PPC audits
Click with your audience
It’s raining. There’s a knock at the door. It creaks open, revealing a solemn figure, hat in hand.
“We’re sorry to have to tell you this. You’ve been had.”
Genuine PPC experts know that sharing insights from your site costs zilch. The data is there, hiding in plain sight, waiting to be acted on. So, what are they doing? Why aren’t your Paid Search efforts hitting the mark? Sounds like your money’s being spaffed up a wall.
Your howl drew us out of the shadows. We’re here to serve. We provide free PPC audits to illuminate the terrain, while you plot your next steps. Then we advance together to crush your competition. To dust.
Massive clicks all round
Our PPC auditing team have huge clicks – maybe that’s their secret to success. Or maybe it’s their creative prowess and actual understanding of how to make Paid Search work for you.
It’s not all about predictions, trends or staying ahead of the curve. Our approach is data-driven, with constant testing, revision and implementation. Winning is a science. Process + order + the devilry of creativity = success.
A Dark Horse PPC audit might make you feel uncomfortable. It’s more than a simple peek under the hood. If you don’t want to know how your Google Ads are failing you, or how your Display Advertising is falling shy of the right eyes, find an agency that’ll tell you what you want to hear. That is not, and will never be, us.
We never shy away from brutal honesty, because we know that our recommendations will have tangible results. We know our onions. And we know when something’s off.
This is not a ChatGPT audit
The guts of our PPC audit service
Paid advertising can raise or raze your brand. Choose Dark Horse for an honest, unflinching PPC audit that will unveil opportunities to rake in more cash, while you get on with running your business.
Keyword analysis
Duplicate keywords. Excessive broad match campaigns. Poor negative keyword structure. Narrow targeting scopes. Our PPC audits have uncovered it all. We help you rectify the horrors and get your ads seen by the right people.
Copy
review
Still using older ad formats? Ad copy riddled with errors? We make sure your ads are up to date and compelling, and recommend extensions and customisers to personalise and improve your copy. Get more people clicking and lining your pockets. Tidy.
Budget & bidding optimisation
Our PPC experts analyse your bid strategies to check no budget is being wasted on campaigns that don’t work, lack budget, or are littered with irrelevant queries. Come under Dark Horse protection and stop wasting your dough.
Campaign type
Our PPC auditing service leaves no stone unturned. We’ll interrogate you about your Shopping structure, Dynamic Search Ads, product feed management tools, and whether you have any disapproved products or ads. It doesn’t stop there; we’ll ask you about Remarketing and Display prospecting too, and whether you’re using a comparison shopping service or Performance Max campaigns. Expect us.
Tracking
Data is everything. Our PPC audits ensure your tracking is set up correctly, including linking to Google Analytics and setting up GTM correctly. We also set up ecommerce tracking or website call conversions if needed. Build a solid foundation to make sure future decisions are based on accurate data. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Performance reviews
A Paid Search audit is the first step to maximising your account’s potential. Find out how to increase the effectiveness of correct spending and reduce wasted spending as you scale or expand.
Our forensic PPC audit process
Our pay per click audits aren’t for everyone. The skeletons in your account will be unearthed. Some things might be unsightly. But we will make you famous. Through forensic research, analysis, and audience personas, we craft a bespoke plan that will actually work for you, and make you more money.
Here’s how we do it:
- Speak to the team – the people actually doing your PPC audit. Nothing is outsourced
- Grant us access to your Google Ads account, Bing Ads account, and any social accounts too, if you want to dual fuel the returns
- The forensic PPC audit commences, digging into the technical foundations of your ads account, and the creative behind your campaigns
- Dark Horse reports the
autopsyPPC audit findings back in a Q&A session. This is your chance to interrogate us. We welcome scrutiny - Come under Dark Horse protection. The finest minds in Manchester PPC will execute the audit findings to get your audience clicking, and your pockets bulging
Why choose Dark Horse for your PPC audit?
The real difference between the average PPC agency and Dark Horse lies in our values and behaviours. Not some pie in the sky mission and vision. Proper, genuine, intrinsic, tangible stuff that enables us to give you what you need.
