What is a paid search audit?

A paid search audit is a comprehensive review of a business’s current paid search campaigns. It is an effective way to ensure campaigns are running efficiently and achieving the desired goals. By conducting a paid search audit, businesses can identify areas of improvement and make necessary adjustments to maximize the return on their investment. 

The key areas of focus in a paid search audit are campaign structure, keyword selection, ad copy, landing page optimization, and bid strategies. 

Account Structure: 

The first step in a paid search audit is to examine the campaign structure. It is important to ensure campaigns are organized in a logical manner. This includes checking for redundant keywords, budget allocation, match types, ad groupings, and ad extensions. If any changes are necessary, they should be made immediately to ensure campaigns are running as efficiently as possible.

A thorough paid search account audit would cover the following:

1. Campaign Structure: Examine how your campaigns are organised within your paid search account. Assess if the structure aligns with your marketing goals, target audience, and product/service offerings. This involves reviewing the number of campaigns, their naming conventions, and how they are segmented.
2. Ad Group Organization: Analyze the ad group structure within each campaign. Evaluate if the ad groups are logically grouped based on themes, keywords, or product categories. A well-organised ad group structure helps in creating targeted and relevant ads.
3. Keyword Targeting: Review the keyword targeting strategy within each ad group. Assess if the chosen keywords align with your campaign objectives and match user intent. Look for opportunities to expand keyword coverage, eliminate irrelevant keywords, and refine match types (broad, phrase, exact) based on performance and budget considerations.
4. Negative Keywords: Evaluate the use of negative keywords at the campaign and ad group levels. Negative keywords help filter out irrelevant searches, ensuring your ads are shown to the most relevant audience. Assess if negative keywords are effectively utilised to improve targeting precision and ad spend efficiency.
5. Account Hierarchy: Examine the overall hierarchy of your paid search account. If you manage multiple campaigns or accounts, ensure that they are structured in a way that aligns with your business goals and makes it easy to manage and optimize your paid search efforts.

A well-structured account helps improve campaign performance, enables better control over budget allocation, enhances ad relevance, and facilitates easier management and optimisation of your paid search campaigns. Through evaluating the organisation and hierarchy of your paid search account, you can identify areas for improvement, streamline your campaigns, and optimise keyword targeting to achieve better results.

Keyword and Ad Copy: 

When analyzing the performance of keywords and ad copy in a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Keyword Performance: Evaluate the performance of your keywords in terms of impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), and conversions. Identify high-performing keywords that drive relevant traffic and conversions to your website. Likewise, identify underperforming or low-relevance keywords that may need to be adjusted or removed from your campaigns.
2. Search Term Analysis: Review the search terms triggered by your keywords. Identify irrelevant search terms that are consuming ad spend without generating valuable clicks or conversions. Consider adding negative keywords to filter out these irrelevant searches and improve the targeting precision of your campaigns.
3. Ad Copy Effectiveness: Assess the performance of your ad copy in terms of CTR, conversion rate, and relevance. Identify ad variations that have higher CTR and conversion rates compared to others. Look for opportunities to optimize underperforming ad copies by refining the messaging, testing different CTAs (calls to action), or incorporating more compelling and relevant ad extensions.
4. Ad Messaging and Relevance: Ensure that your ad copy aligns with the intent of the search queries and delivers a clear and compelling message to your target audience. Analyse the relevance of your ad copy to the keywords and search terms triggered. Consider adjusting the ad copy to better match user intent and improve click-through rates.
5. Ad Extensions: Evaluate the usage and effectiveness of ad extensions such as sitelinks, call extensions, structured snippets, and more. Determine which extensions contribute to better ad performance and user engagement. Consider optimising the selection and positioning of ad extensions to maximize the visibility and impact of your ads.

By analysing the performance of your keywords and ad copy, you can identify high-performing elements that drive valuable traffic and conversions. Additionally, you can identify areas for improvement, such as optimizing ad messaging, refining keyword targeting, and enhancing the relevance of your ad copy to increase the overall effectiveness and success of your Paid Search campaigns.

