Free Digital Marketing Audit in Australia: What It Reviews, How It Works and What You Should Receive (2026)
Before increasing your budget, changing agency or launching a new channel, the smartest move an Australian business can make is to find out exactly what is happening with its marketing investment today. A well-done audit answers concrete questions: what share of the budget generates sales and what share is lost? Are the conversions Google and Meta report real? What would you change first, and how much difference would it make?
This guide explains what a professional digital marketing audit should include, which problems appear most often in Australian accounts, how Old Fox's free audit works, what you will receive and how to evaluate any audit — ours or another agency's — so that it is a real diagnosis and not a sales pitch.
In short: a professional digital marketing audit reviews five layers: measurement (are conversions real and not duplicated?), account structure, targeting and keywords, ads and landing pages, and budget distribution across channels. At Old Fox we offer three free options: an instant website report with a grade, an AI-assisted analysis of your Google Ads account and a manual audit by specialists, with a report within 48 hours of receiving read-only access. None involves a commitment to hire us.
Last updated: November 2026.
The Three Free Audit Options at Old Fox
| Option | What it analyses | How long it takes | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instant website audit | Your site: speed, basic SEO, mobile experience, conversion elements | Minutes | A quick first check of your site |
| AI-assisted Google Ads audit | Campaigns, keywords, bidding strategy and opportunities in your Google Ads account | Minutes | Spotting obvious problems in the account |
| Manual audit by specialists | Measurement, structure, targeting, creative, landing pages and budget across Google Ads, Meta Ads and other channels | 48 hours from access | Budget decisions, agency changes, accounts with meaningful spend |
The first two are automated tools that are useful to start; the third is an in-depth human analysis with priorities and an estimate of impact.
What a Professional Digital Marketing Audit Should Include
A serious audit is not a generic report produced by a tool and emailed with the agency logo. It reviews five layers.
1. Measurement and data
- Are the main conversions real sales, leads or bookings, or do they include actions that are not (visits to a "Contact" page, clicks on an email address)?
- Are conversions duplicated through repeated tags, page reloads or overlapping integrations?
- Are phone calls and click-to-call or messaging actions measured?
- Do purchases carry the correct value (with or without GST, with or without shipping)?
- Are enhanced conversions in Google and the Conversions API in Meta active?
- Are sales imported from the CRM in businesses where the sale closes off the site?
This is the most important layer: if measurement is wrong, every other decision is made on false data.
2. Account structure
- Are campaigns separated by objective, business line, margin or region?
- Are brand and non-brand separated?
- Is Performance Max claiming credit for brand searches?
- Are there capped campaigns that perform better than others with surplus budget?
3. Targeting, keywords and audiences
- Which real searches generate spend (search terms report)?
- Is there a well-built negative keyword list?
- Is geographic targeting set to presence or to interest?
- Are Meta audiences fragmented into ad sets that never leave the learning phase?
4. Ads and landing pages
- Do ads have complete assets (sitelinks, callouts, call extensions)?
- How many new creatives per month are tested on Meta and TikTok?
- Do landing pages load quickly on mobile, have a message consistent with the ad and show a visible phone number, booking button or form?
- Are Quality Score levels low on main keywords, and why?
5. Budget and channels
- Does the split between Google, Meta and other channels reflect results or historical inertia?
- Are any channels evaluated only with the platform's own attribution?
- What is the real cost per customer in each channel, reconciled with sales?
We expand the technical Google Ads checklist in our guide to a free Google Ads audit.
The Most Frequent Findings in Australian Accounts
In our experience reviewing accounts of Australian businesses, these problems appear again and again:
| Finding | Typical impact |
|---|---|
| Misconfigured or duplicated conversions | Automated bidding optimises toward actions that are not sales |
| Calls and click-to-message unmeasured | The channels that generate enquiries by those routes are undervalued |
| Location targeting by "interest" | Ads shown to people outside the service area or country |
| No negative keyword list or a very basic one | Budget spent on irrelevant searches |
| Brand mixed with non-brand | Apparently high ROAS that hides unprofitable generic campaigns |
| Performance Max without brand control | Sales that would have come anyway are attributed to the campaign |
| Fragmented Meta Ads | Ad sets that never leave the learning phase |
| Few new creatives | Creative fatigue and rising cost per result |
| Slow or generic landing pages | Lower conversion and higher cost per click through low Quality Score |
| Budget split by inertia | Overinvestment in low-performing channels |
In the Australian context it is also common to find GST handled inconsistently in revenue reporting, EOFY and Black Friday periods unplanned, and regulated industries running ads that risk disapproval.
