Illustration for Paid ads marketing skills
Paid ads skill · v0.1.0

Paid ads audit skill

Audit any ad account against a platform checklist: tracking, structure, targeting, creative, bidding and wasted spend.

Free · MIT licence · Copy needs a free sign-in

Category
Paid ads
Works with
Claude, Codex, Cursor, any agent
Format
SKILL.md · 1,385 words
Version
v0.1.0
Price
Free · MIT

The Paid ads audit skill file

cmo-ads-audit/SKILL.md1,385 words · MIT
---
name: cmo-ads-audit
description: Audit any ad account against a platform checklist: tracking, structure, targeting, creative, bidding and wasted spend.
---

Review one or more ad accounts against a structured checklist and return findings the owner can verify in a minute in their own account. The audit separates what was seen from what was inferred, scores only what could be checked, and ends with a short list of reversible fixes. It never changes the account.

When to use

  • "Audit my ads", "health check", "we inherited this account", "is our tracking right?", "why is CPA so high?" (as a first pass).
  • Before a budget increase, after an agency change, or quarterly hygiene.
  • Any of: Google, YouTube, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, X, Pinterest, Snapchat, Amazon, Apple Ads.
  • Not for: diagnosing a single spike (cmo-ads-monitoring), building negative and exclusion lists (cmo-wasted-spend), ongoing management of one platform (cmo-google-ads, cmo-meta-ads, cmo-linkedin-ads) or planning from scratch (cmo-ads-strategy).
Sign in to see, copy and download the whole skillIt's free. Copying also upvotes and saves it, so you'll find it again under Saved.
Preview: the workflow, output, example, quality bar and guardrails unlock when you sign in.

Adapts open work by AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT), irinabuht12-oss/marketing-skills (none), irinabuht12-oss/marketing-skills (none).

Everyday usage

How people use Paid ads audit day to day

Ask in plain words. The agent picks this skill, asks for anything it needs and hands back the result. Words in a highlight are yours to change.

Most common · also on the Paid ads page

Audit your ad account

Tracking, structure, targeting and creative checked against a platform checklist, with fixes ranked.

Ask your agentAudit my Google Ads account and tell me what to fix first.
  • Per-platform findings table with pass / fail / unknown / not applicable
  • Health and evidence coverage shown separately, with the audit labelled complete, provisional or partial
  • A prioritised action list with owner, effort, expected effect and how to check it

More things to ask

  • Audit my ad account
  • Is my Google Ads account set up properly?
  • Review our Meta and LinkedIn ads
  • We just took over this account, what's wrong with it?
  • Give me an ads health check
  • Score our ad accounts before we raise the budget
How it works

From input to output

  1. 1You give it
    • Which platforms, the date window, currency and timezone
    • Exports or screenshots: campaigns, ad groups or ad sets, ads, search terms or placements, conversions
    • Objective, the conversion that counts, its value and the target CPA or ROAS
    • Account age and any recent big changes
  2. 2It works through the method
    • Asks what's missing, one question at a time
    • Follows the workflow step by step
    • Checks the result against its quality bar and guardrails
  3. 3You get
    • Per-platform findings table with pass / fail / unknown / not applicable
    • Health and evidence coverage shown separately, with the audit labelled complete, provisional or partial
    • A prioritised action list with owner, effort, expected effect and how to check it
Why a skill

The skill against the alternatives

Do it yourselfHire helpPaid ads audit skill
CostYour own timeAgency or freelancer feesFree, MIT licence
Time to a first resultHours, every timeDays to weeks, plus revisionsMinutes, in your agent
ConsistencyDepends on remembering every stepAs long as the retainer lastsSame steps and checks every run
The methodIn your headTheir process, often hiddenWritten down: read it, change it
Who does the workYou, from scratchSomeone learning your businessYour agent, following the skill
FAQ

Questions about the Paid ads audit skill

What it does, what it needs and how to use it with your agent.