Bidding and Budgeting: 

When reviewing the bidding and budgeting aspect of a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Bidding Strategy: Evaluate your current bidding strategy and assess if it aligns with your campaign goals and desired outcomes. Consider the bidding options available, such as manual bidding, automated bidding, or a combination of both. Review bidding settings such as target CPA (cost-per-acquisition), target ROAS (return-on-ad-spend), or position-based bidding, and determine if adjustments are needed based on performance and business objectives.
2. Bid Adjustments: Analyze bid adjustments for various factors such as device type, location, time of day, and audience segments. Assess the impact of bid adjustments on campaign performance and conversion rates. Identify opportunities to optimize bid adjustments to ensure your bids are aligned with the value of different audience segments and maximize campaign performance.
3. Budget Allocation: Review the allocation of your advertising budget across campaigns. Assess if the budget distribution reflects the importance and potential of each campaign. Consider reallocating budgets based on performance data, focusing more on high-performing campaigns and reallocating budgets from underperforming ones. This ensures that your budget is effectively utilized and delivers the best possible return on investment (ROI).
4. Ad Positioning: Analyze the average position of your ads and its impact on performance. Consider if adjustments to bids are necessary to achieve desired ad positions. Evaluate the trade-off between ad position and costs to ensure that bids are optimized to achieve a balance between visibility and cost efficiency.
5. Competitor Bidding: Assess the competitive landscape and the impact of competitor bidding on your campaigns. Identify any competitive bidding strategies that may be affecting your campaign performance and explore opportunities to adjust bids accordingly. This may involve bid adjustments during peak competition times or targeting specific keywords where you have a competitive advantage.

By reviewing your bidding strategy, bid adjustments, and budget allocation, you can identify opportunities to optimize your Paid Search campaigns. This includes refining bidding settings, adjusting bid adjustments for different factors, reallocating budgets for better performance, and effectively competing in the marketplace. Optimizing bidding and budgeting helps maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of your campaigns, leading to improved campaign performance and better return on your advertising investment.

Quality Score: 

When assessing the Quality Score of keywords and landing pages in a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Understanding Quality Score: Quality Score is a metric used by search engines (like Google Ads) to assess the relevance and quality of your keywords and landing pages. It impacts your ad rank, ad position, and the cost per click (CPC) you pay. A higher Quality Score indicates better ad performance and can lead to lower CPCs and higher ad positions.
2. Keyword Relevance: Evaluate the relevance of your keywords to your ad copy and landing pages. Ensure that your keywords are closely aligned with the intent of your target audience's search queries. Assess if there are any mismatches between keywords and ad copy, and make necessary adjustments to improve alignment and relevance.
3. Ad Click-Through Rate (CTR): Analyze the CTR of your ads for each keyword. A higher CTR indicates better ad relevance and can positively impact your Quality Score. Review ad variations and test different messaging to improve CTR. Consider incorporating ad extensions and compelling CTAs to boost engagement and drive higher CTR.
4. Landing Page Experience: Evaluate the landing page experience for your ads. Ensure that landing pages are relevant, well-designed, and provide a seamless user experience. Analyze factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, clear call-to-action (CTA), and alignment with the ad messaging. Optimize landing pages to enhance user engagement and improve Quality Score.
5. Ad Relevance and Historical Performance: Assess the historical performance of your ads, taking into account factors such as ad relevance, historical CTR, and landing page experience. Identify any patterns or trends that can be leveraged to improve Quality Score. Make adjustments to ad messaging, targeting, and landing pages based on historical performance insights.
6. Quality Score Components: Understand the various components that influence Quality Score, such as expected click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience. Analyze the performance of each component and identify areas for improvement. Prioritize efforts on factors that have a significant impact on Quality Score.

By assessing and optimising the Quality Score of your keywords and landing pages, you can enhance the relevance and performance of your ads. This, in turn, can improve your ad rank, increase visibility, and reduce the cost per click. By aligning keywords, ad copy, and landing pages effectively, you can achieve better ad performance and maximize the return on your Paid Search investment.

