PPC Audit Tools: 8 Top Picks to Boost Performance

PPC audit tools like Adalysis, Opteo, and Optmyzr evaluate the structure and performance of paid search campaigns. Choosing the best software can help increase revenue and avoid overspending on Google, Microsoft, and Amazon ads.

Picture it: Your marketing team or agency partner spends hours every week tweaking your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

But as diligent as your team is, they can’t catch everything. What happens if a negative keyword goes unnoticed or conversion tracking is set up improperly?

Every business using PPC ads can benefit from an audit. The good news: you don’t need a ton of resources to conduct one.

In this article, we’ll cover the top 8 PPC audit tools — and how to choose the right one for your business — including insights from HawkSEM Co-founder and CEO Sam Yadegar.

What to look for in a PPC audit tool

To choose the right PPC audit tool, look for a platform that best aligns with your business’s unique needs, in addition to essential key features, such as:

Comprehensive account diagnostics

A PPC auditing tool should review and analyze the efficacy of your account settings, including:

• Keywords
• Ad copy
• Quality Score
• Bidding
• Conversion tracking
• Structure

Clear reporting and intuitive dashboards

Your PPC audit should provide key insights in a user-friendly dashboard, and insights that are easy to understand. Look for tools with a visually appealing interface that communicates data easily and quickly.

Customizable audits and alerts

Your software should allow you to customize audit rules and benchmarks and send automated alerts when performance shifts or budget spikes.

Actionable insights

Seek out a PPC tool that suggests next steps so you can fix issues or make optimizations. The best audits will help you visualize each course of action’s potential risks and benefits. Bonus if they can offer predictions in easy-to-consume charts and graphs.

Customer support

You might not have access to a dedicated PPC expert with some of the free tools on our list. Choose tools that offer customer support from real humans who can walk you through troubleshooting common problems.

Platform integrations

The best PPC audit tools connect seamlessly with the ad platforms and analytics tools you already use.

Look for support for Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, and integrations with analytics or CRM systems.

Top PPC audit tools for 2026

Using the key features listed above, our team of PPC experts rounded up the top PPC auditing tools for Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Amazon Ads — in no particular order:

1. Adalysis
2. Opteo Scorecard
3. Optmyzr
4. HawkSEM (free PPC audit)
5. WordStream Google Ads Performance Grader
6. Helium 10
7. Adzooma PPC Performance Report
8. TrueClicks

1. Adalysis

Adalysis offers a daily PPC analysis and an in-depth PPC performance audit. While this software also has automation and reporting capabilities, its auditing feature is extensive compared to other tools.

The tool’s audit covers every aspect of keywords, from repetitive match types and poor ad relevance to negative keyword conflicts and expensive keywords.

Furthermore, the tool catches issues and inconsistencies with landing pages, search terms, ad groups, network settings, and more.

A powerful feature is Adalysis’s custom PPC audit checklist, which lets you plug in everything you want to analyze for each Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising account. You’ll receive triggers and alerts if the tool catches something amiss.

PPC audit tool features:

• Keywords
• Quality Score
• Ad extensions
• Campaigns
• Search terms
• Placements
• Landing pages
• Custom audits

Pricing: Monthly, based on ad spend

• $149 for up to $50K spend
• $249 for up to $150K spend
• $349 for up to $250K spend
• $449 for up to $350K spend
• $599 for up to $500K spend
• Custom pricing for $500K+ spend

Free trial: 30 days

2. Opteo Scorecard

Opteo Scorecard monitors and scores your Google Ads performance. It scores everything from conversion tracking to search term coverage to Quality Score, so your team knows where to focus their PPC efforts.

Have you ever caught a typo after an ad’s been up for a week? Opteo alerts you immediately so you won’t risk long-term errors.

Another notable feature is its performance alerts. Opteo will catch performance metric changes and provide explanations for why they occur, such as unexpected cost increases.

This Scorecard tool also recommends solutions for any issue that arises. As a result, you can spend less time guessing and more time optimizing campaigns.

And if you need to communicate findings to stakeholders or investors? Opteo offers various templates without the jargon the average PPC dashboard includes.