When It Makes Sense to Request an Audit
An external audit is especially useful in these moments:
- Before increasing budget. Scaling an account with incorrect measurement or wasted budget multiplies the problem.
- When results have stalled or worsened without a clear market explanation.
- Before changing agency, to have an objective baseline and know what to ask of the next provider.
- After a major change: a new website, ecommerce platform migration, CRM change or restructure. These are when measurement most often breaks.
- Before a key date such as EOFY, Black Friday or your industry's peak season.
- When platform numbers do not match real sales.
- Once a year, as a preventive check even if everything seems to be working.
What Is Reviewed in Meta Ads, TikTok and the Website
The audit is not limited to Google Ads. In other channels the main points are:
Meta Ads. Pixel and Conversions API (and their deduplication), event match quality, campaign and ad set structure, use of Advantage+, number and rotation of creatives, frequency, first-party audiences, message campaigns and how it is measured whether they end in a sale. See Meta Ads agencies in Australia.
TikTok Ads. Pixel and Events API, optimisation objectives, volume and style of creatives, use of Spark Ads and evaluation of impact on brand searches and other channels' sales.
Website. Mobile speed, clarity of the value proposition, visibility of phone and booking options, delivery and payment information (including buy now pay later), forms, checkout, specific pages by service or category and basic technical SEO. For an immediate first check, use our free website audit.
General measurement. Coherence between Google Analytics, the advertising platforms and real sales; consistent use of UTM parameters; attribution between channels.
An Illustrative Example of Findings and a 90-Day Plan
To give you an idea of the format, this is an illustrative example (not a specific client) of how findings are presented for a services business with Google Ads and Meta Ads:
| Priority | Finding | Action | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The main conversion is a visit to the contact page | Set form submitted, call and booking as conversions; remove the visit as primary | Week 1 |
| 2 | Searches for "jobs" and "course" generate meaningful spend | Account-level negative keyword list and weekly search term review | Week 1 |
| 3 | Ads shown outside the service area | Switch to presence-based targeting and radius by location | Week 1 |
| 4 | Meta Ads with eight low-budget ad sets | Consolidate into two or three ad sets with new creative | Weeks 2–3 |
| 5 | Slow landing page with no visible phone button | Optimise speed and add a sticky call button | Weeks 2–4 |
| 6 | No systematic review requests | Post-service review request process | Month 2 |
| 7 | Same budget all year | A seasonality plan following the industry's calendar | Month 3 |
How Old Fox's Manual Audit Works, Step by Step
1. Request. You complete the contact form with basic details about your business, your current channels and your main goal.
2. Read-only access. You give us read-only access to your advertising accounts (Google Ads, Meta Ads and other relevant ones) and, if possible, Google Analytics. With read-only access we cannot change anything in your accounts.
3. Analysis. Our specialist team reviews the five layers described above. We are a Google Premier Partner.
4. Report within 48 hours. You receive a report with findings ordered by impact, an estimate of the potential impact of each fix and an action plan for the first 90 days.
5. Review meeting. We explain the findings and answer questions. You decide what to do: implement with your team, with your current agency or with us.
What You Will Receive in the Report
- An executive summary with the three to five most important findings.
- The state of measurement, with the problems detected and how to fix them.
- Analysis by channel and campaign, with what works and what does not.
- An estimate of wasted budget on irrelevant searches, audiences or placements.
- Opportunities for growth not yet exploited.
- A 90-day plan prioritised by impact and effort.
A 20-Minute Self-Check Before Any Audit
You can spot many problems yourself before requesting a professional audit. Open your accounts and answer these questions:
In Google Ads
- Which conversion actions are marked as primary? Are they sales, leads or bookings, or page views and clicks?
- In the search terms report for the last 30 days, how many of the top spending terms are clearly irrelevant to your business?
- What is the location setting: presence, or presence or interest?
- Are brand and non-brand campaigns separated?
- Is any campaign limited by budget while others are not spending their budget?
In Meta Ads 6. Is the Conversions API active, and what is the event match quality score? 7. How many ad sets are in the learning phase or "learning limited"? 8. When were your best-performing ads last refreshed, and what is their frequency?
On your website 9. Does the page load in under three seconds on a mobile connection? 10. Is the phone number, booking button or form visible without scrolling on a phone? 11. Does a purchase or enquiry fire a conversion exactly once?
In your business 12. Do you record where each sale or enquiry came from, and does it match what the platforms report?
If you cannot answer several of these questions, or the answers worry you, an audit will likely pay for itself quickly.
How to Give Read-Only Access Safely
Many business owners hesitate to share access, so it helps to understand what read-only means in practice:
- Google Ads: in Account access and security, invite the auditor's email with "Read only" access. They can see data and settings but cannot change campaigns, budgets or billing. You can remove the access at any time.
