Facebook Ads Audit Checklist: 47 Checks for 2026

This is a 47-point audit to run on a Meta ads account before any optimization work begins. It covers six layers, from Business Manager access to the value and currency on your purchase event. Where a check rests on a Meta rule, such as the learning phase or event deduplication, it links to Meta’s own documentation; set every other threshold from your own account data.

Account & Business Manager Layer

The foundation. If this is wrong, nothing else matters.

• Business Manager admin access verified (not personal profile)
• Pixel installed on every page, not just the home page
• Conversions API live alongside the pixel, with event coverage at or above the 75% Meta recommends
• Domain verified in Business Settings
• Test Events tool showing duplicate pixel and server events as deduplicated, not counted twice
• iOS share of traffic known and tracked, since Meta’s measurement of conversions from iOS 14.5 and later devices is limited
• Catalog connected and product feed updating daily
• Payment method has no expiry warnings
• Account spending limit not throttling delivery

Campaign Structure Layer

Structure decides how many results each ad set gets to learn from, which is why Meta recommends combining similar ad sets.

• Maximum 4-6 active campaigns per ad account
• Advantage+ sales campaign (formerly Advantage+ shopping) present for the Sales objective
• One TOFU, one MOFU, one BOFU at minimum
• No campaign with more than 8 active ad sets
• Audience overlap report run (Audiences, then Actions, then Show audience overlap) before you split audiences across ad sets
• Weekly budget per ad set ≥ 50× your target CPA, enough for the about 50 results a week Meta says an ad set needs to exit learning
• Bid strategy aligned with goal (highest volume, formerly lowest cost, for prospecting; cost per result goal, formerly cost cap, for retargeting; Meta renamed both)
• Advantage+ campaign budget (formerly CBO) used for scaled ad sets
• Attribution setting set to 7-day click + 1-day view

Audience Layer

• Lookalikes built on top-25% AOV purchasers, not all customers
• 1%, 3%, 5% LAL split into separate ad sets
• Custom audiences refreshing (not 180+ days stale)
• Advantage+ detailed targeting (formerly detailed targeting expansion) turned on, so Meta can show ads beyond your detailed targeting when it expects more or cheaper results
• Geo-targeting includes secondary-market cities, not just metros
• Excluded purchaser audience on every prospecting set
• Retargeting windows split: 7-day, 30-day, 90-day visitors
• ATC and IC audiences as separate retargeting sets

Creative Layer

• Minimum 4 creative variants per ad set
• Mix of static, video, carousel (no ad set with single format)
• Hook in the first frame, with brand and key message inside the first 3 seconds of every video, per Meta’s Instagram video guidance
• Captions burnt-in on all video, so it works with the sound off
• 4:5 vertical for Facebook Feed, 9:16 for Reels and Stories, as Meta recommends
• Frequency across active ads kept under a ceiling set from your own data: the level where your CTR starts to fall
• No creative left running past its test budget with CTR below your own account baseline
• UGC variant present in every ad set
• Brand colors and font consistent
• CTA matches landing page promise word-for-word

Landing Page & Funnel Layer

• Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less on mobile, Google’s “good” threshold
• Hero matches ad headline + ad image style
• Above-the-fold CTA visible without scroll on iPhone 12
• Trust signals: reviews count, secure checkout badge, shipping info
• Cart abandonment email + WhatsApp flow live
• Dominant local payment method present at checkout (cash on delivery, card or wallet, depending on the market)

Tracking & Attribution Layer

• Purchase event firing on the thank-you page with the correct order value attached, not zero
• Currency on the purchase event and in the catalog matches your store’s checkout currency (Meta requires currency with value)
• UTMs on every ad pointing to source = facebook, medium = cpc
• GA4 cross-check: Meta-reported vs GA4-reported ROAS tracked over time, so a sudden change in the gap flags a tracking break
• View-through ROAS tracked separately, not bundled into click ROAS

If any of those 47 boxes is unchecked, you have a fixable leak.

How to Use This Checklist

Don’t try to fix everything in a week. Order by money impact:

1. First, structure (account + campaign layer) — biggest unlock
2. Then, audiences — second biggest
3. Then, creative — ongoing forever
4. Then, landing page — high-impact, slower to ship

To pull the Ads Manager and Events Manager numbers for these checks through an AI assistant, read How do I audit my Facebook ads account from ChatGPT?.

Or Skip the Spreadsheet

To compare the tools that run these checks, free and paid, see What are the best Facebook ads audit tools, free and paid?. Bach.ai is one of them, at app.wittelsbach.ai. It audits your Meta account, ranks the revenue leaks it finds by money impact and proposes fixes; it applies a change on Meta only after you approve it (pricing).

Method and sources

“Where a check rests on a Meta rule, such as the learning phase or event deduplication, it links to Meta’s own documentation; set every other threshold from your own account data.”

Source: Where this guide describes platform behaviour, it follows Meta’s published advertising and Marketing API documentation, which changes without notice — verify anything load-bearing against the current version before you act on it. Every threshold the guide asks you to supply is first-party, drawn from your own account exports and commerce ledger, because no external benchmark can stand in for your own margin structure.

Sources: Meta Business Help Center: About the learning phase, Combine ad sets, About overlapping audiences, Best practices for Conversions API, Test events tool, About Aggregated Event Measurement, About Advantage+ sales campaigns, Changes to bid strategy options, About Advantage+ campaign budget, About attribution settings, About lookalike audiences, About Advantage+ detailed targeting, Best practices for Instagram video ads, Add captions to your video ad, Aspect ratios by placement; Meta for Developers: Meta Pixel reference, Advantage+ campaign experience for Sales, App and Leads; Google web.dev: Largest Contentful Paint (checked 1 Oct 2026).