# What a Microsoft Ads Audit Should Examine > An evidence-led guide to Microsoft Ads audit service for active Microsoft advertisers, from lead classification and account controls to budget assumptions and provider scope. Published: 2026-08-23 · 4 min read · https://www.adscalibre.com/insights/microsoft-ads-audit-service A provider's pitch matters less than whether the proposed work can distinguish spam, duplicate, job seeker, vendor, or low-fit enquiry from need, location or company fit, and contact details verified. Without that distinction, a cheap lead number can conceal an expensive acquisition program. A polished forecast cannot substitute for account access, a written scope, and named owners. Our own offer is included in that standard; the client should keep the evidence and the decision record. ## An audit should end with decisions and evidence Reject an audit that exports platform recommendations and stops. The deliverable should connect each finding to an account location, a dated data window, the affected funnel stage, an owner, and the next decision. [Microsoft Advertising Search ads documentation](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/solutions/ad-products-formats/search) defines platform evidence that the auditor can inspect. The prioritization method should separate measurement faults, wasted demand, conversion friction, and scaling constraints. Fix broken attribution before changing bids, because a bidding recommendation built on false conversions is not yet a recommendation. A useful audit also records uncertainty. If low volume prevents a confident verdict, we want the missing evidence and a plain test plan, not a confident-looking score. ## Name each handoff before changing spend The account should use four explicit stages: call or form enquiry, need, location or company fit, and contact details verified, sales-accepted appointment or opportunity, and closed service engagement. The distinction between accepted demand and spam, duplicate, job seeker, vendor, or low-fit enquiry belongs to the sales team; the ad platform cannot infer that policy from a form submission. Microsoft documents Keyword Planner, Google Import, responsive search ads, extensions, search partners, and lead-generation goals for Search ads. See the [Microsoft Advertising Search ads documentation](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/solutions/ad-products-formats/search). That mechanism becomes commercially useful only after the business supplies its own qualification rule. The operating record needs a source, time, owner, and reason for every handoff. Without them, rejected enquiries can be mistaken for legitimate opportunities that simply did not close. ## Ask for outputs that expose weak work Microsoft documents Universal Event Tracking, conversion goals, remarketing audiences, automated bidding, and target CPA. See the [Microsoft Advertising conversion tracking documentation](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/tools/performance/conversion-tracking). In practice, the scope must explain how the operator inspects that control and what happens after the review. For Microsoft Advertising, inspect imported settings, keywords, search terms, network distribution, negative keywords, responsive ads, Universal Event Tracking, conversion goals, and CRM outcomes. A Google Import is a starting copy that still needs checking against Microsoft traffic and need, location or company fit, and contact details verified. A complete scope names the account permissions, conversion tests, rejection logic, CRM review, and change record. It also makes outside creative or page dependencies visible. A fixed lead-cost promise ignores the variables that matter here: location, offer, capacity, close rate, and the rule for need, location or company fit, and contact details verified. ## Replace lead-cost guesses with unit economics Use an illustrative planning case, not a market benchmark. Suppose each closed service engagement produces $23,371 in first-year collected revenue at a 70% gross margin. If 30% of need, location or company fit, and contact details verified records close and the business can spend 75% of expected gross profit on acquisition, the calculation is $23,371 × 70% × 30% × 75%. That produces a maximum of $3,681 per qualified lead before a safety margin. Replace every assumption with finance and CRM data, then account for overhead, payment delay, refunds, bad debt, and capacity. Run the calculation again when any input changes. Public averages cannot set the threshold for this program. A long sales cycle may also require cohort reporting because current spend can create a later closed service engagement. ## Reconcile the platform with the operating record Preserve disagreements instead of averaging them away. If analytics records a success while the sales team rejects the same enquiry as spam, duplicate, job seeker, vendor, or low-fit enquiry, keep both records, the identifier that joins them, and the reason for the final classification. Microsoft documents Keyword Planner, Google Import, responsive search ads, extensions, search partners, and lead-generation goals for Search ads. See the [Microsoft Advertising Search ads documentation](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/solutions/ad-products-formats/search). The sources document platform behaviour. They cannot determine whether this business is eligible, what demand will cost, or which results are likely. Verify the interface and account evidence before acting. ## Review the scope before committing budget [Request a Microsoft Ads audit](/contact). We use the teardown to check tracking, traffic quality, account structure, and the handoff to the sales team. You receive the written findings either way. Our [performance marketing services](/services) page covers the ongoing work.