The UK-based company has impressively high-ticket clients like DoorDash and Spotify.

Features:

• Budget alerts
• Performance alerts and cost increases
• Flatline alerts for payment errors, web errors, and worst-case scenarios
• Common errors such as broken links, spelling, keyword conflicts, and negative lists

Pricing: Monthly tiers

• Basic: $129 for $25,000 spend
• Professional: $249 for $100,000 spend
• Agency: $499 for $250,000 spend
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for enterprise accounts

Free trial: 30 days

3. Optmyzr

Optmyzr audits everything from account structure to PPC campaigns to ads and keywords. This PPC audit tool also evaluates merchant center feeds to identify issues that could compromise performance.

Curious how your Google, Microsoft, or Amazon accounts have performed over time? Optmyzr grades your accounts and provides historical data.

It also offers comparative analyses so you can see how your account measures up to others in your industry.

Optmyzr is an all-in-one PPC management platform. Along with audits, it offers reporting, campaign automation, and A/B testing. It also provides budget and bid management to save you time while optimizing PPC campaign performance.

The company’s client roster includes notable agencies like Rakuten Advertising and Hanapin Marketing.

Features:

• Metrics dashboard
• Anomaly detector for impressions, costs, clicks, and conversions
• Account health warnings
• Cross-channel reporting (Microsoft, Amazon, Google)

Pricing: Monthly tiers

• $299 for $10K ad spend
• $349 for $50K ad spend
• $399 for $75K ad spend
• $449 for $150K ad spend
• $599 for $250K ad spend
• $779 for $350K ad spend
• $899 for $500K ad spend

Free trial: 14 days

4. HawkSEM (free PPC audit)

At HawkSEM, we offer extensive PPC account audits that provide a deeper analysis than the average tool.

Our approach blends two key components: data-driven auditing and a humanized analysis.

“DIY audit tools are great, but they miss the boat when it comes to understanding business needs, return on ad spend (ROAS), and thresholds for profitability,” explains Yadegar.

“Our team takes a deep dive and helps create a strategy after the audit to generate proper ROI.”

Plus, our proprietary marketing tech tool ConversionIQ features predictive analysis, actionable insights, and robust reporting to pace budgets, track conversions, free up siloed data, and help businesses scale.

Features:

• Discovery call and goal discussion with our team
• Free 10-point PPC audit
• Year-over-year performance projections
• In-depth review of audit and projections

Pricing: Free

Free trial: Free 10-point PPC audit in lieu of a free trial

5. WordStream Google Ads Performance Grader

If you’re just dipping your toes into auditing tools, a great starting point is WordStream’s free PPC Audit Tool, the Google Ads Performance Grader.

It’s simple yet powerful, offering a unique PPC grade for every Google Ads account. It grades you in vital areas, including wasted spend, Quality Score, and more.

The tool displays your overall score compared to industry benchmarks, helping you better assess your performance. Below your grade, you’ll also see a short analysis of the issues with your PPC account.

But it’s important to note that you can only use this tool for Google Ads audits. If you’re an Amazon PPC advertiser or if you include Microsoft (Bing) in your PPC strategy, you’ll need a separate audit tool.

Also, keep in mind that WordStream’s free tool doesn’t offer a strategy for improving your scores. Instead, it’s more of a problem identifier, with insights you can use to inform your strategies.

Why do we like it? It’s fast, accurate, and a fantastic bird’s-eye view of the state of your PPC accounts. And, it’s free!

Try the tool to get an idea about what’s missing in your PPC campaigns. Then, bring those insights to your next marketing meeting or share them with a PPC management agency to improve your ads.

Features:

• Percentage-based scoring and short analysis
• Wasted spend
• Best practices
• Quality score
• Impression share
• Mobile advertising
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Display ads
• Shopping ads

Pricing: Free

Free trial: N/A

6. Helium 10

Helium 10 is an all-in-one software platform for Amazon PPC sellers. Its free PPC audit tool includes a complete breakdown of your campaign performance, analyzing keywords, profit and loss, and advertising cost.

