Peterborough PPC Audits

A PPC audit is a structured review of your paid advertising accounts to understand what is helping performance, what is holding it back, and where budget is being lost without delivering enquiries or sales. For many Peterborough businesses, PPC is one of the fastest ways to generate demand, but it is also one of the easiest channels to waste money in if settings drift, tracking breaks, or campaigns grow without a clear plan.

What a PPC Audit Actually Looks At

An effective audit goes beyond checking a few headline metrics. It examines how your account is built, how targeting is set up, what searches you are paying for, and whether ads and landing pages match the intent behind those searches. It also checks whether your bidding strategy is appropriate for your data quality and conversion volume. If you are running Performance Max, Shopping, or remarketing, the audit also reviews asset quality, audience signals, feed health, and how budget is being distributed between brand, non-brand, and prospecting activity.

Why It Is Especially Important Locally

In and around Peterborough, search behaviour can be highly localised. People often include place terms, travel intent, or urgency in their searches, and small targeting mistakes can send spend to the wrong areas. A common issue is relying on location settings that include people who show interest in an area rather than people who are actually there, which can inflate click volume without increasing genuine leads. An audit checks those settings and helps you align spend with the customers you can realistically serve.

Protecting Budget and Improving Decision-Making

Even well-managed accounts can suffer from slow creep: broad match expands too far, negative keyword lists fall behind, old campaigns are left running, or automated bidding is given unclear signals. Over time, this creates noisy data and makes decision-making harder. A PPC audit restores clarity by isolating what drives profitable outcomes and separating it from activity that looks busy but does not pay back.

Turning Findings Into a Practical Plan

The real value of an audit is the action plan. You should come away knowing what to fix first, what to test next, and how to measure success properly. That might include restructuring campaigns for better control, improving ad relevance, tightening geo targeting, correcting conversion tracking, or adjusting budgets so the right campaigns get the investment. The goal is not to create complexity, it is to create a PPC setup that is easier to manage and produces stronger results.

Partnering with experts ensures your campaigns are optimised for every click and every pound.

The best audit schedule depends on how active your advertising is, how quickly your market changes, and how much automation you rely on. As a rule, if PPC is a meaningful driver of enquiries or sales, you need a regular rhythm of review rather than waiting for performance to drop and then reacting. For Peterborough businesses competing for high-intent searches, small shifts in competition, seasonality, and user behaviour can change results quickly.

A Practical Cadence for Most Accounts

For most active accounts, a quarterly deep audit is a sensible baseline. It gives enough time for changes to produce meaningful data while still catching problems before they become expensive. Alongside that, a lighter monthly review helps you spot drift in key areas such as search terms, conversion tracking, budget pacing, and the impact of new competitors entering auctions.

When You Should Audit Immediately

There are also clear triggers that justify an audit outside the usual cycle. If you have launched a new service, expanded into new locations around Peterborough, changed your website or booking journey, or moved to a new conversion tracking setup, an audit prevents you from spending money on broken measurement. The same applies if you switch PPC managers or agencies, because account structure and bidding strategies often reflect the previous team’s assumptions.

Signals That Something Has Drifted

You should also move an audit forward if performance trends look wrong. Examples include a rising cost per lead without an obvious reason, an increase in irrelevant enquiries, a drop in conversion rate on mobile, or a sudden shift in where impressions are coming from. These issues are often caused by small changes: match type expansion, location setting mistakes, new automated recommendations being applied, or tracking discrepancies between platforms.

Balancing Routine Monitoring and Full Audits

It is important to separate day-to-day monitoring from a proper audit. Monitoring typically focuses on budgets, obvious performance trends, and quick fixes. An audit takes a wider view and asks whether the account design still matches your goals. That includes checking if campaign segmentation still makes sense, whether your messaging reflects what people are searching for, and whether you are investing in the areas that generate the best return.

Regular audits help maintain optimal performance and adapt to changing business objectives.

