Have you ever wondered, do I need a PPC audit?
This article we will discuss some pros and cons as well as somethings to look out for when it comes to this important question with your online advertising.
PPC management services can be very complex. Out of all the years I have been running a business and or running paid ads campaigns, it, by far, is the most complex feeling I have had.
There are so many levers, strategies, switches one can move to change things when it comes to PPC management.
To name a few, here we go.
- When to know when you need a PPC audit?
If you have noticed a major shift in your PPC performance, might be one reason. Many times at various agencies, we welcomed other agencies to take a peek under the hood to see our campaigns, structure, whats working whats not. Why?, Well not only can it give you some insights into things you might not have considered, but a fresh set of eyes can allow you to consider and learn more about how your business is advertising online. I wouldn’t however recommend that you are every two months seeking audits as this takes time from the potential new agency. They like you, are a business. If you keep seeking audits its like an employee surfing for jobs every few months and some agencies will actually turn you down for work if things dont seem right. A quick way to see that would be the access and when I see a client granting access every few months or quarter it is a red flag. Other direct KPI factors could be a sharp decline in leads, revenue, or spikes in cost per conversion.
- What to look for in a PPC audit?
This question is complex as depending on the buildout, structure and strategy, things can be right on the surface, but on deeper digging can reveal lost revenue, mismanaged ad spend, creative issues, audience issues and more to name a few.
To start with, Google ads default settings aren’t set for you the end client, they are set for Google to maximize their profits and the platform is customizable, but needs to be from inception otherwise the data can be unreliable when it comes to auditing. So if you are granting any new perspective agency access, you should let them know any pain points, issues you have run into over the years because this will be very valuable insightful knowledge so they don’t make any false assertions from the performance data.
- Where to look for a PPC audit?
I would selfless plug this article but you already know there are a ton of options to choose when it comes to selecting audits, but one should shop around to gain various aspects to what’s good, bad or needs improvement. After All it’s your budget being spent on the search engines that should be considered as an extension of your business. My recommendation is to look for an agency that has worked with clients in your business vertical before. Has many years experience doing so and knows many of the common holes that comes from running Google ads campaigns. We at PositiveDigitalFootprint.com for sure have jacks of all trades and been on the inside of many campaign types, strategies and business verticals from the ground up. That enables us to have your best interests in mind on what works, to reach your customer at the right place at the right time for the biggest bang for your ad spend bucks.
- Why look for a PPC audit?
This is a fairly easy reasoning, people burn out, run out of ideas, continue to charge your business higher and higher service fees as ad spends rise or worse, say its because of things like inflation! To keep the landscape competitive, fresh ideas and prospective agencies to work with, it behoves any high level C suite, VP, or owner operator to consider sending a request to ask for an audit. This will ultimately keep your PPC service provider on their toes, not to say they should lose a loyal client as this often hurts both parties to some extent, but its afterall your business your looking after but be careful as generalities can be produced by fluffy sales sharks as that is their whole paycheck is to keep you as a client since they are mostly commission based sales.
- Who to look for a PPC audit?
Using a reputable, experienced agency to conduct your ads audit is important as you are giving them access to your customer data, performance and even with certain access one could download some of the data which could lead to issues unintended if they are bad actors or worse, are servicing ads for your competitor! PositiveDigitalFootprint.com has your best interests in mind as that is all we obsess about is your online success and seeing ROI for your investments. Other agencies take various angles to how they audit, but we try to take a custom approach to every account. Sure there are major commonly known pitfalls about PPC and campaign set ups we are highly aware of as well as staying on the ever changing landscape.
In summary there are many options when it comes to who should be running your PPC efforts but we recommend to shop around, don’t use too many agencies per year or at the same time as conflicting agencies can cause other issues but sometimes if they are silo’ed but still talk and work together this can work out. Just needs to be done carefully in a structured way to where you are all talking about the same end goals, deadlines, expectations and work well together which can be rare if agencies are wanting to own your full business. We can help to cut the clutter and keep your mind at ease. Contact us today to find out more information and get an free audit started today!