PAID ADS AUDIT REPORT
MARCH 2026
CONFIDENTIAL — PREPARED FOR

BEST
FITNESS

A comprehensive audit of your Google Ads and Meta Ads accounts — identifying critical inefficiencies, untapped wins, and a clear roadmap to scale profitably.

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The Core Diagnosis

Your paid advertising accounts are generating real revenue — but they are operating at a fraction of their potential. Both platforms share the same underlying problem: budget fragmentation and algorithmic confusion are preventing Meta and Google from finding your best customers.

On Meta, a $50/day budget split across three campaigns means no single campaign has enough data to exit the learning phase. On Google, a single Performance Max campaign consuming 84% of budget is creating "Zombie SKUs" — products the algorithm never bids on.

The good news: your Cable Machine ads are already generating a 36x ROAS and your Branded Search campaign is running at 26.64x ROAS. The foundation is strong. The architecture just needs restructuring.

0x
Cable Machine ROAS
Meta Ads
0.x
Branded Search ROAS
Google Ads
$228
Current Meta CPA
R300 Campaign
<3%
Video Hook Rate
Meta Creative
META ADS — 4 CRITICAL ISSUES
  • Budget fragmentation across 3 campaigns
  • Algorithm stuck in permanent learning phase
  • Video hook rate under 3%
  • $228 CPA on R300 campaign
GOOGLE ADS — 4 CRITICAL ISSUES
  • PMax consuming 84% of budget, ignoring most SKUs
  • AI Max Branded cannibalising Exact Match
  • Legacy Display at 0.03 ROAS still running
  • No feed segmentation — low margin items bid equally

Meta Ads Findings

01
CRITICAL

Budget Fragmentation — Algorithm Starvation

Your $50/day budget is split across three campaigns, starving Meta's algorithm. All campaigns are stuck in 'learning' indefinitely. The R300 campaign is burning cash at a $228 Cost Per Acquisition while the highly profitable Cable Machine ads (36x ROAS) are artificially capped at just $20/day.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Pause all underperforming campaigns immediately. Consolidate the entire $50/day budget into a single Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC+). This removes audience fragmentation and lets Meta's AI dynamically allocate budget to the best-performing creatives.

02
CRITICAL

Advantage+ Consolidation Required

The current campaign structure prevents Meta's AI from optimising effectively. Budget needs to be consolidated into a single ASC+ campaign to allow the algorithm to find high-ticket buyers at the lowest cost across the entire catalogue.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Deploy a single Advantage+ Shopping Campaign with the full $50/day budget. Remove all audience restrictions and let Meta's AI self-optimise. Monitor CPA daily for the first two weeks.

03
HIGH

Creative Hook Rate Under 3%

The ads are generating cheap clicks, but the video hook rate is under 3% — meaning 97% of users scroll past the first three seconds. This is caused by Meta using the catalogue to auto-generate video creatives, which lack the premium feel needed to stop the scroll.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Produce new premium creative assets focusing on commercial-grade build quality and the space-saving footprint of the machines. Test 3–5 new video hooks in the first 3 seconds: bold text overlay, close-up product shots, and social proof callouts.

04
MEDIUM

Safe Scaling Path to $100/Day

Once the consolidated ASC+ campaign is stabilised and generating a profitable CPA, the budget cannot simply be doubled overnight. This resets the algorithm and spikes costs. A structured micro-stepping strategy is required.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Increase the daily budget by 15–20% every 7 days once the campaign exits learning phase. This safely scales to $100/day without triggering algorithm resets. Target CPA threshold must be defined before scaling begins.

CURRENT BUDGET ALLOCATION — PROBLEM
R300 Campaign$20/day — $228 CPA
Cable Machine Ads$20/day — 36x ROAS — CAPPED
Other Campaigns$10/day — Fragmented
→ RECOMMENDED: CONSOLIDATE TO ASC+
Single ASC+ Campaign$50/day — Full Budget, AI-Optimised

Google Ads Findings

01
CRITICAL

SKU Dilution — Zombie Products

A single 'PMax All Inventory' campaign consumes 84% of the total budget. This forces the algorithm to focus on a few top products while the majority of the catalogue is ignored, creating dormant 'Zombie SKUs' that never receive impressions or conversions.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Rebuild the Merchant Centre feed using Custom Labels to segment the catalogue into Hero, Core, and Zombie tiers. Isolate the top 10–20% revenue-driving Hero SKUs into their own dedicated PMax campaign so they can scale freely without algorithmic drag.

02
CRITICAL

Search Cannibalization — Branded Terms

The experimental 'AI Max - Branded' campaign is actively competing against the highly efficient Exact Match 'Branded Search' campaign (26.64x ROAS), which is artificially restricted by budget caps. Best Fitness brand terms must be kept completely separate from stocked product brand terms.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Pause the 'AI Max - Branded' campaign immediately. Remove budget constraints from the Exact Match Branded Search campaign. Apply account-level brand exclusions to all PMax campaigns to prevent internal cannibalization.

03
HIGH

Redundant Display Remarketing — 0.03 ROAS

Legacy Display Remarketing campaigns are operating on micro-budgets with virtually zero return (as low as 0.03 ROAS) and are unnecessarily competing against the account's own Performance Max ads, inflating CPCs and wasting budget.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Pause all legacy Display Remarketing campaigns immediately. PMax already handles remarketing audiences. Redirect this budget to the Branded Search campaign or the Hero SKU PMax campaign.

04
HIGH

No Feed Segmentation — Margin Blindness

The Merchant Centre feed lacks advanced segmentation, meaning Google's algorithm bids on low-margin clearance items with the exact same weight as high-margin flagship products. This actively works against profitability at scale.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Implement Custom Labels in the Merchant Centre feed to tag products by margin tier. Transition bidding strategy from ROAS (gross revenue) to POAS (Profit on Ad Spend) to ensure the algorithm prioritises high-margin products as spend scales.