Conversion Tracking:

When evaluating the aspect of Conversion Tracking in a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Goals and Conversions: Review the goals and conversions you have set up for your campaigns. Assess if they align with your business objectives and reflect the desired user actions on your website, such as purchases, form submissions, sign-ups, or downloads. Ensure that your goals and conversions accurately measure the success of your campaigns.
2. Conversion Tracking Implementation: Evaluate the accuracy and implementation of your conversion tracking code or tags. Verify if they are correctly installed on your website or landing pages and functioning as intended. Confirm that the tracking code fires consistently when a conversion occurs, capturing the necessary data for analysis.
3. Conversion Attribution: Analyze how conversions are attributed to the various marketing touchpoints within your paid search campaigns. Understand the attribution model you are using, such as last-click, first-click, or multi-touch attribution. Assess if the attribution model aligns with your campaign goals and provides a clear understanding of the impact of paid search on conversions.
4. Data Accuracy and Completeness: Ensure that the conversion data you receive is accurate and complete. Verify if all conversions are being tracked and recorded correctly, without any significant discrepancies or missing data. Identify any potential issues that may affect the accuracy of your conversion data, such as duplicate conversions or incorrect configuration.
5. Integration with Analytics Platforms: Assess the integration of your conversion tracking with analytics platforms, such as Google Analytics or third-party tools. Verify if the data is seamlessly transferred and reconciled between these platforms. Evaluate the depth and quality of insights provided by the integration and ensure it aligns with your reporting and analysis requirements.
6. Testing and Troubleshooting: Conduct thorough testing of your conversion tracking to validate its functionality. Test various conversion scenarios to ensure accurate tracking across different devices, browsers, and user interactions. Identify and troubleshoot any issues or discrepancies in conversion tracking to improve data accuracy.

By evaluating the accuracy and implementation of your conversion tracking, you can ensure that you have reliable data to measure the performance of your paid search campaigns effectively. Accurate conversion tracking enables you to make informed decisions, optimise your campaigns, and allocate budgets based on actual conversion data. It helps you understand the impact of your paid search efforts and drive better results in alignment with your business goals.

Ad Placement and Networks:

When reviewing the aspect of Ad Placement and Networks in a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Network Performance: Evaluate the performance of your ads across different networks, such as Google Ads, Bing Ads, or other search engine advertising platforms you may be using. Compare the performance metrics, including impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), conversions, and return on ad spend (ROAS), across these networks. Identify which networks are driving the best results for your campaigns.
2. Search vs. Display Network: Analyze the performance of your ads on the search network versus the display network. Assess if there are notable differences in CTR, conversions, and cost-effectiveness between the two networks. Determine if adjustments need to be made to the network targeting settings based on performance insights.
3. Ad Placement Performance: Evaluate the performance of your ads based on their placement within the search results or display network. Review metrics such as CTR, conversion rates, and cost-per-conversion for different ad positions or placements. Identify high-performing placements and consider bidding strategies to target these positions more effectively.
4. Ad Position vs. Cost: Assess the relationship between ad position and cost. Analyze the impact of ad position on CTR, conversion rates, and cost per click (CPC). Determine if adjustments to bid strategies are necessary to achieve a balance between ad position and cost efficiency.
5. Performance on Mobile vs. Desktop: Compare the performance of your ads on mobile devices versus desktop devices. Analyze metrics such as CTR, conversions, and cost-per-conversion to identify any significant performance differences. Optimize your bid adjustments, ad messaging, and landing page experience based on device-specific insights.
6. Audience Network Performance: If you are utilizing audience network targeting, evaluate the performance of your ads within these placements. Assess the engagement, conversions, and overall effectiveness of displaying your ads to specific audience segments through audience network placements. Adjust audience targeting and bidding strategies as needed.

By reviewing the performance of your ads across different networks and placements, you can identify the most effective channels for reaching your target audience and driving results. It allows you to allocate your budget strategically, optimize your bidding strategies, and refine your ad messaging to maximize the performance of your Paid Search campaigns.

