Meta ads account audit checklist

For business owners and marketers running Facebook and Instagram ads who want to know what’s working and what’s wasting money. Go through it with Ads Manager, Events Manager and your store’s sales report open, and tick each check as you go.

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Tracking health check

Open Events Manager and check the pixel received events in the last 24 hoursIf the pixel is quiet or shows warnings, every campaign is learning from incomplete data.
Check that ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout and Purchase all firePlace a test order and watch the Test events tab: each step should show up once.
Check server events arrive and are deduplicatedEvents Manager should show browser and server events for Purchase, counted once. If not, our conversion tracking checklist covers the setup.
Compare purchase values and currency with real store ordersPick a few recent orders: the amount, CAD currency and taxes should be handled the same way every time.

Account structure and budget

List every active campaign and its objectiveUse the Sales objective to sell. Traffic or engagement campaigns rarely bring purchases.
Check the performance goal is purchases, not clicks or viewsMeta finds exactly what you ask for. Ask for clicks and you get people who click, not people who buy.
Compare your Advantage+ sales campaigns with your manual sales campaignsKeep both only if each has a clear job. Otherwise they compete for the same buyers.
Find ad sets that never leave the learning phaseToo many small ad sets split your budget. Fewer, better-funded ad sets give Meta enough results to learn.
Look for budgets or bids changed several times a weekBig, frequent edits can restart learning. Change budgets gradually and let results settle before judging.

Audiences and exclusions

Upload an up-to-date customer list from your storeIt powers exclusions, lookalikes and retargeting. Refresh it regularly so recent buyers are included.
Exclude recent buyers from prospecting campaignsOtherwise you pay to reach people who just bought.
Test Advantage+ audience against your detailed interest ad setsInterests now often act as suggestions, not limits. Broad delivery often does as well when the ad speaks clearly to the right buyer.
Check that retargeting audiences are big enough to deliverA tiny audience sees the same ad over and over. Look at the estimated size and the frequency.
Confirm targeted locations match where you ship or serveCheck countries and provinces, and that no other country slipped in. Every ad shown where you can’t sell is wasted budget.

Creative, placements and frequency

Count the active ads in each ad setWith one or two ads, Meta has little to choose from. Several angles and formats help it find what sells.
Check when each active ad was launchedIf your newest ad is months old, results tend to fade. Plan new creative every month.
Make sure every ad has a vertical version for Stories and ReelsSquare or horizontal ads get cropped or shrunk in vertical placements.
Review the placement breakdown in Ads ManagerSee where the money goes and what each placement brings back before you switch any off.
Check frequency on prospecting and retargeting campaignsWhen frequency and cost per purchase climb together, people are usually tired of your ads.
Make sure every ad aimed at Quebec has a French versionThe Charter of the French language requires commercial ads in Quebec in French, at least equal to any other version. Write it from scratch.

Catalogue and landing pages

Check your catalogue syncs from your store without errorsIn Commerce Manager, look for rejected products, missing images and prices or stock that are out of date.
Confirm pixel content IDs match your catalogue product IDsDynamic ads need them to match to show people the exact products they viewed.
Preview a few dynamic ads before they runFeed titles written for the warehouse look odd in an ad. Check titles and images read well.
Open every ad’s link on your phoneA broken link, a slow page or the homepage instead of the product wastes the click you paid for.
Check the landing page matches the ad’s offer, price and languageA French ad should land on a French page, with the same price or promo the ad shows.
Add UTM parameters to every ad linkWithout them, visits from Meta are hard to separate from other traffic in Google Analytics.

Judging results

Calculate blended ROAS: total online revenue divided by total ad spendDo it monthly from your store and your ad invoices. It shows whether ads grow the business, whatever each platform claims.
Compare Meta’s reported purchases with your store’s order countMeta tends to report more and Google Analytics fewer. Your store’s numbers settle it.
Treat Google Analytics as the minimum, not the full pictureAnalytics misses many Meta sales, like someone who sees an ad on their phone and buys later on a laptop.
Check which attribution setting your reports useThe default also counts views and engagements. Compare it with 7-day click: view-through purchases often include customers who were buying anyway.
Track cost per new customer, not just cost per purchaseRepeat buyers are cheap to convert. What a new customer costs tells you whether ads really grow sales.
Judge new campaigns after several weeks, not daysThe first weeks are for learning. Turning ads off after five days often stops them just before they improve.

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Meta ads account audit checklist

01Tracking health check

02Account structure and budget

03Audiences and exclusions

04Creative, placements and frequency

05Catalogue and landing pages

06Judging results

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