Still not sure?Try it free on your own website and see the first posts before you decide.
Start free
What is the Paid ads audit skill?

Audit any ad account against a platform checklist: tracking, structure, targeting, creative, bidding and wasted spend.

It's one of cmo.so's open Paid ads skills: a SKILL.md file that tells an AI agent when to use it, what to ask you first, the steps to follow, the checks to pass and what to hand back, so the job is done the same careful way every time.

When should I use it?

Reach for it when you'd otherwise say something like “Audit my ad account”, “Is my Google Ads account set up properly?”, “Review our Meta and LinkedIn ads”. Your agent reads the skill's description and picks it for requests like these, so you don't need to name it.

If a request is close but not quite right, the skill says so and points to the related skill that fits better, instead of forcing a poor answer.

What do I need to give it?

It works best with which platforms, the date window, currency and timezone; exports or screenshots: campaigns, ad groups or ad sets, ads, search terms or placements, conversions; objective, the conversion that counts, its value and the target CPA or ROAS; and account age and any recent big changes.

You don't have to prepare everything up front. The skill asks for missing pieces one at a time and says plainly when it's working from an assumption instead of your data.

What do I get back?

You get per-platform findings table with pass / fail / unknown / not applicable; health and evidence coverage shown separately, with the audit labelled complete, provisional or partial; and a prioritised action list with owner, effort, expected effect and how to check it.

Every result comes from a written method with a quality bar, so numbers name their source, claims are checked and the output is ready to use or share rather than a rough draft.

Is it free?

Yes. The skill is open source under the MIT licence, so you can use it, change it and share it, including for client work.

Seeing, copying and downloading the whole file on cmo.so needs a free sign-in. Copying also upvotes and saves it, so you can find it again under Saved on the skills page.

Which AI agents can use it?

Claude Code installs it from the cmo.so marketplace. Any agent that reads SKILL.md folders, such as Codex or Cursor, can use it once the folder is in its skills directory.

You can also paste the copied skill into ChatGPT, Claude or any assistant at the start of a conversation and ask it to follow the skill.

How do I install it?

In Claude Code, run /plugin marketplace add AI-Marketing-OS-LTD/cmo-so-skills, then /plugin install cmo-so-paid-ads@cmo-so. That installs this skill together with the rest of the Paid ads group.

For other agents, sign in, press Copy or Download above and put the file in your agent's skills folder as SKILL.md inside a folder named after the skill.

Do I need a cmo.so account to use it?

No. The skill works on its own with whatever your agent can already see and do: your files, the pages you share and the data you paste in.

A free cmo.so account only matters if you also want Maggie to plan, write and publish your marketing every day.

Which skills work well with it?

It pairs well with Google Ads; Meta (Facebook & Instagram) ads; and LinkedIn ads. The agent can hand over from one to the next in the same conversation, for example research first, then the plan, then the writing.

Each of them has its own page with what it needs and what it returns, linked below.

Can I change it to fit my business?

Yes. It's a plain Markdown file, so you can edit the steps, add your own checks and examples, and keep your version in your own repo. The MIT licence allows it.

If your change would help others too, suggest it on the skills page or open a pull request on GitHub, and it may be folded into the library for everyone.

Where does the method come from?

It's written by cmo.so and adapts open work by others, credited on this page: AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT); AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT); and AgriciDaniel/claude-ads (MIT).

Only permissively licensed work is adapted; copyleft repos are used for ideas only and repos without a licence aren't used at all.

Is my data sent to cmo.so when the agent uses it?

No. The skill only guides your own agent; your files, documents and data stay wherever your agent and its tools keep them.

cmo.so only sees what you connect to cmo.so. Your votes and saves on this page are stored against your cmo.so sign-in.

Ready when you are!

Rather have Maggie do it for you?

Enter your website. Maggie uses the same playbooks to plan, write and publish your marketing every day.

  • Free plan, no card needed
  • You decide what goes out
  • Cancel any time

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