A comprehensive PPC audit should cover far more than a quick scan of clicks and costs. It should review the full journey: how traffic is being targeted, what experience users get after clicking, how conversions are recorded, and whether budgets are being invested where they generate the best return. If you are advertising to customers in Peterborough, the audit should also check location settings and local intent signals to ensure spend is focused on the people you can actually serve.

Account Structure and Campaign Design

The audit typically begins with how the account is organised. That includes campaign objectives, how ad groups are segmented, whether naming and structure support reporting, and whether brand and non-brand activity are separated properly. A strong structure makes it easier to control budgets, test messaging, and understand what is driving leads or sales.

Keyword Targeting and Search Term Quality

A meaningful audit checks keyword intent, match type usage, and the quality of the search terms you are paying for. This is where wasted spend often hides. It should identify irrelevant queries, missing negative keywords, and gaps where you are not capturing high-intent demand. It also reviews how bids and budgets align with keyword value, not just volume.

Ads, Assets, and Relevance

Next comes ad performance and relevance. This includes reviewing responsive search ad assets, extensions, landing page alignment, and whether messaging speaks directly to the intent behind the search. If you use display, video, or Performance Max, the audit also checks creative coverage, asset strength, and whether your inputs are giving the platforms the right signals.

Audiences, Location Settings, and Devices

Targeting settings are often overlooked. A full audit checks geographic targeting, location options, radius targeting where relevant, audience layering, device performance, and scheduling. This is critical when your business depends on serviceable areas around Peterborough and you want to avoid paying for clicks that cannot convert.

Conversion Tracking and Measurement

A robust audit verifies conversion definitions, tag firing, attribution settings, and whether your reporting reflects reality. It should identify missing events, duplicate counting, inconsistent definitions across platforms, and any gaps between lead quality and conversion reporting. Without accurate tracking, optimisation is guesswork, even with strong campaigns.

A full audit addresses every part of your PPC setup to identify gaps and unlock performance improvements.

A PPC audit improves campaign performance by replacing assumptions with evidence. Instead of making changes based on instinct, you get a clear view of where spend is producing value and where it is being absorbed by low-quality traffic, weak ad relevance, or poor measurement. For campaigns targeting Peterborough, an audit also helps ensure local intent is being captured properly and budget is not drifting into areas or audiences that are unlikely to convert.

Reducing Waste Without Cutting Reach

One of the quickest wins from an audit is controlling waste. That can include removing irrelevant search terms, tightening match types, expanding negatives, and fixing campaigns that are pulling spend away from higher-performing activity. The goal is not to shrink your presence, it is to keep your visibility where it drives enquiries, bookings, or sales.

Improving Ad Relevance and Quality Score

When ad relevance improves, performance often improves with it. An audit reviews how well your ads match what people are searching for, whether your landing pages deliver on the promise of the ad, and whether extensions are being used properly. Better alignment can improve click-through rate and Quality Score, which can reduce costs and improve impression share at the same time.

Better Targeting and Stronger Lead Quality

Audits also help refine targeting. If location settings are too loose, you may be paying for clicks from people outside your service area. If targeting is too tight, you may be missing profitable local demand. A good audit balances both, using geo settings, audiences, devices, and schedules to improve lead quality rather than simply increasing click volume.

Fixing Measurement So Decisions Are Reliable

Many performance issues are actually measurement issues. If conversions are misconfigured, duplicated, or missing, bidding strategies can optimise toward the wrong outcomes. An audit checks tracking accuracy and conversion definitions so performance data is reliable. Once that is corrected, budget and bidding decisions become easier and more profitable over time.

A well-executed PPC audit can significantly enhance campaign effectiveness and deliver measurable growth.

A professional PPC audit uses a combination of platform-native reporting and specialist tools to verify tracking, analyse search behaviour, and identify optimisation opportunities. The purpose of using tools is not to produce more charts, it is to reach clearer conclusions and build an action plan you can implement with confidence. For Peterborough-focused campaigns, tools also help validate whether your location targeting and audience signals reflect real local demand.

