# Meta Ads Audit Checklist ## Quick Reference | Category | Weight | Check Count | |----------|--------|-------------| | Pixel / CAPI Health | 30% | M01-M10 (10 checks) | | Creative (Diversity & Fatigue) | 30% | M25-M32 (8 checks) + M-CR1 through M-CR4 (4 extended) | | Account Structure | 20% | M11-M18 + M33-M40 (16 checks) + M-ST1, M-ST2 (2 extended) | | Audience & Targeting | 20% | M19-M24 (6 checks) | --- ## Pixel / CAPI Health (30% weight) | ID | Check | Severity | Pass | Warning | Fail | |----|-------|----------|------|---------|------| | M01 | Meta Pixel installed | Critical | Pixel firing on all pages | Firing on most pages (>90%) | Pixel not firing | | M02 | Conversions API (CAPI) active | Critical | Server-side events sending alongside pixel. Note: Offline Conversions API permanently discontinued May 2025. All offline tracking now uses CAPI with action_source="physical_store". Flag any accounts still configured for Offline Conversions API as FAIL | CAPI planned but not deployed | No CAPI (30-40% data loss post-iOS 14.5) OR still configured for discontinued Offline Conversions API | | M03 | Event deduplication | Critical | event_id matching between pixel and CAPI events; ≥90% dedup rate | event_id present but <90% dedup rate | Missing event_id (double-counting) | | M04 | Event Match Quality (EMQ) | Critical | Tiered EMQ targets: Purchase ≥8.5, AddToCart ≥6.5, PageView ≥5.5. Case study: EMQ 8.6→9.3 = CPA -18%, match rate +24%, ROAS +22% | EMQ 6.0-7.9 (Purchase) | EMQ <6.0 (Purchase) | | M05 | Domain verification | High | Business domain verified in Business Manager | N/A | Domain not verified | | M06 | Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM) | High | Top 8 events configured and prioritized correctly | Events configured but not prioritized | AEM not configured | | M07 | Standard events vs custom | High | Using standard events (Purchase, AddToCart, Lead, etc.) | Mix of standard and custom | Custom events replacing standard events | | M08 | CAPI Gateway | Medium | CAPI Gateway deployed for simplified server-side | Direct CAPI integration active | N/A | | M09 | iOS attribution window | High | 7-day click / 1-day view configured | 1-day click only | Attribution not configured | | M10 | Data freshness | Medium | Events firing in real-time (no >1hr lag in Events Manager) | <4hr lag | >4hr lag or intermittent firing | --- ## Creative: Diversity & Fatigue (30% weight) | ID | Check | Severity | Pass | Warning | Fail | |----|-------|----------|------|---------|------| | M25 | Creative format diversity | Critical | ≥3 formats active (static image, video, carousel) | 2 formats | Only 1 format used | | M26 | Creative volume per ad set | High | ≥10 creatives for Advantage+ Sales campaigns, ≥5 for standard. Research: 25 diverse creatives = 17% more conversions at 16% lower cost | 3-4 creatives | <3 creatives per ad set | | M27 | Video aspect ratios | High | 9:16 vertical video present for Reels/Stories | Only 1:1 or 4:5 video | No video assets | | M28 | Creative fatigue detection | Critical | No creatives with CTR drop >20% over 14 days while active. Andromeda compressed lifespan to 2-4 weeks (was 6-8). Creative Similarity Score: ads >60% similar get retrieval suppression by Andromeda | CTR drop 10-20% | CTR drop >20% + frequency >3 (fatigue confirmed) | | M29 | Hook rate (video) | High | Video ads: <50% skip rate in first 3 seconds | 50-70% skip rate | >70% skip rate in first 3s | | M30 | Social proof utilization | Medium | Top organic posts boosted as partnership/Spark ads | Some organic boosting | No organic content leveraged | | M31 | UGC / social-native content | High | ≥30% of creative assets are UGC or social-native | 10-30% UGC content | <10% UGC (all polished/corporate) | | M32 | Advantage+ Creative | Medium | Advantage+ enhancements enabled (test vs control) | N/A | Not tested | | M-CR1 | Creative freshness | High | New creative tested within last 14-21 days (tightened from 30d due to Andromeda acceleration) | New creative 21-45 days ago | No new creative in >45 days | | M-CR2 | Frequency: Prospecting (ad set) | High | Ad set frequency <3.0 in last 7 days | Frequency 3.0-5.0 | Frequency >5.0 (audience exhausted) | | M-CR3 | Frequency: Retargeting | Medium | Ad set frequency <8.0 in last 7 days | Frequency 8.0-12.0 | Frequency >12.0 | | M-CR4 | CTR benchmark | High | CTR ≥1.0% | CTR 0.5-1.0% | CTR <0.5% | --- ## Account Structure (20% weight) | ID | Check | Severity | Pass | Warning | Fail | |----|-------|----------|------|---------|------| | M11 | Campaign count | High | 1-3 campaigns total recommended. Jon Loomer: "One campaign per goal. Rarely need multiple ad sets for targeting" | 4-5 campaigns | >5 campaigns (over-fragmented) | | M12 | CBO vs ABO appropriateness | High | CBO for >$500/day; ABO for testing <$100/day | Mismatched but functional | CBO on <$100/day OR ABO on >$500/day | | M13 | Learning phase status | Critical | <30% of ad sets in "Learning Limited" | 30-50% Learning Limited | >50% ad sets "Learning Limited" | | M14 | Learning phase resets | High | No unnecessary edits during learning phase | 1-2 minor resets | Frequent resets from edits during learning | | M15 | Advantage+ Sales campaign | Medium | Advantage+ Sales (renamed from ASC early 2025) active for e-commerce with catalog. Existing customer budget cap eliminated Feb 2025. Research: 22% higher ROAS, 11.7% CPA improvement | Advantage+ Sales tested but paused | Not tested despite eligible catalog | | M16 | Ad set consolidation | High | No overlapping ad sets targeting same audience | Minor overlap (<20%) | Significant audience overlap (>30%) | | M17 | Budget distribution | High | All ad sets getting ≥$10/day | Some ad sets $5-$10/day | Ad sets getting <$5/day | | M18 | Campaign objective alignment | High | Objective matches actual business goal | N/A | Objective mismatched (e.g., Traffic for Sales) | | M33 | Advantage+ Placements | Medium | Advantage+ Placements enabled (unless exclusion needed) | Manual placements (justified) | Manual placements limiting delivery without reason | | M34 | Placement performance review | Medium | Breakdown reviewed monthly; underperformers excluded | Reviewed quarterly | Never reviewed | | M35 | Attribution setting | High | Attribution windows verified post-Jan 2026 changes (7-day and 28-day view-through windows REMOVED January 2026). 7-day click / 1-day view configured where available | 1-day click only | Attribution not configured or still expecting removed view-through windows | | M36 | Bid strategy appropriateness | High | Cost Cap for margin protection; Lowest Cost for volume | N/A | Bid Cap set below historical CPA | | M37 | Frequency cap monitoring (campaign) | High | Campaign-level prospecting frequency <4.0 (7-day) | Frequency 4.0-6.0 | Frequency >6.0 | | M38 | Breakdown reporting | Medium | Age, gender, placement, platform reviewed monthly | Reviewed quarterly | Never reviewed | | M39 | UTM parameters | Medium | UTM parameters on all ad URLs for GA4 attribution | UTMs on some ads | No UTM parameters | | M40 | A/B testing active | Medium | At least 1 active A/B test (Experiments) | Test planned | No testing infrastructure | | M-ST1 | Budget adequacy | High | Daily budget ≥5× target CPA per ad set | Budget 2-5× CPA | Budget <2× target CPA | | M-ST2 | Budget utilization | Medium | >80% of daily budget being utilized | 60-80% utilization | <60% utilization | --- ## Audience & Targeting (20% weight) | ID | Check | Severity | Pass | Warning | Fail | |----|-------|----------|------|---------|------| | M19 | Audience overlap | High | <20% overlap between active ad sets | 20-40% overlap | >40% overlap between ad sets | | M20 | Custom Audience freshness | High | Website Custom Audiences refreshed within 180 days | 180-365 days old | >365 days old or not created | | M21 | Lookalike source quality | Medium | Lookalike source ≥1,000 users from high-value events | 500-1,000 users | <500 users or low-value source | | M22 | Advantage+ Audience testing | Medium | Advantage+ Audience tested vs manual | N/A | Not tested | | M23 | Exclusion audiences | High | Purchasers/converters excluded from prospecting | Partial exclusions | No purchaser exclusions from prospecting | | M24 | First-party data utilization | High | Customer list uploaded for Custom Audience + Lookalike | List uploaded but not refreshed | No first-party data uploaded | --- ## Andromeda & Platform Changes (v1.5) | ID | Check | Severity | Pass | Warning | Fail | |----|-------|----------|------|---------|------| | M-AN1 | Andromeda creative diversity | Critical | Ads genuinely diverse across creative concepts, messaging motivators, visual styles. Creative Similarity Score <60% across ad set. Different motivators unlock new audiences 89% of the time | Some diversity but similar visual templates or minor copy variations | All ads are minor variations (Andromeda clusters similar ads with Entity IDs; 100 minor variations = no better than 10) | | M-AT1 | Attribution window post-Jan 2026 | High | Attribution windows verified and aligned with business model after Jan 2026 removal of 7-day/28-day view-through options | Using default settings without review | Attribution settings not configured or still expecting removed windows | | M-IA1 | Incremental Attribution testing | Medium | Meta Incremental Attribution (launched April 2025) evaluated or active for measuring real causal impact via AI-powered holdout testing | N/A | Not evaluated despite sufficient budget (>$5K/month) | | M-TH1 | Threads placement evaluation | Low | Threads placement reviewed. Timeline: limited test Jan 2025 (US/Japan) → global access April 2025 → expanded formats Oct 2025 (Advantage+ catalog, carousel) → fully GA Jan-Feb 2026 worldwide. Observed CPMs $2-$8 (40-60% lower than Instagram feed). Default placement in Advantage+ and Manual Placements. Worth testing for incremental reach | N/A | Not evaluated | --- ## Context Notes - **Detailed targeting exclusions removal (2025-2026)**: Meta phased out detailed targeting exclusions starting March 2025, with full removal by January 2026. Advertisers must now use Custom Audience exclusions or Advantage+ Audience instead. - **Flexible Ads (2024)**: Format launched mid-2024 that automatically optimizes creative elements (headline, image, video) per placement. Evaluate adoption alongside Advantage+ Creative enhancements. - **Financial Products Special Ad Category (Jan 2025)**: Financial products (loans, insurance, credit cards, investment services) are now enforced as a Special Ad Category with the same targeting restrictions as Housing/Employment/Credit. - **Andromeda (Oct 2025)**: Meta's AI retrieval engine filters tens of millions of ads down to ~1,000 candidates using 10,000x more complex models. Creative diversity is now the #1 performance lever. - **Offline Conversions API (May 2025)**: Permanently discontinued. Use CAPI with action_source="physical_store" for offline tracking. - **Link clicks redefinition (Feb 2025)**: Meta redefined "link clicks" to exclude social engagement clicks. Accounts comparing pre/post Feb 2025 data may see apparent CTR drops. This is a metric change, not a performance decline. - **Meta Shops checkout (June-August 2025)**: Native checkout phased out, redirects to website. - **Advantage+ Sales**: Renamed from ASC early 2025. Customer budget cap eliminated Feb 2025. --- ## Quick Wins (Meta) | Check | Fix | Time | |-------|-----|------| | M02: CAPI setup | Deploy via CAPI Gateway (simplified) or direct integration | 15 min (Gateway) | | M05: Domain verification | Verify domain in Business Manager | 5 min | | M09: Attribution window | Set to 7-day click / 1-day view in ad set settings | 2 min | | M23: Exclusion audiences | Create Custom Audience of purchasers, exclude from prospecting | 10 min | | M25: Format diversity | Add video or carousel to single-image-only ad sets | 15 min | | M39: UTM parameters | Add UTM template at campaign level | 5 min | | M35: Attribution setting | Switch from 1-day click to 7-day click / 1-day view | 2 min | --- ## Special Ad Categories Compliance If running ads in restricted categories, these ADDITIONAL checks apply: | Category | Requirement | Enforcement | |----------|-------------|-------------| | Housing | No ZIP code targeting, age 18-65+ only, no Lookalike | Campaign disapproval | | Employment | Same as Housing | Campaign disapproval | | Credit | Same as Housing | Campaign disapproval | | Financial Products | New Jan 2025: enforced as Special Category | Campaign disapproval | Must declare Special Ad Category BEFORE campaign creation. See `compliance.md` for full details.