Any pay-per-click ad platform requires regular audits to ensure informed decision-making. Regular PPC audits avoid wasted spend and ensure that your ad performance is the best it can be.
Our PPC management team at SEO Design Chicago will conduct a thorough, detailed audit of your Google Ads or Bing Ads. You’ll receive all the details you need to optimize your strategy to drive your business forward.
And if you run ads on Meta or YouTube, we can audit those channels too! If you use remarketing or display advertising as a complement to your PPC campaigns, it’s also worthwhile to audit those accounts to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth from your ad strategy.
Ready to get started? Book a free call with us to discuss your business needs.
What can you expect from a PPC audit with SEO Design Chicago? Take a look at our detailed, data-driven process.Â
Our PPC Ad Audit Checklist
A PPC ad audit is essentially an in-depth report of every element of your pay-per-click campaigns. We analyze everything from CTR to audience demographics. The goal is to make the most of each ad campaign, so you know exactly where your ad spend is going and what it is producing for your business.Â
A PPC audit can help you direct marketing resources to higher-performing campaigns and eliminate or adjust low-performing ads.Â
This is a methodical process. We’ll break down how it works and what metrics we use to evaluate your ads.Â
Account Structure Evaluation
First, our PPC team will evaluate your overall PPC account structure. This is the infrastructure of your search ads. In Google or Bing Ads, your account is structured into separate campaigns with their own ad groups.Â
These settings determine when your ads are triggered, which keywords are featured, and what metrics are tracked. We prioritize a logical account structure when performing a PPC audit that maps cleanly to your actual business goals.Â
For example, if you have a new product launch, your ad groups and campaigns should lead to clear clicks and conversions to that product. Disorganized, unclear, or out-of-date account structures will lead to confusing results, therefore making it harder to determine if you’re actually accomplishing anything with your ad strategy.Â
Campaign + Ad Group Organization
Once our team has sketched out an overarching account structure that aligns with your goals, the next step is to make sure that your campaigns and ad groups are logically organized within that structure.Â
Ad groups easily get disorganized over time. You might not even realize that you’re still directing ad spend to an out-of-date group, for example. Or, your ad groups may need to be reorganized based on business changes, like expanded offerings.Â
Campaign + Ad Group Organization
Once our team has sketched out an overarching account structure that aligns with your goals, the next step is to make sure that your campaigns and ad groups are logically organized within that structure.Â
Ad groups easily get disorganized over time. You might not even realize that you’re still directing ad spend to an out-of-date group, for example. Or, your ad groups may need to be reorganized based on business changes, like expanded offerings.Â
Keyword & Match Type Analysis
Once your overarching structure is improved, it’s time to get into the details. Your keyword strategy needs to be spot-on to maximize your PPC campaigns. Too broad, and your ads won’t receive clicks and conversions. Too narrow, and you’ll lose out on potential customers.
Our PPC marketers will carefully analyze your keyword match types and conduct long-tail keyword research to pick the ideal blend of terms and matches for your campaigns.Â
Since trends change regularly, we recommend setting up a regular search terms report to track the relevance of your campaign settings and keywords continuously.Â
Negative Keyword Identification
The next part of our audit process is making sure that you have negative keywords excluded from your campaigns. Negative keywords are simply words or phrases that you want excluded from your active ads. They affect your PPC performance, but are easily forgotten about. You don’t want your ad for budget vacation rentals to show up for search terms that include the words “luxury,” for example.
You also need to make sure the match type is appropriate for negative keywords, or you will be wasting ad spend on display ads for terms that don’t lead to conversions. Our team uses sophisticated keyword research tools to make sure that your keyword strategy, both positive and negative, is fully optimized.Â
Ad Copy Performance & Testing Strategy
Our next step is to check the quality of the ads themselves. Keywords and match types are important, but the ad copy is what encourages your leads to actually click on your ad. A bland or confusing ad won’t receive clicks, even when it does show up to the relevant search audience.Â
An essential part of our PPC audit checklist is extensive testing. All of your PPC strategies should be thoroughly A/B tested to ensure peak performance.