Advertising Platform Diagnostics

The starting point is always the advertising platforms themselves. Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising provide the campaign data, search term reports, auction insights, and settings that reveal where performance is strong and where it is leaking. Editors for both platforms allow faster structural reviews and make it easier to spot duplicated targeting, inconsistent match type strategy, and wasted campaign overlaps.

Analytics and Tag Verification

Google Analytics 4 and tag management tools are used to understand user behaviour after the click and to verify whether conversions are being recorded correctly. This includes checking event definitions, goal logic, attribution settings, and whether key actions such as form submissions, phone clicks, and ecommerce actions are tracked consistently. If the data is wrong, the audit highlights what needs correcting so future decisions are based on accurate measurement.

Reporting and Clarity

Dashboards are useful when they are built around decisions. Reporting platforms can be used to present findings in a clear way, showing where spend is going, where outcomes come from, and which changes are likely to have the biggest impact. This keeps the audit practical, not theoretical.

Competitive and Keyword Research Tools

Competitive insight tools are used to understand the wider auction landscape, identify keyword gaps, and spot areas where competitors may be bidding aggressively or ignoring valuable searches. Combined with search term analysis, this helps build a smarter plan for coverage and budget allocation.

Using the right tools ensures a thorough, accurate, and actionable audit.

Yes. One of the most consistent outcomes of a PPC audit is identifying where money is being spent without producing meaningful results. Waste can appear in many forms: irrelevant search terms, overly broad targeting, poor device performance, low-quality placements, or automated bidding optimising against the wrong signals. For Peterborough campaigns, wasted spend can also come from location settings that include users outside your service area or from ads triggering for searches that are not locally relevant.

Finding the Real Sources of Leakage

The audit analyses search term reports to find patterns of irrelevant intent, research-only queries, and accidental matches that do not lead to enquiries or sales. It also checks whether broad match keywords are being used responsibly and whether negative keywords are keeping the account focused. Where waste is linked to campaign structure, the audit recommends restructuring so budgets are not pulled toward low-value areas.

Improving Targeting So Spend Matches Reality

Many accounts waste budget through targeting that is either too open or too restrictive. A PPC audit checks geo targeting, location options, radius settings where relevant, and audience layers to make sure ads reach the right people. It also reviews device and schedule performance, because a campaign can look fine overall while bleeding money on one device type or time period.

Aligning Bidding With Value

Wasted spend is not always about the wrong clicks, it can also be about paying too much for the right clicks. An audit reviews bidding strategies, targets, and budget distribution to ensure you are not over-investing in campaigns with weak conversion rates or poor lead quality. Where automated bidding is used, the audit checks whether conversion data is clean enough to support it.

Audits are essential to stop budget leakage and focus spend where it delivers results.

PPC audits often uncover issues that are not obvious from surface-level reporting. Many accounts can generate clicks and even conversions while still suffering from structural weaknesses, poor measurement, and targeting drift that quietly reduces profitability. For campaigns focused on Peterborough, some common problems also relate to location settings and the way local search intent is handled.

Tracking and Attribution Mistakes

Conversion tracking errors are among the most frequent findings. That can include missing tags, duplicated conversions being counted twice, inconsistent definitions across platforms, or conversions that fire on the wrong actions. When this happens, reporting becomes misleading and bidding strategies may optimise toward poor signals.

Keyword Strategy That Creates Noise

Audits regularly find accounts overspending on broad match terms without enough control, or relying on keyword sets that no longer reflect how users search. Another common issue is the absence of a well-maintained negative keyword list, which allows irrelevant queries to keep draining budget. At the same time, high-intent keywords are sometimes underused because the account is not segmented in a way that gives them the attention they deserve.

Ads That Do Not Match Intent

Even with good keywords, ad relevance can be weak. Audits often identify messaging that is too generic, missing extensions that improve visibility, or landing pages that do not reflect the promise of the ad. This reduces click-through rate, harms Quality Score, and can increase costs.

Goals and Budgets Misaligned

Another common problem is campaigns built around the wrong objective. For example, optimising for volume when lead quality matters most, or investing heavily in activity that looks efficient on paper but does not produce profitable customers. An audit connects performance back to business outcomes and highlights where effort should be refocused.