- Meta Business Manager: assign partner or person access to the ad account with view-only permission and no access to payment methods.
- Google Analytics: add a user with the "Viewer" role.
- Google Tag Manager and Search Console: viewer or read-only permissions are usually enough for an audit.
- Never share personal passwords. Legitimate access is granted through invitations to specific emails, and you remain the owner of every account.
Keep a record of who has access and remove it when the engagement ends, as part of normal security hygiene.
What to Do After the Audit
An audit is only useful if you act on it. A simple decision path:
- Review the findings with your team and separate quick fixes (days) from larger projects (weeks or months).
- Fix measurement first. Nothing else can be judged reliably until conversions are right.
- Choose who implements: your internal team, your current agency or a new provider. Ask each how they would deliver the top five actions and in what timeframe.
- Set targets for cost per customer or ROAS based on your margins, and write down the baseline.
- Schedule a follow-up at 30 and 90 days to compare results with the baseline.
- Keep the report. It becomes the reference point for judging any future agency or strategy change.
If you decide not to work with the agency that produced the audit, you should still be able to use the report with another provider; that is a good test of whether the audit was genuine.
Opportunity Audits for Businesses That Are Not Yet Advertising
If you do not yet have active campaigns, we can also do an opportunity audit: we analyse your website, your market, search demand for your products or services in Australia and your competitors, and propose an initial strategy with channels, reference budget and launch plan.
How to Evaluate Any Audit, Including Ours
Many agencies offer free audits as a commercial tool. To tell a real diagnosis from a sales pitch, look at:
- Specificity. Does it mention campaigns, keywords and numbers from your account, or could it apply to any business?
- Measurement first. Did it check whether your conversions are real? If not, the rest of the analysis rests on data nobody verified.
- Prioritisation. Does it tell you what to do first and why, or is it a long list with no order?
- Honesty. Does it acknowledge what already works well in your account? An audit that only finds problems is often oriented to selling.
- Implementable without the agency. Could you apply the recommendations with your team or with another provider?
We expand on these criteria in the best digital marketing agency in Australia.
What You Need to Request the Audit
- Read-only access to your active advertising accounts.
- Read access to Google Analytics, if you have it.
- A rough idea of your goal (sales, leads, bookings), your average sale value and your margin.
- If you sell by phone or in person, an estimate of how many enquiries end in a sale.
The more business context you share, the more useful and specific the report will be.
How Old Fox Works
Old Fox is a performance marketing agency founded in 2012 and a Google Premier Partner, with 130+ active accounts and an average ROAS of 4.5x. The audit is how we begin every relationship: understand first, then propose. We work with Australian businesses remotely and agree meeting times that suit your time zone.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Free Digital Marketing Audit
Is there any hidden cost? No. The audit is completely free and does not require a commitment to hire us afterwards.
What do I need to provide? Read-only access to your current advertising accounts, such as Google Ads and Meta Ads and, if possible, Google Analytics. With read-only access we cannot modify anything.
How long does the report take? The manual audit is delivered within 48 hours of access being granted. The automated website and Google Ads audit tools deliver results in minutes.
Does it work if I do not have active campaigns yet? Yes. We run opportunity audits that analyse your website, search demand and competitors, and propose an initial strategy with channels and a reference budget.
What is the difference between the automated and the manual audit? Automated tools quickly detect obvious problems in the site or Google Ads account. The manual audit analyses measurement, strategy, several channels and your business context, and delivers a prioritised plan with an estimate of impact.
Do I need to leave my current agency to request the audit? No. Many businesses use the audit as a second opinion. Recommendations can be implemented with your current agency, with your team or with us.
Is my data safe? We work with read-only access, which does not allow changes to campaigns or settings, and we use the information only to prepare the report. You can revoke access at any time from your accounts.
Which channels does the audit cover? Mainly Google Ads and Meta Ads, and also Microsoft Ads, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads, the website and Google Analytics measurement when they are part of your strategy.
How often should an account be audited? We recommend a complete audit at least once a year and also before a significant increase in budget, before changing agency and after important technical changes such as a new website or a platform migration.
What if the audit finds that my account is well managed? We will tell you. An honest audit also confirms what works; in that case, the report focuses on growth opportunities and risks to watch rather than invented problems.
Request Your Audit Today
If you want to know objectively whether your digital marketing investment is being well used, the first step is to look at the data with someone who has no interest in defending what has been done so far. Request your free audit and receive a clear, prioritised report within 48 hours of granting access, with no obligation to continue with us.
Keep reading: the best Google Ads agency in Australia and digital marketing for small business in Australia.