Can you imagine what would happen if our computers and mobile devices never updated? This would lead to reduced speed, poor performance and overall loss of functionality. Well, the same results occur if you skip performing audits for your advertising accounts. Unlike the automatic updates of our devices, PPC audits are a process that every digital advertiser must personally master and perform on a regular basis. A regular AdWords audit or PPC audit is essential, as it furnishes you with knowledge about your performance and makes you acquainted with your weak areas, areas that need improvement to gain accelerated growth.
A PPC or AdWords audit allows businesses to check how they rank in comparison with other similar PPC advertisers with same expenditure. It also facilitates the businesses to discover areas that require immediate work to be initiated upon them in order to improve the performance of the campaign and know what outcomes can be expected after implementing any specific changes.
Executing a PPC campaign is undoubtedly a beneficial upshot for a business, it is an online advertising strategy, which is very effective and facilitates extensive brand awareness by means of instant visibility. However, leaving a campaign running on autopilot may not be a wise decision. In order to make the most out of your PPC campaign, a comprehensive PPC audit should be executed in regular time intervals to prevent any crucial data loss.
Performing a Google AdWords or PPC shopping ads campaign audit, may be a tedious assignment however one ought to invest significant time to study their efforts.
Why should you audit?
Performing an AdWords audit or shopping ads audit generally depends on why you want to audit your account; it could possibly because of some recurring performance issues that are hampering your campaign’s reach. Apart from performance issues, audit facilitates troubleshooting as it helps in pointing out the exact areas that require servicing, in order to make them efficient and result oriented.
When should you audit?
You can audit your campaign account anytime you want, because chances are you will generally discover something to enhance your outcomes. Nevertheless, you ought to stay away from PPC audit when you have as of late rolled out improvements to your system or made an account update. This is because of the information could be skewed, which ultimately drives your audit in the wrong course.
You should always audit your campaign account when it switches from one account supervisor to another. The straightforward actuality is that each account supervisor will set things up the approach; they incline toward – in a way, which works best for them. However, what works for them may or may not work well for you.
Who should perform the audit?
If you are auditing a particular issue in your account then you could keep the task to yourself and dig directly in to the areas of your account that could be contributing to the problem. However, if you are talking about a more comprehensive check, it may be better to outsource the project and get fresh eyes on things.
How to perform an audit?
Some steps need to be kept in mind before inception of the audit.
#1 Key Performance indicators
A PPC account has many elements, an audit just need to focus on the right ones. If you do not know anything about the key performance indicators, in such a case, performing an audit might not yield complete and accurate outcomes. Research and cling upon the KPIs and focus your audit where it needs to be.
#2 Set up date range
Usually, if you are auditing to diagnose a specific issue then you should scan at least previous 3-month’s data. This much of conversion data is necessary to carry out trouble shooting effectively. However, if you are carrying out a routine AdWords audit, then previous year’s data can be retrieved in order to research, compare and analyse development.
#3 Revising ad group relevance
Scan through your ad groups, and ensure that your ad group does not consist of more than 10-15 keywords. Revise the ones that do. This is done to make the data easier for you to study and manage, preventing any perplexity to sneak in.
#4 Add ad extensions
Adding extensions surely effect rankings, make sure you add appropriate business extensions that are capable and equipped to handle queries from the customers.
#5 Track proper conversions
Auditors make a huge mistake while simplifying and converting the data. It is very difficult to check whether the PPC campaign is actually working to help you, or the client. Carefully analyse the data for accurate conversions. If you are skeptic about your skills, it is better to hire an expert PPC auditor.
Audits may not be fun, but they are necessary for the proper functioning of the PPC account.