Landing Page Experiance:

When evaluating the landing page experience as part of a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Relevance to Ad Copy and Keywords: Assess the alignment between your landing pages, ad copy, and keywords. Ensure that the landing page content and messaging are directly related to the ad that led the user to the page. Review if the landing page effectively addresses the user's search intent and provides the information or solution they were seeking.
2. Load Time: Evaluate the load time of your landing pages. Slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates. Assess if any elements on the page, such as images, scripts, or third-party integrations, are affecting the load time. Optimize the page's performance to ensure fast load times and a smooth user experience.
3. Mobile-Friendliness: Review the mobile-friendliness of your landing pages. With the increasing use of mobile devices for search, it is crucial that your landing pages are optimized for mobile users. Assess if the page layout, text, and images are responsive and adapt well to different screen sizes. Optimize your landing pages for mobile to provide a seamless experience across devices.
4. User-Friendly Design: Evaluate the overall design and layout of your landing pages. Assess if they are visually appealing, easy to navigate, and have clear calls-to-action (CTAs). Consider the readability of the text, the use of headings and bullet points for scannability, and the placement of important elements on the page. Optimize the design to enhance the user experience and encourage conversions.
5. Clear and Compelling CTAs: Analyze the effectiveness of your calls-to-action (CTAs) on the landing pages. Ensure that CTAs are prominently displayed, visually appealing, and clearly communicate the desired action. Assess if the CTA text and design align with the user's expectation and effectively encourage them to take the desired conversion action.
6. Trust and Credibility: Evaluate the trustworthiness and credibility of your landing pages. Assess if they display trust signals such as customer testimonials, security badges, industry certifications, or guarantees. Consider if there are any elements that may undermine trust, such as intrusive ads, excessive pop-ups, or poor grammar and spelling. Enhance trust factors to increase user confidence and improve conversion rates.

By evaluating the landing page experience, you can identify areas for improvement that can enhance the user experience and ultimately improve conversion rates. An optimized landing page experience increases the chances of visitors taking the desired action, leading to higher conversion rates and a better return on your Paid Search investment.

Competitor Analysis:

When conducting a Competitor Analysis as part of a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Competitor Ad Copy: Analyze the ad copy used by your competitors in their paid search campaigns. Assess the messaging, value propositions, and unique selling points highlighted in their ads. Identify any compelling offers or hooks that may attract your target audience. Evaluate how your ad copy compares to that of your competitors and identify opportunities to differentiate and stand out.
2. Competitor Keywords: Identify the keywords targeted by your competitors in their paid search campaigns. Evaluate the relevance and competitiveness of these keywords in your industry. Assess if there are any gaps or opportunities in keyword targeting that you can leverage. Consider expanding your keyword list based on insights from competitor keyword analysis.
3. Competitor Bidding Strategies: Analyze the bidding strategies employed by your competitors. Assess if they are bidding aggressively on certain keywords or ad positions. Identify any bidding patterns or trends that may impact your campaign performance. Consider adjusting your bidding strategies to counter competitors and optimize your campaign performance.
4. Ad Positioning: Evaluate the ad positioning strategies of your competitors. Assess the average position of their ads and the impact it may have on their visibility and performance. Determine if there are specific positions or ad slots that your competitors consistently target. Consider adjusting your bidding or ad positioning strategies to gain a competitive advantage.
5. Competitive Advantage: Identify areas where you have a competitive advantage over your competitors. This could be in terms of unique products or services, customer reviews, pricing, or other factors. Leverage your competitive advantage in your ad copy and targeting to differentiate yourself and attract potential customers.
6. Ad Extensions and Formats: Analyze the use of ad extensions and different ad formats by your competitors. Assess if they are utilizing site links, callouts, structured snippets, or other ad extensions to enhance their ad visibility and engagement. Consider adopting similar ad extensions or exploring new formats to improve the performance and competitiveness of your ads.

By conducting a thorough competitor analysis, you can gain valuable insights into the strategies and tactics employed by your competitors in the paid search landscape. These insights can help you identify opportunities to outperform competitors, refine your ad copy and messaging, optimize keyword targeting, adjust bidding strategies, and leverage your competitive advantages. A well-informed competitor analysis allows you to make strategic decisions that can improve the effectiveness and performance of your paid search campaigns.

