A lot of business owners come to me ready to start Google Ads. They’ve set a budget, picked the services or products they want to push, and they want to go live this week. Before running Google Ads, though, I always ask them to go through one checklist first, and most of the time I ask them to wait a few days.
Not because ads are a bad idea. Because the first thing I look at is their website, and more often than not it isn’t ready to turn visitors into customers. Ads can bring people to your site. They can’t make those people buy, call or fill in a form. Your website does that part.
I’ve been managing Google Ads for online stores and local service businesses in the UK, USA and Canada for 5 years, and this is the same website checklist I use before taking on any new account.
Why should you check your website before running Google Ads?
You pay for every click, whether that person buys or leaves after three seconds. So the real question isn’t how to get more clicks. It’s how many of the people you paid for actually turn into customers. That number is called your conversion rate, and your website controls most of it.
Say 100 people visit your site and 2 of them buy. If you fix the site so 4 of them buy, you’ve doubled your sales from the same ad spend. Most owners do the opposite. They raise the budget, add more keywords and send more traffic to a site that was already losing people. The money just disappears faster.
The 10 point website checklist before running ads
None of this needs technical skills. You need your phone, your laptop and about 15 honest minutes.
1. Does your page load fast enough?
Someone who clicks an ad won’t wait long. If your page is still loading after 3 or 4 seconds, plenty of them go back and click a competitor instead, and you still pay for that click. Run your page through Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool. Heavy images and too many plugins are usually what slows things down.
2. Can a stranger tell what you do in 5 seconds?
Open your page and look only at the part you see before scrolling. Could someone tell what you sell, who it’s for and where you work? “Quality solutions for all your needs” tells them nothing. “Same day appliance repair in Houston” or “Handmade oak furniture with free UK delivery” tells them everything they need to keep reading.
3. Do you give people a reason to pick you?
Your visitor probably has three or four other businesses open in other tabs. Give them a reason to stay with you. It could be free delivery, a same day visit, a free quote, a longer warranty or a discount on the first order. One clear offer works better than a long list of general promises.
4. Would you trust this website yourself?
Real reviews, real photos of your work, how long you’ve been in business, a proper address and a clear returns policy all help. Stock photos and an empty testimonials section make people nervous.
5. Is the next step easy to take?
If you run a service business, your phone number should be at the top of every page, and it should call when someone taps it on mobile. If you run an online store, the path from product page to payment should be short. No shipping cost surprises at the last step, and let people check out as a guest. Count the clicks. Every extra one loses a few buyers.
6. Is your website mobile friendly?
A big share of ad clicks come from phones, so pick up yours and act like a customer. Find a service, add a product to the cart, try calling, fill in the form. Tiny buttons, text you have to zoom into and pop ups that cover the whole screen all cost you sales without you ever noticing.
7. Do your forms actually work?
Only ask for what you need to reply: a name, a phone number or email, and a line about what they want. Then send yourself a test enquiry and check it arrives. I’ve seen contact forms that had been broken for weeks while the owner wondered why the phone had gone quiet.
8. Is conversion tracking set up?
Before any ads go live, set up Google Analytics and conversion tracking for the things that matter to you, like sales, calls and form submissions. Without it you’re guessing. You won’t know which ads bring in customers and which ones only spend money. This is the gap I find most often in small business accounts.
9. Does your landing page match the search?
This is one of the most useful Google Ads landing page tips I can give. If someone searches for “emergency boiler repair” and lands on a homepage talking about bathroom renovations, they leave. Each main service or product category should have its own landing page that answers that search directly. Sending all your ad traffic to the homepage is one of the most expensive habits I come across.
10. How does your site compare with competitors?
Google your main service or product and open the top three competitor sites. Compare them with yours on speed, offer, reviews and how easy it is to get in touch or buy. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be the easiest and most convincing option on that page.
How can you test your website in 15 minutes?
- Put your main page through PageSpeed Insights and write down the mobile score.
- Show your page to a friend for 5 seconds, then ask what you sell and where. If they can’t say, your headline needs work.
- On your phone, try to call you, send the form or get a product to checkout.
- Check your inbox for the test enquiry and make sure your tracking picked up the visit.
- Open your top three competitors and note one thing each of them does better than you.
That’s it. You’ll finish with a short list of what to fix.
What should you fix first when time is short?
You don’t have to do everything at once. If time or money is tight, this is the order I’d go in.
Start with anything that’s broken, like forms that don’t send, phone numbers you can’t tap or errors at checkout. These lose people who had already decided to buy.
Then sort out tracking, because without it you can’t judge whether your ads are working at all.
After that, work on your headline and offer. They take the least effort and often make the biggest difference.
Speed and mobile come next. Compressing your images and removing pop ups on phones is usually enough to start with.
Reviews and separate pages for each service or product category can be built up over time while your ads are already running.
Is your website ready for Google Ads now?
When your website passes this checklist, your ads have somewhere good to send people. Each click has a better chance of becoming a call or a sale, and your budget goes further from the first day.
This is also the main reason so many owners tell me “Google Ads didn’t work for us.” Usually the ads did bring people in. The website just wasn’t ready for them. Once it is, the next thing to watch is the account itself, and I’ve covered the Google Ads mistakes that waste budget in a separate post.
If you’d like me to look over your site before you start, or you’re already running ads and not sure they’re paying off, book a free website and ads review. You can also see how I work with online stores and local service businesses on my Google Ads management services page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run Google Ads without fixing my website first?
You can, but you’ll likely pay for clicks that never turn into customers. Fixing broken forms, tracking and your main message first makes every pound or dollar of ad spend work harder.
Do I need a separate landing page for Google Ads?
Not always, but each main service or product category should have its own page that matches what people search for. Sending every ad to your homepage usually lowers your results.
How long does it take to get a website ready for ads?
Most small business sites need a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on what’s broken. Tracking and form fixes can often be done in a day.
What is the most common website problem you see before running ads?
Missing or broken conversion tracking. Without it, there’s no way to know which ads bring in sales and which ones just spend money.
Written by Md. Masudur Rahman, Google Ads Consultant. I help eCommerce stores, local service businesses and agencies get more sales and leads from Google Ads, with 5 years of hands on account management across the UK, USA and Canada.