Identifying and fixing these issues can dramatically improve results and reduce cost per acquisition.

Yes. An audit can be valuable even when an agency manages your PPC, especially if paid media is a major investment for your business. The purpose is not to undermine the day-to-day management, it is to confirm that strategy, structure, and measurement remain aligned with your goals. For Peterborough businesses, it also ensures local targeting and lead quality are being handled correctly, not just headline metrics like clicks or impressions.

Independent Verification of Performance

Agencies often work at speed across multiple accounts, and even strong teams can miss opportunities or allow settings to drift over time. An independent audit verifies whether budgets are being invested in the right places, whether search terms remain relevant, and whether automation is being guided by accurate conversion data.

A Fresh Perspective on Testing and Strategy

Audits also help identify what has not been tested. That might include missed keyword segments, weak ad messaging, gaps in local coverage, or underused audience layers. A fresh perspective can uncover improvements that a team close to the account may not see, particularly if the current structure limits visibility into what is really driving performance.

Improving Transparency and Alignment

An audit can clarify whether reporting reflects outcomes that matter to the business, such as lead quality and profitability, rather than surface metrics. It also helps ensure the work being done aligns with your priorities, whether that is efficient growth, protecting margins, or prioritising specific services or locations.

Routine audits foster accountability and continuous improvement - agency-managed or not.

The time required for a PPC audit depends on how complex your account is and how many moving parts need to be reviewed. A straightforward paid search account with clear conversion tracking is faster to assess than an account running multiple networks, Performance Max, Shopping feeds, remarketing, and offline conversion imports. The most important point is that the audit needs enough depth to be useful, not just quick enough to produce a checklist.

What Determines Audit Scope

Audit scope is influenced by campaign volume, number of campaigns and ad groups, geographic targeting complexity, and whether you run multiple platforms such as Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. If your account includes ecommerce tracking, call tracking, CRM integration, or multiple conversion actions, the tracking review becomes more involved because each component needs verification.

Speed Versus Depth

A rapid review can highlight obvious problems, but it often misses the subtler issues that affect profitability, such as the quality of search terms, the impact of location settings, or the way conversions are being attributed. A thorough audit examines both structure and performance patterns, checks how campaigns work together, and then translates those findings into prioritised actions.

How Access and Context Helps

Timelines also depend on how quickly access is provided to advertising accounts, analytics, and any supporting data such as lead quality feedback or sales outcomes. When goals are clear and the conversion journey is understood, the audit can focus on the changes that matter most. Without that context, an audit may still identify issues, but recommendations can be less precise.

A detailed audit takes time - but the insights can fuel months of campaign improvements.

Choosing the right team for a PPC audit matters because the outcome should be a plan you can act on, not a document filled with generic commentary. A good audit blends platform knowledge, analytical skill, and practical experience so findings are accurate and recommendations are grounded in what will move performance. For businesses targeting Peterborough, that also means understanding how to capture local intent, control geo targeting, and improve lead quality.

Experienced and Straight-Talking

Doublespark has been auditing and improving PPC accounts since 2005. That experience matters because accounts rarely fail for one reason. Performance is usually affected by multiple factors at once: structure, keywords, ads, landing pages, bidding, and tracking. An experienced team can identify how these pieces interact and prioritise the changes that deliver the biggest benefit first.

Technology Supported, Human Led

Tools make analysis faster, but expertise makes analysis useful. We use platform data and trusted analytics to validate what is happening, then apply human judgement to turn findings into a clear action plan. That prevents the common problem of audits that highlight issues but do not explain what to do next.

Focused on Strategy, Not Just Fixes

Our audits are designed to support ongoing improvement. That means identifying quick wins, but also giving you a structure and measurement approach that makes future optimisation easier. Recommendations are tied to your objectives, whether that is lowering cost per lead, improving lead quality, increasing ecommerce profitability, or scaling efficiently without unnecessary risk.

Choose Doublespark if you want a PPC audit that leads to real business growth, not just a report.