Today, businesses conducting pay-per-click (“PPC”) advertising sometimes request comprehensive pay-per-click audits conducted by another agency. Should your enterprise in Georgia ask an Atlanta Google Ads consultant to provide this service? Implementing a PPC audit offers both advantages and disadvantages.
About PPC Audits
During a pay-per-click audit, one agency audits the PPC ads placed by a client (or another agency hired by the client). This activity offers one means of performing quality control during a marketing campaign. It seeks to ensure businesses don’t waste an advertising budget by making cost-ineffective decisions.
Typically, a PPC auditor prepares a comprehensive report for the client. This document analyzes the client’s total advertising efforts. It supplies both an overview of a PPC ad campaign, and a careful exploration of budget allocation decisions. Ultimately, the pay-per-click advertising audit strives to ensure a client receives solid value for its investment in online advertising. This type of business study potentially offers both advantages and disadvantages.
The Pros of Requesting a PPC Audit
An audit of pay-per-click advertising ideally furnishes a client with an objective, impartial assessment of the value it receives from the firm’s investment in PPC advertising. This type of study may offer fresh insights to assist the targeted placement of company ads, for instance. It aids managers in identifying waste, duplication, and cost overruns.
Additionally, audits may offer a way to verify the PPC ad campaign meets projected goals and milestones. While many advertising venues take steps to discourage pay-per-click ad fraud, the problem proves pervasive in some markets. PPC audits may furnish assistance in deterring this problem by inspiring more advertising venues to take better security measures against PPC fraud.
PPC Auditing Cons
Paying for a pay-per-click audit sometime holds drawbacks. First, many small firms with a limited ad budget may discover an audit simply affixes an additional layer of costs to a PPC advertising initiative. In simple cases, a company owner may perform this type of review more cost-effectively in house. Of course, the circumstances surrounding the business, its market, and the specific PPC ad campaign often impact this situation.
Second, sometimes PPC audits actually detract from the availability of funds to support additional advertising. Clients in some markets may prefer to invest in more ads instead of an ad audit. By building performance milestones into an Internet ad campaign, managers may feel they can monitor the progress of PPC ad campaigns effectively without this extra investment.
Third, an audit conducted for a client by a potential competitor may lack objectivity. Clients must remain alert to the potential for conflict of interest in this type of report. Selecting a PPC audit company with care remains critically important.
A Highly Individual Decision
Astute marketing managers weight the benefits and the drawbacks of pay-per-click audits carefully. Typically, individual business needs determine the feasibility of this process. Implementing regular PPC auditing often helps ensure social media ad campaigns and other online sales promotions remain within budget. However, these efforts also sometimes fail to further the long-term goals of an advertiser as effectively as placing more ads. Conceivably, additional funds spent conducting a PPC audit may ultimately detract from a marketing campaign’s potential impact.
Today, companies in Georgia sometimes choose to obtain periodic PPC auditing services. Whether or not to invest in this activity remains a highly individual decision, one affected by a company’s unique market niche and circumstances. It often proves useful to seek assistance from an experienced Atlanta Google AdWords expert in evaluating the feasibility of a pay-per-click audit.
