Google Ads & PPC Audits That Find the Real Problem
When Google Ads performance stops making sense, the real problem is often bigger than the account itself.
Firestorm conducts senior-level Google Ads and PPC audits designed to determine what is actually limiting performance, where budget is being wasted, whether measurement can be trusted, and what should change next.
We look beyond the account itself when necessary, including conversion tracking, customer intent, landing pages, attribution, lead quality, and the economics behind acquisition.
Not Another Checklist Audit
Most PPC audits identify isolated settings, surface-level optimization opportunities, or platform recommendations.
Firestorm takes a different approach. We start with the business model, economics, and conversion path, then work backward into the advertising account.
The objective is not to produce the longest list of findings. It is to determine what is actually affecting growth, what matters most, and what should be done about it.
What We Diagnose
A paid acquisition problem can originate inside the account, outside the account, or in the way performance is being measured. We look at the full system needed to make the right decision.
What the Platform Numbers Weren’t Showing
The most important PPC problems are not always visible in the campaign dashboard. These anonymized examples show how deeper analysis changed the diagnosis and the direction of the account.
SUBSCRIPTION BUSINESS
Cheap Trials Were Masking the Real Economics
The issue: Campaigns were optimized for low-cost trial starts, but trial volume was not the real revenue outcome.
What we found: Different products had materially different trial-to-paid conversion rates, so the same trial CPA represented very different customer value. Search intent was also overlapping between campaigns.
What changed: We developed a phased plan to optimize toward the first full subscription payment, reset CPA targets around the lower-volume revenue event, and clean up campaign routing by intent.
AUTOMOTIVE ECOMMERCE
Reported Purchases Were Masking Profitability
The issue: Google Ads was reporting purchases, but the business could not reconcile platform performance with actual profitability.
What we found: Purchase value alone was not enough. Cancellations, reversals, product-level margin visibility, feed data, and campaign performance all needed to be evaluated together.
What changed: We built a framework to separate products and brands that could be scaled from those that needed to be held, investigated, or excluded before increasing spend.
GLOBAL PAID ACQUISITION
Automation Was Masking Inefficiency
The issue: Paid acquisition was expanding across markets, campaign types, and automation layers, creating overlapping coverage and inconsistent efficiency.
What we found: Campaign roles, bidding targets, and conversion goals were not equally effective across markets. Some automated expansion was incremental, while other coverage was materially less efficient than the campaigns it was intended to replace.
What changed: We separated what was truly incremental from what was simply spending more, preserved efficient coverage, and created a controlled path for testing automation, localization, and international expansion.
A Prioritized Diagnosis, Not a Data Dump
The final output is designed to make decisions easier. We show what matters, why it matters, and what should happen next.
- Account and campaign analysis
- Tracking and attribution review
- Search-term and intent analysis
- Bidding, budget, and structure assessment
- Landing-page and conversion-path observations
- Quick wins and immediate risk areas
- Prioritized recommendations and testing roadmap
- Clear next steps for implementation
The Audit Is Only the Beginning
Some companies need an independent second opinion and a prioritized roadmap their internal team can execute.
Others bring Firestorm in to implement the recommendations, restructure the account, and stay involved through ongoing management and growth.
Diagnose. Fix. Operate. Grow.
