Ask A PPC: What’s The Value Of Regular PPC Audits & How To Do Them Well via @sejournal, @navahf

Regular audits are one of the foundational workflows in any paid media strategy.

Whether you’re investigating account anomalies, evaluating growth opportunities, or preparing to transition strategies or vendors, audits are an essential pillar of PPC success.

Here’s the thing: Not every audit strategy fits every account. A one-size-fits-all checklist won’t account for platform quirks, business goals, or campaign maturity.

That’s why in this month’s Ask the PPC, we’re taking a closer look at the value of doing regular audits – and how to do them in a way that actually drives meaningful insights and actions.

We’ll focus on cross-platform audits, with takeaways that apply whether you’re managing paid search or paid social campaigns.

Why Regular Audits Matter

At its core, the biggest benefit of auditing is clarity. If you’ve ever been surprised by an ad invoice and found yourself wondering, “What exactly did I pay for?” – you’re not alone.

Regular audits demystify performance. They help you understand why certain trends are happening and whether your structure is actually supporting your goals.

Beyond performance monitoring, audits unlock three critical value areas:

1. Budget Access For Net-New Entities

Ad platforms generally prefer putting spend behind “known” quantities – ads, keywords, and audiences with conversion data.

While that makes sense from a machine learning standpoint, it can sideline your new campaigns, ads, or targeting experiments unless you’re intentional about how you test.

Auditing helps ensure that newer entities aren’t starved for budget simply because older ones exist in competing campaigns/portfolios.

You can spot opportunities to move testing into separate campaigns or determine whether an older asset already covers the newer idea.

Go Do: When reviewing entity-level spend, ask: Are my new tests getting a fair shot? If not, consider spinning them out into their own campaigns with protected budgets. You’ll be able to tell if they’re being stifled by checking for impressions and budget access.

2. Active Vs. Passive Management Ratios

One of the biggest indicators of an account’s strategic health is the ratio of active to passive management.

If your audit reveals a lopsided emphasis on passive tasks, it may mean strategic opportunities are being missed.

While there’s value in letting campaigns run and gather data, relying too much on autopilot can result in performance stagnation.

Note: Passive tasks are important and shouldn’t be discontinued, but they shouldn’t be the only ones completed in an account.

Go Do: Review the change history. Are most changes bid-based or budget-related? If so, build a cadence to test new creative or targeting ideas each month.

3. Testing Your Own Strategic Biases

We’re all susceptible to sticking with what’s worked in the past. That’s human nature. Yet, strategies that delivered last year might not be relevant today.

A solid audit can uncover blind spots, such as missing impression share, rising cost per click, or declining lead quality, and challenge assumptions you’ve made about your best performers.

Go Do: Build a comparison view of top-performing assets this quarter vs. last. Are your “winning” campaigns still winning? Or are they riding on past success?

How To Perform Audits That Actually Drive Value

Now that we’ve explored the why, let’s get into the how.

1. Put Audits On The Calendar

Block off time every quarter for structured audits. One to two hours per quarter per account is a good benchmark – not because the audit takes that long, but because carving out dedicated time ensures it actually gets done.

Pro Tip: Treat it like a client meeting, even if it’s internal. If it’s on your calendar, it’s happening.

2. Audit Against The Right Benchmarks

A good audit doesn’t just ask, “Is my CPA low?” It asks, “Is this CPA real, and does it reflect meaningful conversions?”

If you’re seeing great-looking cost-per-acquisition numbers, dig deeper:

Make sure you differentiate between reported cost per acquisition (in your CRM or Google Analytics 4) and platform CPA (Google, Meta, Microsoft, etc.). If there’s a mismatch, it might be time to clean up your conversion tracking setup.

Go Do: Pull a side-by-side view of your platform-reported CPA vs. your actual revenue-driving conversions. Audit the quality and intent behind each tracked action.

3. Audit Creatives For Performance And Compliance

Creative audits aren’t just about freshness or click-through rate. They’re also about compliance, especially in regulated industries. Messaging that skirts policy lines (even unintentionally) can tank account performance.

This is where industry-specific knowledge becomes non-negotiable. Your creative might be attention-grabbing, but is it allowed in your vertical?

Go Do: Cross-reference your current ad copy and creative with the platform’s most recent ad policy update. Bonus: Loop in your legal or compliance team before launching new assets.

Final Thoughts: Audits As Strategy Enablers

Audits are more than housekeeping; they’re strategic resets. They help you validate your current direction, challenge stale assumptions, and carve out space to innovate.

Too often, accounts get stuck in maintenance mode. Auditing breaks that cycle.

By incorporating regular, structured audits into your workflow, you create a feedback loop that protects budget, sharpens strategy, and ultimately drives better results.

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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal