PPC Audit Guide and Checklist for 2023

The world of paid search is constantly changing.  Business owners and marketers have to adapt to AI, Google Ads interface updates, advertiser verification, and Google Analytics 4. When was the last time you did a PPC audit to ensure your PPC campaign is effective?  

Are you looking to get the most out of your PPC advertising campaign?

Easily assess the performance and effectiveness of your campaigns with a comprehensive review. Get insights into account structure, targeting settings, keyword selection, ad copy, bidding strategies, and more with this convenient guide. Uncover cost-saving opportunities while benchmarking against competitors with an in-depth analysis. 

Optimize your digital advertising efforts with industry best practices and discover new opportunities for growth at the same time. Ensure that you are getting the most out of your investment and staying competitive in today’s landscape.

Let’s get started with the PPC Audit Guide and Checklist for 2023! 

Purpose of a PPC audit

The purpose of a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) audit is to evaluate, assess the performance and effectiveness of your PPC advertising campaign. It involves a comprehensive review of the campaign, including account structure, targeting settings, keyword selection, ad copy, bidding strategies, landing pages, tracking, and overall campaign metrics. The main objectives of a PPC audit are:

• Identify areas of improvement
• Ensure best practices are followed
• Identify cost-saving opportunities
• Assess tracking and measurement
• Benchmark against competitors

A PPC audit is conducted to fine-tune and optimize PPC campaigns, enhance ROI, improve ad performance, and ensure that advertisers are getting the most out of your PPC advertising investment. It helps your business stay competitive in the digital advertising landscape by identifying opportunities for growth and improvement.

Why Conduct a PPC Audit & Benefits of a PPC Audit

Conducting a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) audit serves several important purposes for your business. Here are some key reasons why a PPC audit is conducted:

• Performance Evaluation: A PPC audit helps evaluate the performance of the campaign. It examines key metrics such as click-through rates (CTRs), conversion rates, cost per acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), and overall campaign profits. By assessing these metrics, advertisers can determine if the campaign is meeting its objectives and if there are areas for improvement.
• Cost Optimization: An audit helps identify opportunities to optimize costs and maximize the return on investment (ROI) from the PPC campaign. It examines the budget allocation, bidding strategies, keyword selection, and targeting options to ensure that the campaign is utilizing the budget effectively. By identifying areas of wasted spend, advertisers can make adjustments to reduce costs and improve campaign performance.
• Quality Score Improvement: The quality score is a metric used by PPC platforms, such as Google Ads, to assess the relevance and quality of ads and keywords. A PPC audit evaluates the quality score and identifies factors that may be negatively impacting it, such as low ad relevance, landing page experience, or keyword selection. By improving the quality score, advertisers can achieve better ad positions, higher click-through rates, and lower costs.
• Ad Copy and Messaging Optimization: An audit examines the ad copy and messaging used in the PPC campaign. It assesses the relevance, clarity, and effectiveness of the ad text, headlines, and calls-to-action. By identifying opportunities for improvement, advertisers can optimize their ad copy to increase click-through rates and drive better user engagement.
• Landing Page Assessment: A PPC audit also evaluates the landing pages associated with the ads. It examines the landing page experience, relevance to the ad, load times, user-friendliness, and conversion elements. By ensuring that the landing pages are optimized for conversions and aligned with the campaign goals, you can improve the overall performance and user experience.
• Competitive Analysis: An audit may involve conducting a competitive analysis to evaluate how the PPC campaign compares to competitors. It examines competitor ad positioning, messaging, and strategies to identify areas for improvement and gain a competitive advantage.
• Campaign Expansion and Scaling: For advertisers looking to expand their PPC campaigns or scale their efforts, an audit helps identify opportunities for growth. It assesses the current campaign structure, targeting options, and keyword selection to determine areas where expansion can be beneficial. This ensures that the campaign is ready for growth and can effectively capitalize on new opportunities.

A PPC audit allows you to evaluate performance, optimize costs, improve ad relevance, enhance user experience, and identify opportunities for growth. It helps you make data-driven decisions and ensures that their PPC campaigns are efficient, effective, and aligned with your goals.

Preparing for a Google Ads Audit

Preparing for a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) audit is essential to ensure a thorough and effective evaluation of your PPC campaigns. Here are some steps to follow when preparing for a PPC audit:

1. Define Objectives and Key Metrics: Clarify your campaign objectives and determine the key performance metrics you want to focus on during the audit. This could include metrics like click-through rates (CTRs), conversion rates, cost per click (CPC), and return on ad spend (ROAS). Having clear objectives helps guide the audit process and ensures that you are evaluating the right areas.
2. Gather Campaign Data: Collect all relevant data related to your PPC campaigns. This includes campaign settings, targeting options, keyword lists, ad copy, bidding strategies, landing pages, and conversion tracking. Ensure you have access to your PPC account and any analytics tools or platforms you are using to track campaign performance.
3. Analyze Historical Performance: Review the historical performance of your PPC campaigns. Examine trends, identify peaks and valleys, and look for any significant changes in metrics over time. This analysis provides insights into areas that require improvement or have been successful in the past.