Bidding Strategy & Budget Allocation
The next step in your account audit is to ensure your budget is competitive for your niche. The previous steps in auditing your PPC approach all ensure that you have the structures in place to make the most of your bids.Â
We use industry-standard audit tools to conduct competitor research for your targeted keywords. Our team will also factor in your expected CAC, making sure that your PPC strategy yields the ROI you need.Â
Quality Score Performance
Your Google Quality Score is a handy summary to see how well all the previous steps of the audit process are working. If your ads are still receiving a score of less than 7, your PPC advertising could use some improvement.Â
We’ll create detailed recommendations each time we run a PPC audit. This ensures you get the highest possible Quality Score for your niche and ad goals.Â
Conversion Tracking & Attribution
When your manager asks for your return on ad spend (ROAS), do you have a concrete answer for them? Proper conversion tracking is the key to an effective ad strategy that actually results in increased revenue for the business.
The conversion tracking code needs to be audited periodically, and definitely whenever a big campaign is being reevaluated. This code tracks where clicks and conversions are coming from, and is vital information to your final ROAS metrics. To work effectively, though, this code needs to be properly implemented on success or thank you pages, not on landing pages. Sometimes, broken links or outdated code mean that you are missing this metric entirely, which means you have no real way of tracking the success of your ads!
Properly implemented conversion tracking and attribution let you see which ads are actually leading to sales and which ones could be doing better. This equips you with the information you need to make informed business decisions and optimize your marketing budget.Â
Landing Page Review
Are your landing pages well-matched to the ads that lead to them? If customers click on an ad for oak bookshelves and land on a page for plastic patio furniture, your SEM strategy has failed.Â
In the dense network of links and automations that underlie your shopping ads, it’s easy for incorrect links or outdated landing pages to sneak in. Our design and development team can handle everything from minor link fixes to a complete redesign of your landing pages, featuring a conversion-focused design.
Competitor Benchmarking
After this, the next step in the audit process is a thorough review of your competitors’ performance. A PPC audit is a comprehensive review of every step of your paid search strategy, and should include competitor research at every stage.
Our process is a data-driven approach to finding hidden opportunities in your competitors’ ads. We analyze keywords, CPC, ROAS, and other metrics to ensure that your brand is meeting or exceeding performance for your industry.Â
Geotargeting & Audience Segmentation
Your audit thus far gives you a clear understanding of key data points, including conversion rate, ROAS, CPC, impressions, and traffic. This gives you a lot of information that you can use to improve your existing ad campaigns.Â
If you want to take your PPC optimization a step further, you need to specifically tailor your ads. We will tailor your ads to the geographic location and other trackable specifics for distinct segments of your audience.Â
Device Performance Insights
Sixty to seventy percent of digital ad clicks come from mobile devices. It’s critical to optimize your ads to display and perform well on smartphones.Â
Our PPC experts will ensure that your campaigns, using all available ad extensions, are optimized for better display on mobile devices. We’ll also ensure that your bid amounts are competitive with other mobile ads.Â
Platforms: Google vs. Microsoft
Google is the primary focus for most PPC campaigns. This is not surprising, since it hosts the largest market share of search engines globally. It also allows advertisers (like your business) to manage everything from video to text-based ads from a single dashboard, making it easier to manage your analytics.
You shouldn’t underestimate the effectiveness of adding Microsoft Advertising to your digital marketing strategy, however. Bing Ads displays to all Microsoft-owned properties, including Outlook and Yahoo. This makes it a valuable part of a multichannel advertising strategy. In addition, Bing Ads are typically less expensive per click than Google Ads, which can present an untapped opportunity to advertise in a niche that your competitors aren’t.Â
Our PPC audit service includes a thorough analysis of both Google and Microsoft strategies. This gives you a comprehensive overview of your ad strategy in the audit results.
To see the maximum ROI from your strategy, use these results to optimize your PPC efforts across all channels.Â
Meta, YouTube, and Display Advertising Campaigns
When scheduling your PPC audit, consider adding an audit of your other ad channels, including Meta, YouTube, and Display Advertising.Â
The Google Display Network hosts over 2 million websites — and counting. That makes it an invaluable tool for hosting display ads in addition to your text-based paid ads strategy. Similarly, Meta and YouTube each boast huge audiences that can be a lucrative source of ad revenue for your business.Â
To use it most effectively, your display ads need to be specifically targeted to your key audience segments. Our team can include display advertising audits along with your PPC audit to ensure you’re getting the highest possible return for your ad investment.
Similarly, advertising on Meta and YouTube relies on keyword research, A/B testing, and detailed reporting to verify that your efforts are bearing fruit.
Our team will dig deep into your audience network profiles to ensure that you’re delivering ads that are timely and relevant, leading to increased clicks and conversions.Â
Are you getting the most out of your Google Ads account or Microsoft Ads? Check now with a customized PPC audit report from SEO Design Chicago!
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