What a free ads audit should actually check (and what it can't see)

Short answer

A useful free ads audit looks at what a customer sees before they ever call you: your website on a phone, your Google Business Profile, the ads you and your competitors are running, and who shows up when someone searches for what you sell in your area. It should end with three findings and one first test, not a 40-page report or a promise of leads. And it should be honest about what it can't see from the outside.

1. Your website, the way a customer sees it

Most people who click an ad land on a phone. So the audit starts there: open your site on a phone and look at it like a stranger would.

• The offer: can you tell in a few seconds what you sell and who it is for?
• The next step: is there one clear action, such as call, message, book or fill in a form?
• The contact options: do the phone number, WhatsApp button and form actually work?
• The booking path: how many taps does it take to go from the ad to a booking or an enquiry?
• Speed and layout: does the page load quickly and read well on a small screen?
• The basics: a clear page title and description, and signs a visitor can trust you.

None of this is "ads" yet. But an ad can only send people to the page. If the page loses them, more budget just loses more of them.

2. Your Google Business Profile

For any business people visit or call locally, the Business Profile is often the first thing they see in Google Search and Maps. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results.

So the audit checks the profile like a customer would: the main category, your reviews and rating, photos, opening hours, and the link to your website. Google also says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, which is one more reason to get the free basics right before you spend on ads.

We cover how the profile and ads work together in how your café's Google listing and Google Ads work together. The same ideas apply to most local businesses.

3. The public ad libraries

Meta's Ad Library and Google's Ads Transparency Center are public. Anyone can look up which ads a business is running.

An audit uses them twice:

• For you: are your ads actually running? What offer and format are they using?
• For your competitors: what are the businesses you compete with saying, and what are they not saying? The gap is often your best angle.

4. The search your customers actually do

Next, the audit searches for your main service plus your city, the way a customer would. Who shows up in the map results? Whose ads appear at the top? Are you there at all?

This one search tells you a lot. If competitors show ads and you don't, you're invisible at the exact moment someone is ready to buy. If you show up but your listing looks weaker than the one next to it, that's a fix too.

5. Three findings and one first test

A good audit doesn't list every small problem. It picks the three that cost you the most enquiries, and for each one shows the evidence, why it matters and the fix.

Then it recommends one first test and the platform that fits it:

• Google Search suits needs people actively search for, such as repairs, home services, legal help, real estate and clinics.
• Meta Ads suit visual or impulse offers, such as cafés, gyms, fashion, events and salons.
• Both together when you need people searching now and people who don't know you yet.

Not sure which fits your business? We compare the two in Meta Ads or Google Ads first.

What a free audit can't see

An outside-in audit only uses public information. Unless you share access, it can't see inside your ad accounts, so it can't tell you your real cost per lead, which keywords you pay for or what your conversion tracking counts. It also can't see how fast your team answers a call or a message, which matters as much as the ad itself.

A good audit says this out loud and keeps what it observed separate from what it assumes. Be careful with any audit that promises a number of leads, a ranking or results by a date. Nobody can promise those from the outside.

What you get from ours

One page: the date and the sources we checked, three findings with evidence and fixes, one recommended first test, a suggested service (Meta, Google or both) and a list of what we couldn't check. Then, if you want, a short call to talk through scope and a custom quote. No obligation.

Book a free audit

Sources: How to improve your local ranking on Google (Google Business Profile Help) · Meta Ad Library · Google Ads Transparency Center