Blog/Paid Media Strategy
How to audit your paid media accounts — a step-by-step process to find wasted spend.
Most paid media accounts have 20–40% of spend going to recoverable waste. Not complicated problems — search terms triggering irrelevant queries, duplicate conversion tracking inflating metrics, bidding strategies set before the account had enough data, creatives running for months without refresh. A structured 7-step audit surfaces all of it in under an hour. This is the process.
Ahmed Ashraf
Founder, Traffiy · April 2026 · Google Premier Partner
“Every account I audit has the same first problem: broken or misconfigured conversion tracking. Not one in five. Most. Fix that first. Everything else is secondary.”
— Ahmed Ashraf · $100M+ in budgets managed
The 7-step audit
Run this in order. Do not skip step 1.
The steps are sequenced deliberately. Conversion tracking has to be verified before any other metric can be trusted. Wasted spend must be identified before you fix structure. Structure before bidding. Do not reverse the order.
20–40%
of ad spend is recoverable in most paid media accounts through this audit process. The biggest categories: irrelevant search terms, auto-placements with no conversions, and duplicate or broken conversion tracking that corrupts Smart Bidding signals.
Conversion tracking audit
Check that every conversion action is recording correctly. This is where every audit starts.
- ✓Google Ads: Tools → Conversions — check status shows 'Recording conversions'
- ✓Meta: Events Manager → Data Sources — check event health and recent activity
- ✓Test a live conversion yourself (fill form, complete purchase) with Tag Assistant open
- ✓Check for duplicate conversion actions (double-counting inflates performance)
- ✓Verify attribution windows match your sales cycle — 7-day click is standard, 1-day view for most
Wasted spend audit
Find every dollar going to traffic that cannot convert. This typically recovers 10–25% of budget.
- ✓Google: Search Terms report sorted by cost desc — add zero-conversion terms above target CPA as negatives
- ✓Google Display/PMax: Placement report — exclude low-quality sites and all mobile app categories
- ✓Meta: Placement breakdown — check audience network performance; often underperforms and should be excluded
- ✓Check Search Partners toggle — often 20–40% higher CPA than Google.com search
Campaign structure audit
Identify internal competition and structural inefficiencies that dilute budget.
- ✓Check for duplicate campaigns targeting the same keywords
- ✓Verify brand campaigns are separated from non-brand (critical for measurement and bidding)
- ✓Check ad group themes — each ad group should have a single topic, not 50 loosely related keywords
- ✓Identify campaigns with near-zero impression share despite having budget — often a QS or eligibility problem
Bidding strategy audit
Confirm the bidding strategy is appropriate for current conversion volume.
- ✓Target CPA: requires 30–50 conversions/month — below that, switch to Maximise Conversions
- ✓Target ROAS: requires 50+ conversions/month — same principle
- ✓Check if Target CPA is set at a level the algorithm cannot achieve — leads to under-delivery
- ✓Review enhanced CPC campaigns — these are legacy settings from pre-Smart Bidding era
Creative audit
Identify creative fatigue and format gaps that limit performance.
- ✓Check date of each active ad creative — anything over 90 days without a refresh shows fatigue signals
- ✓Google RSA: check 'Ad strength' and asset combination performance
- ✓Meta: check frequency — above 3.5 on a cold audience means creative fatigue
- ✓Check format diversity: video, static, carousel — most accounts over-index on one format
Landing page audit
Traffic is arriving. If it is not converting, the problem is on the page, not the ad.
- ✓Pull CVR by landing page URL — sort ascending to find underperformers
- ✓Test page load speed on mobile (target <3s): PageSpeed Insights
- ✓Check above-fold message matches ad copy — mismatches cause immediate bounce
- ✓Check CTA visibility on mobile — often hidden below fold on small screens
Audience audit
Find overlap, missing exclusions, and stale audience lists.
- ✓Check for audience overlap between prospecting and retargeting campaigns
- ✓Verify existing customer suppression list is uploaded and active across all channels
- ✓Check lookalike source audience freshness — lists older than 90 days may be stale
- ✓Verify remarketing audiences are populating — check audience sizes in audience manager
Quick reference
Audit areas — where to look, what bad looks like, and the fix.
| Audit area | Where to look | What "bad" looks like | Quick fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conversion tracking | Tools → Conversions (Google) / Events Manager (Meta) | Inactive status, duplicate tracking, no recent conversions | Test live with Tag Assistant, remove duplicates, verify attribution window |
| Wasted spend (Search Terms) | Keywords → Search Terms report | High spend, zero conversions on irrelevant queries | Add as negative keywords immediately; review weekly |
| Wasted spend (Placements) | Display / PMax campaign → Placements report | Unknown websites spending budget with no conversions | Add site exclusions; exclude mobile app categories |
| Campaign structure | Campaign list view | Duplicate campaigns, internal keyword competition | Consolidate; one goal per campaign |
| Bidding strategy | Campaign → Settings → Bidding | Target CPA on account with <30 conversions/month | Switch to Maximise Conversions to gather data first |
| Creative performance | Ad level, assets report | Same creative >90 days, declining CTR | Refresh creative; test new formats and angles |
| Landing page CVR | Google Analytics / UTM tracking | High traffic, <1% conversion rate | Audit page load speed, above-fold message, CTA clarity |
1 hour
Time to complete a full structural audit using this framework — most issues are visible within 30 minutes
20–40%
Typical recoverable wasted spend found in paid media accounts through a structured audit
Tracking first
Always verify conversion tracking before any other audit step — everything else depends on it
FAQ
Common questions about paid media audits.
How often should I audit a paid media account?+
A full structural audit should be done quarterly. A lighter monthly check should cover conversion tracking status, search terms report, and top wasted spend. Weekly checks should focus on search terms for new negative keywords and conversion tracking continuity. The quarterly audit is a full examination of campaign structure, bidding strategy, audience configuration, and creative performance.
What is the most important thing to check first in a paid media audit?+
Conversion tracking. Always. If conversion tracking is broken, every other insight in the account is based on corrupted data — bid strategies are optimising toward ghost conversions or no signal at all, decisions about which campaigns to scale are wrong, and performance reports are fiction. Fix tracking before touching anything else.
How do I find wasted spend in a Google Ads account?+
The fastest path: open the Search Terms report, sort by cost descending, filter for zero conversions, and add a CPA column. Any search term with spend above your target CPA and zero conversions is waste. Add it as a negative keyword. Second quickest: check placement performance in Display and PMax campaigns — Google's automatic placements frequently include low-quality websites that spend budget with no conversions.
What does 'bidding strategy audit' mean in practice?+
Check whether each campaign's bidding strategy matches its conversion volume and goal. Target CPA and Target ROAS require 30–50 conversions per month to function. Campaigns below that threshold should use Maximise Conversions (no target) to accumulate data. Maximise Clicks is only appropriate for early-stage accounts building volume — if your account is mature and still on Maximise Clicks, you are leaving efficiency on the table.
Ahmed Ashraf — Founder, Traffiy
10+ years in paid media. $100M+ in budgets managed across Meta, Google, and TikTok. Google Premier Partner — top 3% globally. Every article on this blog is written from direct experience managing real campaigns.
Want us to audit your paid media account?
Traffiy runs full paid media audits — conversion tracking, wasted spend, campaign structure, bidding, creative, and landing pages. Free strategy call to discuss findings.