- No sugar-coating – We’re straight talkers up north. We tell you exactly what’s preventing your ads from attracting profitable clicks
- No smoke, no mirrors – Expect open conversations around the goals of your PPC campaigns, Google Ads campaigns, and display advertising. No jargon, no BS. We were no BS before ‘no BS’ was BS
- No juniors – We hire experienced, strategic thinkers who are committed to making a difference where it counts: your bottom line
- No excuses – We stick to, and deliver on, every promise we make. We bleed integrity
- We’re nice people to boot – Don’t be fooled by the scary adjectives. The only thing we set out to scare is the pants off your competition
Other things we do
The experts behind your Paid Search audit
Dark Horse PPC audits might be free, but we don’t just give them to an automated tool. Our PPC auditing team has 80 years’ of experience between them. That’s a hell of a lot of grey matter. A few hairs too – we’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe.
The auditors
Dave Karellen
Head of PPC
Mensa man. Attribution, analysis, creativity, machine learning and advanced Excel tools are key focuses.
Keith Skelly
Head of Ecommerce
Over 17 years’ experience in PPC and digital marketing. He’s seen everything in the business.
Jack Kuehl
Head of Lead Gen
Over 10 years of experience and the go-to for brands where enquiries = money.
Camila Vidaurreta
Senior PPC Executive
Part of the Dark Horse team since 2021, Camila has become a PPC expert recognising the needs of a wide range of different businesses.
Jonathan Kelly
Senior PPC Executive
Jonathan is a strategist in driving revenue growth and optimising performance for ecommerce and lead gen businesses.
Ethan Lambert
Paid Media Executive
Ethan is a passionate and creative individual with an undying love for marketing through compelling narratives, gripping emotional connections, and thought-provoking experiences.
Lara Shaw
PPC Executive
As a newcomer to the marketing sector, Lara is full of fresh ideas with her background in Computer Science.
Erin Lobo
Digital Analyst
Erin collaborates with all Dark Horse teams to analyse strengths and weaknesses from a variety of channels, and provide strategic recommendations to potential clients.
Avenue85, an e-comms clothing company, had heard about Dark Horse’s reputation. They came to us to grow their site and reduce third-party platform reliance. They had heard that Dark Horse is always forensic in its actions. Avenue85 presented Dark Horse with a challenge; raise performance significantly to a minimum of 6x ROI, maximise revenue from 25 brands and achieve a cost of sales equal or better than Amazon. We accepted.
16,056%
Increase in revenue
Proud to serve
The stuff you’re scared to ask
How long does a PPC audit take?
We aim to deliver the best PPC audits in the industry. A simple aim, yes – but one with many layers. Your audit will be completed manually – with no automation or corner-cutting software – by an experienced PPC expert from one of the best PPC agencies in Manchester and the North West. To that end, don’t expect it within 24 hours. Even we can’t change your life that quickly. 72 hours? You’re on.
How do I know if I need a PPC audit?
Results stagnating? Feel like your account’s going backwards rather than forwards? Current PPC manager failing to provide new, proactive ideas? A PPC audit will dive into what’s really going on, and identify the opportunities you’re missing out on. You’ve got nothing to lose – except for more respect for the blaggards letting you down.
How often should you do a pay per click audit?
The Paid Search landscape never stands still. Schedule a PPC audit every six months to check everything’s in order. Dark Horse conducts fresh pay per click audits for clients twice a year, without fail.
Not yet under our protection? We’re here to serve whenever we receive your signal.
How much does a PPC audit cost?
You can’t get much for free nowadays, but you can get a free PPC audit. No financial cost. No hidden fees. No obligations. We don’t charge, because we care. We care about shining a light on the pitiful practices blighting the landscape, doing you a disservice, and we want to help you do better. You know you deserve better.
What access do you need to conduct a PPC audit?
To conduct a forensic pay per click audit on your account, we just need your 10 digit Google Ads ID. Not sure where to find it? Let the team know and we’ll show you the way. It’s what we’re here for.
Is a Paid Search audit worth it?
Our PPC audits routinely uncover massive missed opportunities for our clients to make more money. And they’re 100% free. You’d be daft not to.
What happens after a PPC audit?
After your Paid Search audit, you might be feeling shocked/horrified/angry/anxious/impressed/all of the above. Take some time to scream into the void, serve notice to your current agency, whatever you need. When you’re ready to partner with us, we’ll turn the PPC audit findings into an Initial Workflow Document that maps out a priority order for implementing your shiny new PPC strategy. Then we get to work. Sleeves rolled up, shoulders to the wheel. Let’s make you bigger bucks.
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viewGet your free PPC audit
We’re sorry you’ve been had in the past. And we’re sorry you’ve had to pay for sub-par PPC auditing. That ends today. Transparency and integrity only, from here on in. Death to mediocrity.
Bite the bullet and kick off your free PPC audit. Gizza bell.
This is where it all begins