The platform also features a full suite of tools for optimizing and auditing Amazon PPC campaigns.

Try the “misspellinator,” which isn’t actually for your ad copy typos. Instead, it helps you leverage commonly misspelled keywords to capture potential customers.

While Helium10’s full suite has a monthly cost, its basic PPC audit tool is free and assesses your existing Amazon PPC marketing campaigns based on five factors:

• Campaign analysis
• Search term analysis
• Duplicate keyword analysis
• Keyword analysis
• Advertising cost of sales (ACoS) scores

Pricing: Free

Free trial: N/A

7. Adzooma PPC Performance Report

Adzooma is a PPC management platform for Google, Microsoft, and Meta Ads. Its PPC performance report tool analyzes ad accounts at no cost.

This free tool gives you an overall score so you can quickly gauge the health of your ad account. Adzooma reviews everything from campaigns and ad groups to match types and bidding options.

It also offers personalized recommendations ordered by priority level. With this information, you know what to tackle first to make the biggest impact on your ad account.

Features:

• Ad account score
• Wasted ad spend
• Industry benchmarks
• Strategic recommendations

Pricing: Free for monthly reports

Free trial: N/A

8. TrueClicks

TrueClicks is a PPC management platform with built-in audit software. It provides both weekly and on-demand audits for Google Ads accounts.

All audits include TrueClicks scores, which reflect the platform’s proprietary system.

Each score considers multiple components, so you can see how your account rates in terms of tracking, campaign settings, growth opportunities, A/B testing, and more.

Along with this auditing tool, TrueClicks offers PPC monitoring, KPI tracking, budget pacing, and optimization. All tools are available on a free plan as long as you have a monthly ad spend of less than $50,000.

Features:

• Ad attribution
• Quality Score
• Conversion tracking
• Keywords (including negative keywords)
• Bidding strategies
• Landing pages
• Ad extensions

Pricing: Free

Free trial: N/A

What are PPC audit tools?

PPC audit tools are software solutions designed to analyze the structure and performance of pay-per-click campaigns, including Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Amazon Ads.

Audit reports provide data to make more impactful optimizations to improve conversion rates, maximize ROI, and reduce wasted ad spend.

A PPC auditing tool helps:

• Identify how your PPC accounts have changed over various date ranges
• Catch any alarming details, like overspent budgets or non-converting landing pages
• Strategize how to fix any issues with your PPC ads
• Predict your revenue, traffic, and other KPIs

Why do PPC auditing tools matter?

PPC auditing tools are important for advertisers to quickly identify areas of wasted ad spend and highlight improvement opportunities.

“One of the most surprising things we find during audits is the amount of wasted ad spend,” shares Yadegar. “Based on our client data over the last 10 years, the average amount of wasted ad spend is typically 30 to 40%! This typically happens when accounts are mismanaged.”

If you’ve ever led a PPC campaign, you know how much work they require. Imagine remembering every single bid update, market trend, or target CPC for each account. Bottom line? It’s a lot to keep up with.

Of course, you might rely on Google Analytics or reports from your PPC platform. But you still need to make sense of the data, and it’s impossible to perfect it every time.

PPC auditing tools step in to bulletproof your strategy and ensure no errors or dwindling campaigns slip through the cracks.

The takeaway

PPC audit tools can help sharpen your campaigns and highlight areas for improvement.

While there are free options, these typically aren’t dynamic enough to offer every possible insight and strategic nugget to improve your revenue.

If you’re looking for a tool that can foster your business’s specific goals, the audit should be customized, and that level of efficiency requires synergy between tech and human expertise.

HawkSEM’s specialized and in-depth PPC audit gives you a thorough analysis of every PPC campaign on your roster. We’re committed to learning everything about your business, audience, goals, and industry before we get started.

Then, we get granular with KPI tracking, keyword suggestions, channel advice, content gaps, and ad optimization. The result: flawlessly molded PPC campaigns that hit the mark and help you scale.

Ready for a next-level PPC campaign revamp? Chat with one of our PPC experts about a custom PPC audit.

This post has been updated and was originally published in December 2022.