How to Audit Your Ad Account for Wasted Spend

Every click costs money, but not every click brings results.  If your ads are running but your conversions aren’t growing, there’s a good chance your budget is leaking through wasted spend. That’s why auditing your ad account is one of the smartest moves any brand or marketer can make.

At Branderah, we’ve seen too many businesses pour thousands into ads that don’t align with their goals. With a structured audit, you can spot the leaks, fix inefficiencies, and ensure every dollar works harder.

Here’s how to audit your ad account for wasted spend. 

1. Define What “Wasted Spend” Means for You

Before diving into dashboards and data, define your success metrics. Wasted spend looks different for every brand. For some, it’s money spent on low-converting audiences. For others, it’s poor-performing creatives or keywords that eat up budget without results.

Ask yourself:

- What’s my cost per acquisition (CPA) goal?

- Which campaigns drive meaningful conversions?

- What counts as a conversion (a sale, lead, signup, or engagement)?

2. Check Campaign Objectives and Structure

One of the most common mistakes marketers make is misaligned objectives.  If your goal is sales but your campaign is optimized for clicks, you’re paying for traffic,  not revenue.

Audit your campaigns by reviewing:‍

- Objectives: Are they aligned with your business goals?‍

- Naming conventions: Are campaigns, ad sets, and ads labeled clearly for easy tracking?‍

- Segmentation: Are you testing by audience type, location, or creative?

A clear structure makes it easier to spot underperformers and isolate what’s wasting money.

3. Analyze Audience Targeting

If your audience targeting is too broad or outdated, you could be spending on people who will never convert.

In Google Ads, check your search term reports to see which queries triggered your ads. Remove irrelevant or low-intent keywords. On Meta Ads, look at demographic breakdowns — age, gender, interest, and location- and pause audiences that consistently underperform.

Pro Tip: Retargeting audiences often yields higher ROI than cold audiences. If you’re not running retargeting campaigns, that’s a major missed opportunity (and another form of wasted spend).

4. Review Your Ad Creatives and Copy

An ad’s performance can drop simply because the audience has seen it too many times. Check for creative fatigue; low click-through rates (CTR), high cost per click (CPC), and falling engagement.

Also, review your headlines, visuals, and calls-to-action (CTAs). Are they relevant to your offer? Do they match the landing page experience? If not, your audience may click, but never convert.

Solution: Refresh your creatives regularly, A/B test variations, and align messaging with the customer journey.

5. Inspect Your Bidding and Budget Allocation

Your ad platform’s algorithm optimizes based on your budget and bid strategy. But if you’re overspending on low-performing campaigns or audiences, you’re wasting potential profit.

Audit your:‍

- Bid strategy: Is it automated or manual? Are you capping bids effectively?‍

- Budget split: Are your best-performing campaigns getting enough budget share?‍

- Scheduling: Are your ads running at times when your audience isn’t active?

Pausing or reducing spend on poor performers can instantly improve your return on ad spend (ROAS).

6. Use Analytics to Identify Hidden Leaks

Dive into your analytics platforms: Google Analytics, Meta Insights, or third-party dashboards. Look for patterns such as:

- High bounce rates

- Low time-on-site

- Geographic regions with poor performance

- Devices that don’t convert well

These insights can help you trim non-profitable segments and double down on what works.

Take control of your Ad spend. An ad account audit isn’t a one-time fix; it’s a habit. Regular audits help you stay efficient, adapt to algorithm updates, and uncover new growth opportunities.

If you’re unsure where to start or need expert eyes on your data, Branderah can help. Our team specializes in optimizing ad accounts for better ROI and sustainable growth.

Contact Branderah Today to eliminate wasted spend and turn your ad budget into profit.