Facebook ads audit

Why a Facebook ads audit starts with tracking

Almost every account I audit has something wrong with tracking, and it's usually the most expensive problem in it. If purchases are counted twice, Meta thinks a campaign is doing better than it is and gives it more money. If a lead form submission and a thank-you page both fire a lead event, your cost per lead looks half of what it really is. If the Conversions API sends events without proper matching, they may do little good. Every other decision rests on these numbers, so I check them first, with test conversions where I can.

A common Canadian twist: cookie banners. If your site uses a consent tool, which is sensible under PIPEDA and generally expected in Quebec under Law 25, it has to be wired correctly to the pixel. I regularly see banners that block the pixel for everyone, or ones that do nothing at all.

The mistakes I find most often

After enough audits, patterns repeat. These come up again and again in small business accounts:

1. The wrong objective. Traffic or engagement campaigns run for a business that wants leads.
2. Too many ad sets for the budget. Ten ad sets sharing $1,500 a month, none of them ever leaving the learning phase.
3. Overlapping audiences. Several ad sets competing for the same people and pushing up each other's costs.
4. No exclusions. Existing customers and recent leads seeing ads meant for strangers.
5. Creative from last year. The same three ads running for months with frequency climbing.
6. Location settings left on default, reaching people who were only recently in your area, or people who live outside your service area.
7. A landing page that undoes the ad: slow, generic, or asking for too much.

None of these are exotic. Most can be fixed in a day once someone spots them.

What you get at the end

Not a 40-page PDF full of screenshots. You get a written list of findings ordered by how much money each one probably costs you, with a plain explanation of what to change and how hard it is. Then we go through it on a Zoom call, so you can ask questions and decide what to do. If there's nothing seriously wrong, I'll tell you that too. Sometimes an account is fine and simply needs more creative or a better offer.

After the audit

You can take the findings and fix them yourself, pass them to whoever runs your ads now, or hand the account to me. If you choose me, the fixes become the first month of Meta ads management, from $700 a month with the $650 setup fee covering the rebuild. If tracking is the main problem, the Meta Pixel and Conversions API work may be the priority. And if the issue turns out to be the business offer or the website rather than the ads, the broader marketing audit at $2,400 looks at everything together.

Auditing ads I didn't set up

I'm happy to review accounts built by agencies, freelancers or owners themselves, and I rescue campaigns that are running badly. The one thing I ask is honest context: what's been tried, what the budget was, and what you expected to happen. That helps me separate a broken account from a reasonable one that hasn't had enough time or money yet. If your Google Ads need the same treatment, there's a separate Google Ads audit.

You keep full control throughout. I work with read-only access where possible, change nothing without your agreement, and the account stays in your name whatever you decide.