Paid media audits for London businesses often reveal the same issue: budgets are spread across platforms without a clear framework connecting spend to revenue. Teams run campaigns on Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, and programmatic display, each with its own reporting dashboard and attribution settings. Without a unified audit process, optimisation becomes reactive and budget decisions default to whichever platform reported the highest ROAS last month.
A paid media audit evaluates whether your campaign structure, tracking, and reporting support confident budget allocation. It should explain what needs attention and why.
Where do you start a paid media audit?
Begin with account structure. Open each platform and verify that campaigns map to clear business objectives. Are brand and non-brand results distinguishable? Are geo-targeting settings appropriate for your London market, whether Greater London or the full UK? Are audience settings and exclusions intentional and aligned with campaign goals?
Next, review conversion tracking. Check that a lead form submission represents the same business action in Google Ads, GA4, and your CRM. Test the journey and investigate missing or duplicated events. Reporting totals need not match: attribution settings, conversion windows, and counting methods can cause legitimate differences. For businesses in fintech, property, or legal services, reconcile recorded leads with CRM outcomes before judging acquisition costs.
Finally, assess keyword and audience overlap. Google confirms that eligible keywords within the same account do not compete against each other in the auction. Review overlap to understand which campaigns serve each objective and whether consolidation would simplify management. Use your own search-term and cost data to assess expensive traffic rather than relying on a London-wide CPC benchmark.
How do you evaluate performance across platforms?
Build a shared reporting view of cost, impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue. Check attribution windows and counting methods before comparing platform-reported ROAS across Google, Meta, and TikTok. Use GA4 for a consistent cross-channel view, alongside CRM or sales records, and document differences from platform reporting. Treat this as a comparison framework rather than a complete reconciliation.
Identify which campaigns contribute most to revenue and qualified leads. For underperforming campaigns, check targeting, creative, tracking, and the landing page before pausing spend. Strong click-through rates with low conversion rates warrant a landing page review, but can also reflect low-intent traffic or a mismatch between the ad and offer.
When should you run a paid media audit?
Conduct a full audit before quarterly budget reviews and after significant changes in market conditions, such as competitor entry, pricing shifts, or platform policy changes. As spend or account complexity grows, use monthly mini-audits to check tracking integrity and budget allocation. Set the cadence around business risk and the pace of campaign changes.
Assign each finding an owner and a next action. A repeatable audit should catch inefficiencies early and keep budget decisions connected to measurable business outcomes.