Performance Metrics:

When reviewing key performance metrics as part of a Paid Search audit, here's what it entails:

1. Click-Through Rate (CTR): Assess the CTR of your ads, which represents the percentage of users who click on your ads after seeing them. Evaluate the CTR across different campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. Identify areas where the CTR is below average and investigate potential reasons for low engagement. Optimize ad copy, test different variations, and refine targeting to improve CTR.
2. Conversion Rate: Evaluate the conversion rate, which measures the percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form, after clicking on your ads. Analyze the conversion rate at different levels, including campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. Identify underperforming areas and assess the landing page experience, ad messaging, and targeting to optimize conversion rates.
3. Cost per Conversion (CPC): Review the cost per conversion, which represents the average cost incurred for each conversion. Analyse the CPC across campaigns, ad groups, and keywords to identify areas where costs are high relative to the value of conversions. Optimize bidding strategies, refine keyword targeting, and improve ad relevance to reduce CPC and maximize the efficiency of your budget.
4. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Evaluate the ROAS, which measures the revenue generated for each dollar spent on advertising. Assess the effectiveness of your campaigns in driving revenue and compare the ROAS across different campaigns or segments. Identify high-performing campaigns and areas for improvement. Adjust bids, budgets, and targeting to optimize ROAS and maximize the profitability of your paid search efforts.
5. Overall Campaign ROI: Analyze the overall return on investment (ROI) of your paid search campaigns. Calculate the revenue generated from conversions and compare it to the total cost of running the campaigns, including ad spend and associated expenses. Identify campaigns or segments with positive ROI and those that are not meeting performance expectations. Optimise underperforming campaigns and allocate resources to areas with higher ROI.
6. Trend Analysis: Review performance trends over time to identify patterns and changes in key metrics. Look for seasonal variations, campaign launches or updates, or external factors that may have influenced performance. Monitor metrics on an ongoing basis and make data-driven adjustments to optimise campaign performance.

By reviewing and analysing key performance metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and optimization in your paid search campaigns. This enables you to make informed decisions and take specific actions to enhance CTR, conversion rates, CPC, ROAS, and overall campaign ROI. Continuously monitoring and optimising these metrics will help you maximize the effectiveness and success of your paid search efforts.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, conducting a thorough paid search audit for your business offers numerous benefits that can significantly impact your digital advertising success. By investing time and effort into evaluating various aspects of your paid search campaigns, you can:

1. Enhance Performance: A paid search audit helps you identify areas for improvement, optimise campaigns, and refine strategies to enhance key performance metrics such as click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per conversion (CPC), return on ad spend (ROAS), and overall campaign ROI. This optimisation leads to better campaign performance, increased visibility, and improved cost-efficiency.
2. Stay Competitive: Through competitor analysis, you gain insights into your competitors' strategies, ad copy, keywords, and positioning. This knowledge enables you to identify opportunities to outperform your competitors and differentiate your brand. By staying ahead of the competition, you can capture more market share and attract potential customers.
3. Improve User Experience: Evaluating landing page experience, relevance, load time, mobile-friendliness, and overall user experience allows you to provide a seamless journey for your audience. Optimising landing pages and aligning them with ad copy and keywords ensures a cohesive and engaging experience. By improving user experience, you increase the chances of conversions and foster positive brand interactions.
4. Optimize Budget Allocation: A paid search audit helps you evaluate budget allocation, bidding strategies, and campaign ROI. By analysing the data and identifying areas of inefficiency, you can allocate your budget more effectively, focus on high-performing campaigns and keywords, and adjust bidding strategies to maximize returns. This optimisation allows you to make the most of your advertising budget.
5. Make Data-Driven Decisions: Through in-depth analysis of key metrics and trends, you gain valuable insights into your campaign performance. This data empowers you to make informed, data-driven decisions based on actual performance, rather than relying on assumptions or guesswork. You can identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement, enabling you to continually refine and optimize your paid search campaigns.

Ultimately, a thorough paid search audit provides you with a comprehensive understanding of your digital advertising landscape, uncovers opportunities for improvement, and guides strategic decision-making. By optimising your campaigns, improving user experience, staying competitive, and making data-driven decisions, you position your business for success in the ever-evolving world of paid search advertising.