By following these steps and thoroughly preparing for a PPC audit, you will be better equipped to evaluate your campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and optimize your PPC strategy for improved performance.

11 Key Elements of a PPC Audit Checklist 

Here is the 11-step PPC Audit Checklist to help improve your ad campaigns and get the most out of your account: 

1. Analyze Your Ad Campaign Settings for objectives, conversion goals, campaign type, etc. 
2. Review Your PPC Account Structure for status, type, URL options, etc. 
3. Evaluate Your Targeting Settings such as location, device, ad schedule, etc. 
4. Update Ad Copy and Creatives with headlines, images, logo, and descriptions. 
5. Optimize Ad Extensions including calls, snippets, locations, callouts, etc. 
6. Analyze Keyword & Search terms with match types, negative keywords list, and quality scores. 
7. Align Your Bid Management Strategy to include CPC bidding, Smart Bidding, etc. 
8. Analyze Competitors for insights into their ad copy, keywords, estimated ad spend, and landing pages.
9. Examine the Landing Page experience, relevance to the ad, load times, user-friendliness, and conversion elements.
10. Review the conversion tracking setup, ensure proper conversion tracking, and measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs)
11. Assess your Budget Allocation, ROAS & ROI Analysis

As you go through the above steps, document your findings, observations, and recommendations. Create a summary report or checklist that outlines the areas that require attention or optimization. This documentation will serve as a reference during the audit process and help guide your PPC optimization efforts moving forward.

Tools and Resources for Conducting a PPC Audit

When conducting a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) audit, there are various tools and resources available to help analyze and evaluate your PPC campaigns. Here are some commonly used tools and resources:

• PPC Platforms' Native Tools: Google Ads and Bing Ads provide built-in tools and reports for auditing campaigns. These tools offer insights into campaign performance, keyword analysis, ad performance, budget usage, and more. Utilize the native tools available within the platforms to gain valuable insights and data for your audit.
• Google Analytics: Digital analytics tool that provides in-depth data about website traffic, user behavior, and conversion tracking. It can help you analyze the performance of your PPC campaigns, track conversions, and measure the effectiveness of your landing pages.
• Third-Party PPC Audit Tools: These tools provide insights into account structure, keyword performance, ad copy analysis, landing page evaluation, competitive analysis, and more. Some popular PPC audit tools include SEMrush, WordStream Advisor, Optmyzr, and SpyFu.
• Keyword Research Tools: Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can assist in evaluating the relevance and how competitive your chosen keywords are. These tools provide insights into search volumes, competition levels, and keyword variations, helping you optimize your keyword selection.
• Heatmap and User Behavior Tools: Hotjar or Crazy Egg can provide visual heatmaps and user behavior recordings to assess how users interact with your landing pages. These tools help identify areas of interest, user engagement, and potential issues, enabling you to optimize your landing pages for better conversions.
• Ad Performance Analysis Tools: Adalysis, AdPilot, or Opteo offer advanced ad performance analysis. They provide recommendations for improving ad copy, extensions, and overall ad relevance. These tools can help identify areas where your ads may not be performing and offer suggestions for optimization.
• Competitive Analysis Tools: Tools like SpyFu, SimilarWeb, or iSpionage allow you to analyze your competitors' PPC strategies. These tools provide insights into their ad copy, keywords, estimated ad spend, and landing pages. By understanding your competitors' tactics, you can identify opportunities for improvement and gain a competitive edge.
• Industry Benchmarks and Case Studies: These can provide valuable insights into PPC best practices and performance expectations. Resources from reputable PPC blogs, industry publications, and marketing research firms can help you understand how your campaigns compare to others in your industry and identify areas for improvement.

Remember that the choice of tools and resources will depend on your specific needs and the platforms you are using. It's recommended to use a combination of tools and resources to gather comprehensive data and insights for your PPC audit.

Key takeaways for conducting a successful PPC ads audit

Remember to audit your Google Ads account on a quarterly basis.  Don’t forget your Microsoft Advertising account too. 

Stay up-to-date on the latest updates on Google Ads so you can take advantage of new features, functionality, and industry trends. 

Complacency can kill your PPC campaigns. But with a PPC audit, you can refresh your ad campaign and get a fresh perspective on your audience.

Yes, PPC audits are tedious and time-consuming. But they’re essential for any digital marketer who wants to grab their audience's attention.

Through a PPC account audit, you can learn valuable insights that will help you optimize your ads and make them more efficient and targeted. You can give your ad campaigns a new life.

Don't have time for an audit? No worries. We've got you covered. Let us help you with PPC management. All you have to do is say the word.