with their currency.
2. You ask: "How did the main account do last month?" The assistant shows spend, clicks, conversions and return on ad spend for each campaign, next to the month before.
3. You ask: "Where am I wasting money?" The assistant lists search terms with many clicks and no conversions. It says how likely that is by chance.
4. You ask: "Do I pay for any of these where I already rank first?" The assistant checks the terms against your Search Console data and groups them.
5. You decide what to change in Google Ads. MeasureScale never changes your account.

## Reading the answers

- Every amount is in the account's currency. MeasureScale never converts one currency into another.
- A comparison needs enough clicks in both periods. With too few, the assistant shows the numbers and says it cannot judge the change.
- A label such as "wasted" or "budget limited" is a pointer for you to check. It is not a verdict.
- MeasureScale names candidates and never makes changes. You act in Google Ads.
- Answers about spend changes and paid and organic overlap show association. They do not show cause. See [spend changes and what followed](/methodology/ads-impact/) and [paid and organic overlap](/methodology/ads-paid-organic-overlap/).

## Limits that apply to many answers

- **Hidden search terms.** Google leaves rare search terms out of its search term report. Your assistant says how much of your clicks the report covers. It does not guess the rest.
- **Quality score is today's value.** Google keeps only the current score. An answer about a past period shows today's score.
- **Conversions arrive late.** Google can credit a conversion days after the click. Numbers for the last few days read low. A performance answer warns you when the period ends within 3 days of today.
- **Search Console and GA4 days differ.** Search Console days follow Pacific time. Google Ads days follow the account's time zone. GA4 days follow the property's time zone.
- **History is limited.** Google Ads data goes back about 16 months. MeasureScale refuses a start date before that. It drops a comparison period that starts before it.
- **Conversion counts may be fractions.** Some attribution settings split one conversion across several clicks.
- **Your Google Ads conversions and GA4 key events overlap.** MeasureScale shows them side by side and never adds them together.

## Tips

- Ask for at least 4 weeks for performance questions. Short periods have too few clicks to judge.
- Ask for 3 to 6 months for questions about spend changes.
- For wasted spend, say which campaigns you care about. The answer then compares each term with its own campaign.
- To see paid and organic overlap, name your Search Console site.
- To see a spend change beside your total results, name your GA4 property.
- If you have several accounts, name the one you mean.

## Read more

- [Campaign performance and wasted spend](/methodology/ads-performance-and-waste/)
- [Impression share, quality score and budget pace](/methodology/ads-impression-share-and-pacing/)
- [Paid and organic overlap](/methodology/ads-paid-organic-overlap/)
- [Spend changes and what followed](/methodology/ads-impact/)
- [Blending Search Console and GA4](/methodology/blended/)