What is a digital marketing audit, and does my business need one?
A digital marketing audit is a structured check of everything between your ad spend and your sales: tracking, ad accounts, website and offer. If you're spending money on ads and can't say clearly what's working, you need one.
ShoaibUpdated 3 min read
What gets checked?
| Area | What to look at | Free tool |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking | Are purchases and leads actually being recorded? | Meta Events Manager |
| Search presence | Can Google find and index your site? | Google Search Console |
| Google Ads setup | Missed settings and suggestions | Optimization score and Recommendations |
| Ad account structure | Too many small campaigns, overlapping audiences, old ads | Ads Manager / Google Ads |
| Website speed | How fast pages load on a phone | PageSpeed Insights |
| Offer | Is the price, promise and next step clear? | Your own eyes, and customer questions |
What do those tools actually tell you?
- Meta Events Manager: Meta's Business Help Center says it lets you view and manage your event data, and set up, monitor and troubleshoot the Meta Pixel and Conversions API.
- Google Search Console: Google calls it a free service to monitor, maintain and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search.
- Google Ads optimization score: Google Ads Help says it runs from 0 to 100% and estimates how well your account is set up to perform, with a list of recommendations.
- PageSpeed Insights: Google's page says it shows both real-user field data and lab tests, on mobile and desktop.
Where do most problems hide?
Usually in tracking. If sales aren't being recorded, the ad platform is optimising blind, and every other number in the report is off. Check that first. See how to install the Meta Pixel and how to set up Google Ads conversion tracking.
Does a small business really need one?
If you spend on ads every month, yes. It doesn't have to be big: an hour going through the table above will catch most of the costly mistakes. For the bigger question, see how to know if your digital marketing is working.
Want a second pair of eyes on your digital marketing? See our growth consulting service.