CURRENT GOOGLE ADS BUDGET BREAKDOWN — PROBLEM
PMax All Inventory84% of budget — Zombie SKUs
Branded Search (Exact Match)26.64x ROAS — Budget Capped
AI Max - BrandedCannibalising Branded Search
Legacy Display Remarketing0.03 ROAS — Wasted Spend

Scalable Target Architecture

A five-step restructure that transforms your accounts from fragmented and reactive to tiered, data-driven, and profit-optimised.

1

Predictive SKU Tiering

Rebuild the Merchant Centre feed using Custom Labels to dynamically segment the catalogue into Hero products (top 10–20% revenue drivers), Core catalogue, and Zombie SKUs (zero impressions). This gives Google's algorithm the context it needs to bid intelligently.

2

Tiered Performance Max Setup

Isolate Hero SKUs into their own dedicated PMax campaign so they can scale freely without algorithmic drag from underperformers. Deploy a separate Standard Shopping campaign specifically targeting Zombie SKUs to force data collection on dormant inventory.

3

Standard Shopping for Zombie SKUs

Deploy Standard Shopping campaigns specifically targeting zero-impression Zombie SKUs. This forces the algorithm to gather performance data on dormant inventory that PMax ignores, surfacing hidden revenue opportunities.

4

Search & Intent Control

Lock down branded search with Exact Match campaigns to guarantee top-of-page visibility. Implement strict brand exclusions on all PMax campaigns so the AI is forced to prospect for net-new customers rather than cannibalising existing brand traffic.

5

Shift to Profit on Ad Spend (POAS)

Transition the bidding strategy from optimising for gross revenue (ROAS) to gross profit (POAS). This ensures that as ad spend scales, the algorithm prioritises high-margin products that actually grow the bottom line — not just revenue.

TARGET ACCOUNT STRUCTURE
HERO SKUS
Top 10–20% revenue drivers
Dedicated PMax — No Budget Cap
CORE CATALOGUE
Mid-tier performing products
PMax All Inventory — Optimised
ZOMBIE SKUS
Zero impression products
Standard Shopping — Data Collection
BRANDED SEARCH
Best Fitness brand terms
Exact Match — Uncapped
BIDDING STRATEGY EVOLUTION
CURRENT
ROAS
Gross Revenue
TARGET
POAS
Gross Profit

Transitioning from ROAS to POAS ensures the algorithm prioritises high-margin products as ad spend scales, protecting profitability.

Quick Wins

These actions can be implemented within 14 days and will immediately stop budget bleed and unlock trapped revenue.

01
GOOGLE ADS

Pause AI Max Branded & Legacy Display

Stop the budget bleed immediately. Pause the inefficient 'AI Max - Branded' and all legacy Display Remarketing campaigns. Redirect this budget to high-performing campaigns.

02
GOOGLE ADS

Uncap Branded Search Budget

Remove all budget constraints from the Exact Match 'Branded Search' campaign to ensure 100% capture of the highest-intent buyers searching for Best Fitness by name.

03
GOOGLE ADS

Apply PMax Brand Exclusions

Apply account-level brand exclusions to the Performance Max setup to stop internal cannibalization and stabilise Search CPCs across the account.

04
META ADS

Consolidate to Single ASC+ Campaign

Pause all underperforming Meta campaigns and push the entire $50/day budget into one Advantage+ Shopping Campaign to exit the learning phase.

05
META ADS

Test Premium Video Creatives

Replace auto-generated catalogue videos with premium creative assets focusing on build quality and space-saving footprint. Target a hook rate above 15%.

06
BOTH PLATFORMS

Implement 15% Weekly Budget Scaling

Once ASC+ exits learning phase, begin micro-stepping: increase daily budget by 15–20% each week until safely reaching $100/day target.

14-DAY IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE
WEEK 1 — STOP THE BLEED
  • D1Pause AI Max Branded campaign
  • D2Pause all legacy Display Remarketing
  • D3Remove Branded Search budget cap
  • D4Apply PMax brand exclusions
  • D5Consolidate Meta to single ASC+
WEEK 2 — BUILD & OPTIMISE
  • D8Begin Custom Label feed segmentation
  • D9Identify Hero SKU shortlist
  • D10Shoot new Meta video creatives
  • D11Set up POAS bidding framework
  • D12Review ASC+ early performance data

Tracking Integrity

Accurate conversion data is the foundation of every optimisation decision. The current setup has two critical flaws that are distorting performance data.

01
HIGH

Suboptimal Integration — No Enhanced Conversions

Currently using Simprosys integration without Enhanced Conversions. Best practice is to use the Shopify Google & YouTube App integration with Enhanced Conversions enabled, which provides more reliable and accurate tracking data for Google's bidding algorithms.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Migrate from Simprosys to the native Shopify Google & YouTube App integration. Enable Enhanced Conversions to pass hashed customer data back to Google, improving match rates and attribution accuracy.

02
CRITICAL

Add-to-Cart Counted as Conversion

Some campaigns are using 'Add to Cart' as a conversion action. This artificially inflates the ROAS of those campaigns, causing Google to think they are performing far better than they actually are. This leads to misallocated budget and incorrect bidding signals.

→ RECOMMENDED FIX

Immediately remove 'Add to Cart' as a conversion action from all campaigns. The only conversion action that should be used for bidding is 'Purchases'. This will initially show lower ROAS numbers, but will reflect true performance.

Current Integration
Simprosys
No Enhanced Conversions
Recommended Integration
Shopify Native
With Enhanced Conversions
Conversion Action
Purchases Only
Remove Add to Cart