Paid Advertising Audit

Key Areas Covered

The audit assesses paid activity across applicable platforms, which may include:

• Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising
  Review of campaign structure, targeting, and spend allocation across search and related inventory.
• Product feed and Shopping performance via Google Merchant Center
  Assessment of feed readiness, coverage, and how effectively Shopping captures high-intent demand.
• Paid social activity on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn (where in use)
  Evaluation of how paid social contributes to awareness, demand capture, or conversion within the acquisition mix.

To ensure accuracy, the review requires access to relevant dashboards, typically including:

• Google Ads
  To validate spend distribution, keyword coverage, campaign structure, and efficiency signals.
• Microsoft Advertising
  To assess incremental demand capture and whether the channel is being used effectively.
• Google Merchant Center
  To review feed health, disapprovals, and factors that affect Shopping reach and performance.
• Google Analytics
  To connect click activity to on-site behaviour and conversion outcomes.
• Paid social advertising accounts (where applicable)
  To assess creative, audiences, frequency, and the role of remarketing in conversion.

Access is read-only and used solely for audit and analysis purposes.

Performance & Alignment Review

Paid activity is reviewed to understand:

• How well current campaigns align with proven market demand
  Whether the account is prioritising the areas customers actually search for and buy from.
• Whether spend is concentrated on commercially valuable areas or spread too thin
  Whether budget allocation reflects margin, intent, and realistic return potential.
• How visibility compares to competitors in key areas
  Whether the business is consistently present where competitors are winning attention.
• Where inefficiencies or structural issues limit performance
  Whether account structure, targeting, or setup choices are inflating cost and suppressing results.

This allows paid performance to be assessed against what the market will realistically support, rather than against arbitrary benchmarks.

Opportunity & Risk Identification

The audit highlights:

• Areas of wasted or misdirected spend
  Budget that is being absorbed by low-value clicks, weak queries, or poorly targeted audiences.
• Structural limitations affecting performance
  Issues in account setup that prevent scaling, limit efficiency, or reduce conversion potential.
• Opportunities to improve targeting, coverage, or efficiency
  Practical opportunities to tighten focus, expand into profitable areas, or reduce unnecessary cost.
• Gaps between paid activity and organic visibility
  Where paid media is compensating for SEO weaknesses, or where both channels are missing demand.

Where paid social is in use, the role it plays within the wider acquisition mix is considered, including whether it supports awareness, demand capture, or conversion.

Client Benefit

The Paid Advertising Audit provides:

• Clear understanding of how effectively paid budgets are being used
  Visibility into what is performing, what is not, and where spend is being diluted.
• Early identification of inefficiencies and unnecessary cost
  Faster detection of waste, duplication, poor targeting, or structural problems driving higher CPCs and CACs.
• Better alignment between paid media and market opportunity
  Ensures budget is directed toward genuine demand and commercially valuable areas.
• A stronger basis for budget planning and prioritisation
  Supports more confident decisions about scaling, reallocating spend, and setting realistic expectations.

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