What’s Included in a PPC Audit?
Understanding the Importance of a PPC Audit for Your Business
A Pay-Per-Click (PPC) audit is a comprehensive review of your digital advertising campaigns. It helps identify opportunities, optimise performance, and maximise your advertising investment. For local businesses in Milton Keynes, a detailed PPC audit can be the key to reaching more customers effectively and efficiently.
Key Components of a PPC Audit
A thorough PPC audit examines various elements of your campaigns to ensure everything runs smoothly. It’s about uncovering issues, analysing data, and crafting strategies that improve ROI. Here, we explore the core areas covered in a typical PPC audit by Milton Keynes Marketing.
1. Account Structure Analysis
Proper account organisation is fundamental to a successful PPC campaign. An audit evaluates the hierarchy of campaigns, ad groups, and keywords.
We check for logical structuring that aligns with your business goals and target audience segments.
This step ensures that campaigns are organised for easy management and optimised targeting.
2. Keyword Relevance and Targeting
Keywords are the backbone of PPC campaigns. The audit examines the relevancy between your keywords and ad groups.
We analyse keyword match types, negative keywords, and search terms to refine targeting and avoid wasted spend.
Additionally, we assess whether your keywords align with local search behaviour in Milton Keynes for better localisation.
3. Ad Copy and Creative Review
Effective ad copy grabs attention and encourages clicks. The audit reviews your ad texts for clarity, relevance, and persuasive power.
We also check for consistency across headlines, descriptions, and calls to action.
The goal is to optimise ad messaging to resonate with your local audience and improve click-through rates (CTR).
4. Landing Page Evaluation
Beyond ads, the landing pages play a crucial role in conversion. The audit assesses landing page relevance, design, and usability.
We ensure pages load quickly, are mobile-friendly, and contain clear calls to action.
Optimised landing pages increase conversion rates and make your ad spend more effective.
5. Bidding Strategy and Budget Allocation
Examining Bidding Options
We review the bidding strategies used, whether manual or automated, to ensure they meet your campaign goals.
Budget Distribution
We analyse how your budget is allocated across campaigns and keywords to identify overspending or underfunded areas.
This helps optimise spend towards high-performing segments and reduce waste.
6. Conversion Tracking and Analytics
Tracking conversions is essential to measure campaign success accurately. The audit reviews your setup for tracking actions like calls, form submissions, or purchases.
We also evaluate whether Google Analytics and other analytics tools are integrated correctly.
Accurate data allows for informed optimisation decisions based on actual performance metrics.
7. Quality Score and Ad Relevance
Google assigns Quality Scores based on relevance, landing page experience, and expected CTR. An audit assesses your scores across keywords.
Higher Quality Scores lead to lower costs and better ad placements.
We recommend ways to improve relevance and overall ad quality.
8. Competitor Analysis
Understanding your competitors’ PPC strategies provides valuable insights. The audit includes a competitor analysis to identify opportunities and threats.
This can involve analysing ad copy, targeting, and ad extensions used by local competitors in Milton Keynes.
9. Compliance and Policy Checks
PPC platforms have policies regarding ad content and landing pages. We check for compliance to prevent disapprovals.
This step ensures your campaigns stay active and adhere to platform guidelines.
10. Performance metrics and Reporting
The final step involves a detailed review of key performance indicators (KPIs) such as CTR, CPC, cost per conversion, and ROI.
We compile insights and actionable recommendations to improve future campaign performance.
Conclusion: Why a PPC Audit is Essential
A comprehensive PPC audit uncovers hidden issues and identifies opportunities for optimisation. For businesses in Milton Keynes, it can significantly boost your campaign efficacy. Partnering with Milton Keynes Marketing ensures your PPC campaigns are fully scrutinised and optimised to deliver maximum results.
FAQs
- How often should I get a PPC audit? Ideally, at least once every 3–6 months to keep campaigns optimised and up-to-date.
- What are common issues found in a PPC audit? Budget misallocation, poor ad relevance, low Quality Scores, and ineffective landing pages are typical problems.
- Can a PPC audit help reduce ad spend? Yes, by eliminating wasteful keywords and targeting, an audit can make your ad spend more efficient.
- How long does a PPC audit take? Depending on campaign complexity, it usually takes between 1 to 3 days.
- Is a PPC audit suitable for small local businesses? Absolutely, local businesses can benefit greatly from focused optimisation tailored to local search behaviours.
- What tools are used during a PPC audit? Tools like Google Ads Editor, Google Analytics, SEMrush, and SpyFu are commonly utilised.
- Will my campaigns be paused during the audit? Not necessarily; we often work alongside your campaigns to minimise disruption.
- How can I measure the success of a PPC audit? Improvements in campaign metrics such as CTR, conversion rate, and cost per acquisition indicate success.
- Can a PPC audit improve ad relevance for local searches? Yes, targeting local keywords and localisation strategies enhance relevance in Milton Keynes.
- Is ongoing optimisation part of a PPC audit? While a one-time audit provides insights, ongoing monitoring and optimisation are recommended for sustained success.