How to Audit Your Existing PPC Campaigns Before Hiring a Vancouver Agency
A practical, step-by-step checklist to review your Google Ads/PPC account—find wasted keywords, tracking gaps, low-performing ads, and budget leaks—so you know what’s working and what to ask a Vancouver digital marketing agency to fix or scale.
Why audit PPC before approaching an agency
Auditing your current pay-per-click account before you talk to an agency saves time, clarifies priorities, and protects your budget. If you arrive knowing which campaigns are losing money, which conversions are tracked, and where data is missing, a prospective Vancouver digital marketing agency can provide more accurate recommendations. Many business owners find that an audit also makes it easier to compare proposals from agencies and to spot clear communication and process differences.
Start by gathering access and account history
Request and organize access to the Google Ads account, Google Analytics (GA4 if available), Google Tag Manager, and any call-tracking or CRM data. Note when campaigns were created and any major structural changes. A short access checklist: account-level permissions, linked Analytics property, linked Merchant Center (if ecommerce), billing history, and a list of past optimizations or experiments. This basic information reveals whether the account has been actively managed or left unattended.
Verify conversion tracking and analytics
Confirm that conversions are correctly recorded and match your business objectives (leads, purchases, phone calls). Check that tags are firing (via Tag Manager or browser tools), GCLID parameters are captured when required, and conversions are visible in both Ads and Analytics. Look for duplicate or orphaned conversion actions and for missing cross-domain tracking if users move between domains. If conversion data is incomplete, any agency recommendations about bidding or budgeting will be unreliable.
Find wasted spend in keywords and search terms
Review the Search Terms report for recent weeks to find irrelevant queries that triggered ads. Flag broad or broad‑modified match types that produce unrelated searches, and compile a negative keyword list. Look for low-quality or single-click keywords with no conversions but steady spend. Also check for multiple keywords bidding on the same queries (internal competition) and consider whether match types and bids are aligned to intent.
Assess ad creative, assets, and performance signals
Compare ad variations by CTR, conversion rate, and impression share rather than just clicks. Check whether responsive search ads are used, whether assets (headlines, descriptions, sitelinks) are relevant, and whether ad strength or policy issues exist. Underperforming ads often point to mismatches between ad messaging and landing pages; strong ads paired with poor landing experiences still waste budget.
Inspect landing pages and user experience
Landing pages should match the ad promise and track the same conversion actions. Test pages for mobile friendliness, load speed, clear calls to action, and functional forms. Look for high bounce or low conversion rates on paid landing pages and check whether GA4 or other analytics show usability issues. Slow or irrelevant landing pages undermine Quality Score and increase cost per click.
Review budgets, bidding strategies and pacing
Confirm whether budgets are shared or per-campaign and whether daily spend aligns with your monthly goals. Identify campaigns that frequently exhaust budget early in the day or show spikes of unproductive spend. Note the bidding approach (manual CPC, target CPA, tROAS, maximize conversions) and whether there is enough conversion volume to support automated strategies. Poorly matched bidding strategies are a common source of budget leaks.
Check audience, location, device and schedule targeting
Audit geographic targeting and ensure your campaigns are not excluding or over-targeting regions unintentionally. Verify device bid adjustments and check performance by device type. Review ad schedule data to see when conversions occur and whether ads run during low-performance hours. For local businesses, confirm location settings and negative locations; mismatches here can waste spend on irrelevant regions.
Look for reporting, attribution and tracking gaps
Inspect the account’s reporting setup: are UTM parameters consistent, are conversions imported from offline systems, and which attribution model is being used? Missing or inconsistent UTM tagging, unsynced CRM data, or incorrect attribution windows can hide real campaign value or make poor-performing campaigns look better than they are. Make a note of any gaps so agencies can propose fixes and realistic attribution testing.
Prepare questions to ask a Vancouver agency (and what to expect)
Use your audit notes to ask specific questions: How would you fix my conversion tracking gaps? Which wasteful keywords would you pause or negate? Would you restructure campaigns and why? What reporting cadence and KPIs should I expect? Look for an agency that explains its strategy clearly and with examples—customers frequently praise teams that are organized, transparent, and communicative. Share your audit findings up front so the agency can respond with targeted suggestions rather than generic pitches.
Industry considerations and final checklist
If you operate in specialized sectors—dental clinics, healthcare or doctor marketing—ask about experience with relevant compliance and search behavior (for example, dental seo vancouver or healthcare marketing vancouver). For local visibility, include questions about Google Business Profile integration and GMB ranking practices. Before contacting agencies, finalize this short checklist: confirmed conversion tracking, recent Search Terms export, negative keyword list started, top-performing ad variants identified, landing pages tested for speed and relevance, and a list of suspicious budget drains. With these items ready you’ll be better positioned to evaluate proposals from any digital marketing agency vancouver or best seo agency canada and to decide which partner can scale your paid campaigns efficiently.
Next steps: turning an audit into action
After your self-audit, prioritize fixes that reduce waste and restore accurate data: fix tracking first, stop clearly irrelevant spend, then test creative and landing page changes. When you request proposals, expect agencies to map their work to your prioritized list and to propose measurable short-term fixes plus a plan for ongoing optimization. Whether you’re comparing local seo services canada, evaluating a top PPC shop, or searching terms like best seo agency canada or Chatgpt Ranking canada for research, a clear audit will make the hiring conversation practical and outcome-focused.
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SEO Tech Experts Canada
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