Your Google Ads account is probably spending money you'd never approve.
Google's defaults are set to spend. If nobody has switched them off, at least one is on in your account right now. We open it read-only and show you exactly what's on, what it's costing, and how to fix it yourself. No account yet? We build one with the switches set right from day one.
Google's defaults are set to spend. We show you exactly what's on, what it's costing, and how to fix it. No account yet? We build one right.
Read-only access for audits. Your accounts stay yours. No management contract required. See an example report
Five switches. Do you know where yours are?
Google turns these on by default. Each one spends on its own. If you don't know, that's normal, and it's exactly what the audit is for.
Want the full list of what Google switches on, and what agencies do on top? Read the guide.
A certified Google Search consultant and a clinic owner who've been the client
Moon Digital is two people, not a floor of account managers. We run The Healing Centre, two chiropractic clinics in Auckland, and have paid for our own Google Ads, our own website and our own mistakes. That's where the audit came from.
Dr Lissy Fehnker-Heather
Researcher and evaluation specialist; her professional work is testing whether programmes deliver what they promised, with evidence. Every Moon Digital audit is checked by Lissy before it goes out: does the evidence support each finding, do the totals reconcile, what stays uncertain. Her name is on the report.
Luke Heather
Chiropractor and co-founder of The Healing Centre. Luke does the account work: the audits, the setups, the sites. He learned Google Ads by spending the clinics' money on Google's defaults first, then learning which switches mattered, then fixing other Auckland businesses' accounts when he saw the same ones on everywhere.
The first account we audited was our own
A process case, not a testimonial. The Healing Centre is our business, so read this as "what we found in an account we know well", not as an independent client result.
- "Conversions" counting page loads, not bookings, so the account looked better than it was
- Broad match keywords spending on searches unrelated to chiropractic care
- One shared budget starving the better-performing of the two clinics
- Ads scheduled through the night, when nobody books
- Conversions rebuilt on real bookings and calls, checked by hand
- Match types tightened and a negative keyword list added, campaign by campaign
- Budgets split by location so each clinic earns its own spend
- Ad schedule set to the hours the phone is answered
- A results figure. The measurement window since the fixes isn't long enough to state a verified change in bookings, and we won't invent one
- Anything about your account. Same switches, different business
A second case, from a client account, will be published with that client's permission. Until then, nothing on this page is a client result.
What you get, what it costs, and what it can't tell you
One Google Ads account, its Search campaigns, and the website they send people to. We read the available search-term data, every setting, every conversion action and the landing pages, then write it up ranked by what it's costing you, with instructions for each fix.
What's in the report
- Page one. Every finding ranked by dollars at stake, de-duplicated so one click isn't counted as three problems.
- Each finding as instructions. The screen, the setting, the new value, the time it takes, and how to stop Google undoing it. Written for someone who has never opened Google Ads.
- The website checks. Is the landing page fast on a phone, is the number visible, does the form send, is tracking installed and firing once.
- What's working. The parts to leave alone, so you don't "fix" the thing that's bringing the calls.
- Negative keyword lists to paste in, with the terms you should not block because they can carry real enquiries.
- Lissy's sign-off. Evidence checked, totals reconciled, uncertainties listed, on the report.
- A 30-minute call, after you've read it. The report arrives first, always.
What an audit can't tell you
- Google hides some low-volume search terms for privacy. We report what's available and say how much that is.
- A setting's cost is an estimate from your own data, not a refund. Saved budget is spend you can redirect, not profit.
- A clean account is a real result. If yours is, the report is short and says so.
- Changes to your account are not included. Every fix is written so you can do it; if you'd rather we did, it's quoted separately.
Not "review your match types." Which screen, which setting, what value.
This is what makes the audit useful without us. One illustrative finding, written the way every one in your report is.
- Open Google Ads → Campaigns → Emergency repairs → Keywords.
- Tick plumber, plumbers and plumbing. Click Edit → Change match types → Phrase match. Save.
- Left menu → Negative keywords → + → paste the list on page 8 of this report (52 terms). Add to the campaign, not the ad group.
- Go to Recommendations → Auto-apply. Turn off "Add broad match keywords" so Google can't undo step 2.
- In two weeks, open Insights and reports → Search terms. If anything odd is still there, add it to the negatives. That's the whole habit.
A new Google Ads account, built with the switches set right
For businesses that don't have an account yet, or have one that was never really set up. Built in your name, on your billing, with tracking wired before the first dollar is spent, and handed over with written instructions so you can run it yourself.
- Account and billing in your name; we're a user you can remove
- Conversion tracking for calls and forms, installed and tested, before ads run
- One Search campaign per intent (up to two), ad groups, keywords with match types chosen on purpose
- Negative keyword list, locations set to "presence", schedule, networks off, auto-apply off
- Ad copy, budget recommendation, and a 30-minute handover with the written switches list
- Ongoing management (optional, $600/month, never required)
- Landing page or website changes (quoted if needed)
- Rebuilding an existing account: start with the audit, then we quote the rebuild from its findings
Request, fit check, delivered.
Request
The short form below, or an email. Tell us what you're spending and whether you already have an account.
Fit check
We reply within one working day. If the audit or setup isn't right for you, we say so. If it is, you get the invoice, the read-only access steps and a delivery date.
Delivered
Audit: two working days from payment and access. Setup: one week from access. Report first, call after, if you want one.
Then it's yours
Fix it yourself with the instructions, or ask us for a written quote. Book a $300 Health Check whenever you'd like a look.
Diagnose it, start it, or fix the site it lands on
The $595 Audit
Existing account. Every leak, every fix, read-only. Then a $300 Health Check whenever you want one.
The audit →The $695 Setup
No account, or one that was never set up. Built in your name with tracking first. Management only if you want it.
The setup →The site and the tracking
Websites you own, landing pages that finish the ad's sentence, tracking so a lead is a lead. Account rescue if someone else holds your logins.
Websites →Also available, if you ask: local SEO, content, email follow-up, Meta ads, reporting. Same rules on all of it.
What we mean by transparent
We've been the client. Everything on the left is something we paid for once. Everything on the right is how we work.
What fixing it might be worth
Not a diagnosis of your account: we can't know your numbers until we look. Move the sliders, and read the result as spend you could redirect, not profit. The maths is printed underneath.
Prices on the page, with their scope
Defined work has a fixed price, GST included. Work that varies, like fixes after an audit or a rebuild, is quoted in writing before it starts. Ad spend goes straight from you to Google; we never mark it up or touch it.
One Google Ads account (Search) and its landing pages. Ranked findings, instructions for each, website checks, sign-off, 30-minute call. Two working days from payment and access.
Request the auditA new account in your name, up to two Search campaigns, tracking installed first, negatives and switches set, handover. One week from access.
Request a setupA lighter look at an account that's been sorted: what drifted, what Google switched on, how to put it back. On demand. No subscription.
Request a checkOnly if you'd rather not run it. Month to month, a change log you can read, a one-page report. Audit fee credited against month one if you start within 60 days, once.
About managementAll prices include GST. Audit and setup are fixed for accounts up to about $5,000 a month in spend and two Search campaigns; bigger accounts are quoted in writing first. Websites from $2,900 incl. GST, scope on the websites page. Nothing is a subscription except management, and that's month to month.
Things we'd want to know too
Do I have to hire you to fix what you find?+
No. Every finding comes with step-by-step instructions written for someone who has never opened Google Ads. Most people do the fixes in an afternoon. If you'd rather we did them, every fix has a time estimate on it and we quote in writing. The report is built so you don't need us.
What exactly does $595 cover?+
One Google Ads account, its Search campaigns (up to two, or roughly $5,000 a month in spend), the available search-term data for the last 90 days, every setting and conversion action, and the landing pages those campaigns send people to. Larger or unusual accounts are quoted in writing before you pay. Account changes aren't included. GST is.
What if you find nothing?+
Then you have a short report saying your account is clean, with the evidence, and the switches list to keep it that way. We won't manufacture savings to justify the fee, and we don't guarantee waste. We haven't opened a clean one yet; yours could be the first.
What's the difference between the audit and the setup?+
The audit is for an account that exists: we diagnose it and tell you what to change. The setup is for a business without one, or with one that was never properly built: we create a new account in your name and build it right. If you have a messy existing account, start with the audit; a rebuild, if it needs one, is quoted from the findings.
Do I own my Google Ads account?+
Yes, always. For the audit you add us as read-only; you can remove us with one click afterwards. The setup creates the account in your name, on your billing, with you as admin. If an agency manages your account through a manager account, that's normal; what matters is that you hold admin access to your own account and can remove them.
Does Google really work against me?+
Not against you, exactly. Google earns when you spend, so the defaults are set to spend: broad match, search partners, display expansion, "presence or interest" locations, auto-applied recommendations. None of it is hidden, but none of it is explained either. The audit lists every one that's on in your account and how to turn it off, and the setup builds the account with them off.
Is this just AI doing the work?+
Some of it, and the report says which parts. Software pulls the data and checks hundreds of settings. Reading it, deciding what matters, testing the tags on your site, writing your instructions and signing off the evidence is done by us. Your account data isn't used to train anything, and we don't put customer or patient details into any tool.
Do you work outside Auckland?+
Yes, anywhere in Aotearoa. The audit happens over read-only access and a phone call. We're in Auckland, and happy to meet in person if you are too.
Why "Moon Digital"?+
Because the job is to light up what's been kept in the dark. Most of what goes wrong in small-business Google Ads isn't complicated. It's just hidden — switched on by default, never explained, and quietly spending. You'll have noticed the page got lighter as you scrolled; that's the whole idea.
Tell us about your account
We reply within one working day with a fit check. If the audit or setup suits you, the reply has the invoice, the read-only access steps and a delivery date. If it doesn't, it says so.
Don't put passwords, customer or patient details in this form. We'll ask for read-only access properly, inside Google Ads, after the fit check. How we handle your information.
$595 · incl. GSTRequest the audit →